irty-pound giant jump
you."

"I ain't askin' it of 'em," Bandy retorted. "I can look out for myself
an' then some. As for this sprout who thinks he's so gosh-mighty, I'll
jus' say one thing. Some o' these days I'll settle with him proper."

He turned as he spoke. The look on his battered face was venomous.

CHAPTER XXIV

IN THE SADDLE

White winter covered the sage hills and gave the country a bleak and
desolate look. The Slash Lazy D riders wrapped up and went out over the
wind-swept mesas to look after the cattle cowering in draws or drifting
with the storm. When Bob could sleep snugly in the bunkhouse he was
lucky. There were nights when he shivered over a pine-knot fire in the
shelter of a cutbank with the temperature fifteen degrees below zero.

At this work he won the respect of his fellows. He could set his teeth
and endure discomfort with any of them. It was at sharp danger crises
that he had always quailed. He never shirked work or hardship, and he
never lied to make the way easier or more comfortable. Harshaw watched
him with increasing approval. In Dillon he found all but one of the
essential virtues of the cowboy--good humor, fidelity, truth, tenacity,
and industry. If he lacked courage in the face of peril the reason was no
doubt a constitutional one.

A heavy storm in February tried the riders to capacity. They were in the
saddle day and night. For weeks they appeared at the ranch only at odd
intervals, haggard, unshaven, hungry as wolves. They ate, saddled fresh
mounts, and went out into the drifts again tireless and indomitable.

Except for such food as they could carry in a sack they lived on elk
trapped in the deep snow. The White River country was one of the two or
three best big game districts in the United States.[3] The early settlers
could get a deer whenever they wanted one. Many were shot from the doors
of their cabins.

While Harshaw, Dud, and Bob were working Wolf Creek another heavy snow
fell. A high wind swept the white blanket into deep drifts. All day the
riders ploughed through these to rescue gaunt and hungry cattle. Night
caught them far from the cabin where they had been staying.

They held a consultation. It was bitter weather, the wind still blowing.

"Have to camp, looks like," Harshaw said.

"We'll have a mighty tough night without grub and blankets," Dud said
doubtfully. "She's gettin' colder every minute."

"There's a sheltered draw below here. We'll get a