int
men deployed nearer the lead, when the object of their position
explained itself. On sighting the ponds, the leaders broke into a run,
but the four horsemen at hand checked the excited dash, and the herd was
led up to the water in column formation. It was the mastery of man over
the creature.

The herds arrived in hit-and-miss class. The destination of the
pock-marked foreman's beeves was an army post in Dakota. The swarthy
little man followed with a herd of cows for delivery at an Indian agency
in Wyoming. The different Running W herds were under contract to
different cattle companies, in adjoining states and territories. The
tall foreman's herd was also under contract, but the point of delivery
was at Ogalalla, on the Platte, where a ranch outfit would receive
the cattle.

The latter herd arrived late at evening. The cattle were driven on
speculation, there had been an oversight in mounting the outfit, and the
men, including the foreman, were as good as afoot.

"This trip lets me out," said the young Texan to the brothers, "of
walking up the trail and leading fagged-out saddle stock. A mount of six
horses to the man may be all right on a ranch, but it won't do on the
trail. Especially in a dry year, with delivery on the Platte. Actually,
this afternoon is the first time I have felt a horse under me since we
crossed Red River. Give me a sheet of paper, please. I want to give you
a bill of sale for these six drag ponies that I'm sawing off on you. I
carry written authority to give a bill of sale, and it will always
protect your possession of the horses. They wouldn't bring a dollar a
head in Ogalalla, but when they round into form again next summer, some
brand ferret passing might want to claim them on you. Any cattle that I
cull out here are abandoned, you understand, simply abandoned."

The boys were left alone for the first time in several nights. The rush
of the past few days had kept them in the saddle during their waking
hours. The dead-line had been neglected, the drifting of cripples to the
new tanks below was pressing, and order must be established. The water
in the pools was the main concern, a thing beyond human control, and a
matter of constant watchfulness. A remark dropped during the day, of
water flowing at night, was not lost on the attentive ear of Joel Wells.

"What did you mean?" he politely inquired of the Running W foreman,
while the latter's herd was watering, "of a river only running
at