es me as something to be
thankful for."

They rode on, and it was getting dark when they checked the herd near a
straggling poplar bluff. The grass was good, the beasts began to feed
quietly, and after picketing their horses the men lay down on their
blankets. It was growing cooler, a vivid band of green still flickered
along the prairie's rim, and the deep silence was intensified by the
soft sound the cattle made cropping the dew-damped herbage.

"I wonder if they go to sleep," mused Edgar. "I'm beginning to think
this kind of thing must be rather fine when one gets used to it. It's
a glorious night."

By and by he drew his blanket round him and sank into slumber; but for
a while George, who had paid a high price for a Hereford bull, lay
awake, thinking and calculating. It would cost a good deal more than
he had anticipated to work the farm; Sylvia had no funds that could be
drawn upon, and his means were not large. Economy and good management
would be needed, but he was determined to make a success of his
undertaking. At last, seeing that the herd showed no signs of moving,
he went to sleep.

Awakening at sunrise George found that, except for the horses, there
was not a beast in sight. For an hour he and West hunted them through
the bluff; and then, after making a hurried breakfast, they went on
their way again. It rapidly got hotter, the stock traveled quietly,
and, with a halt or two where a clump of poplars offered a little
shade, they rode, scorched by dazzling sunshine, across the limitless
plain. In the afternoon George began to look eagerly for the bluff
that the rancher mentioned. They had found no water, and the cattle
seemed distressed. The glare and heat were getting intolerable, but
the vast, gradual rise in front of them ran on, unbroken, to the
skyline. Its crest, however, must be crossed before evening; and they
toiled on.

At last, the long ascent was made, and George felt relieved when he saw
a dark line of trees in the wide basin below him.

"That must be the big bluff where the well is; though I don't see a
house," he said.

They had some trouble in urging the herd down the slope, but after a
while they reached the welcome shadow of the trees, and Edgar broke
into a shout when he saw a rude wooden platform with a windlass upon it
and a trough near by.

"Ride ahead with the horses and water them," said George, dismounting.

Edgar did as he was bidden, but presently the herd,