er
born on the prairie, lay beside him amid the tall harsh grass that
swayed to and fro with a curious dry clashing. He broke into a soft
laugh when George suddenly raised his head.

"Only a cottontail hustling through the brush. Whoever's coming will
strike the bluff on the other side," he said. "Night's kind of wild;
pity it won't rain. Crops on light soil are getting badly cut."

George glanced up at the patch of sky above the dark mass of trees.
Black and threatening clouds drove across it; but during the past few
weeks he had watched them roll up from the west a little after noon
almost every day. For a while, they shadowed the prairie, promising
the deluge he eagerly longed for; and then, toward evening, they
cleared away, and pitiless sunshine once more scorched the plain.
Grain grown upon the stiff black loam withstood the drought, but the
light soil of the Marston farm was lifted by the wind, and the sharp
sand in it abraded the tender stalks. It might cut them through if the
dry weather and strong breeze continued; and then the crop which was to
cover his first expenses would yield him nothing.

"Yes," he returned moodily. "It looks as if it couldn't rain. We
ought to go in more for stock-raising; it's safer."

"Costs quite a pile to start with, and the ranchers farther west
certainly have their troubles. We had a good many calves missing, and
now and then prime steers driven off, when I was range-riding."

"I haven't heard of any cattle-stealing about here."

"No," said the teamster. "Still, I guess we may come to it; there are
more toughs about the settlement than there used to be. Indians have
been pretty good, but I've known them make lots of trouble in other
districts by killing beasts for meat and picking up stray horses. But
that was where they had mean whites willing to trade with them."

George considered this. It had struck him that the morality of the
country had not improved since he had last visited it; though this was
not surprising in view of the swarm of immigrants that were pouring in.
Grant had pithily said that once upon a time the boys had come there to
work; but it now looked as if a certain proportion had arrived on the
prairie because nobody could tolerate them at home. Flett and the
Methodist preacher seemed convinced that there were a number of these
undesirables hanging about Sage Butte, ready for mischief.

"Well," he said, "I suppose the first thing to be done