, open weather. The cattle scattered wide,
ranging farther afield, unmolested except by shifting winds. The latter
was a matter of hourly observation, affording its lesson to the
brothers, and readily explained by the older and more practical men. For
instance, a north or the dreaded east wind brought the herd into the
valley, where it remained until the weather moderated, and then drifted
out of its own free will. When a balmy south wind blew, the cattle
grazed against it, and when it came from a western quarter, they turned
their backs and the gregarious instinct to flock was noticeable. Under
settled weather, even before dawn, by noting the quarter of the wind, it
was an easy matter to foretell the movement of the herd for the
coming day.

The daily tasks rested lightly. The line was ridden as usual, but more
as a social event than as a matter of necessity. The occasional reports
of Manly to his employer were flattering in the extreme. Any risk
involved in the existing contract hinged on the present winter, and
since it was all that could be desired, every fine day added to the
advantage of Wells Brothers. So far their venture had been greeted with
fair winds, and with not a cloud in the visible sky. Manly was even
recalled by Mr. Stoddard early in February.

Month after month passed without incident. Spring came fully a fortnight
earlier than the year before. By the middle of March, the willows were
bent with pollen, the birds returned, and the greening slopes rolled
away and were lost behind low horizons. The line-camp was abandoned, the
cattle were scattered over the entire valley, and the instincts to
garden were given free rein. The building of two additional tanks, one
below the old trail crossing and the other near the new camp above,
occupied a month's time to good advantage. It enlarged the range beyond
present needs; but the brothers were wrestling with a rare opportunity,
and theirs was strictly a policy of expansion.

An occasional trip to the railroad, for supplies or pressing errand, was
usually rewarded with important news. During the winter just passed,
Kansas had quarantined against Texas cattle, and the trail was barred
from that state. Early in May information reached the ranch that the
market interests of Dodge City had moved over the line into Colorado,
and had established a town on the railroad, to be known as Trail City. A
feasible route lay open to the south, across No-Man's-Land, into the