hat we would not need any help to cross ours, but
to keep well out of our way, as we would try and cross by noon, which
ought to give him a good five-mile start. Well, we crossed and nooned,
lying around on purpose to give them a good lead, and when we hit the
trail back in these sand-hills, there he was, not a mile ahead, and
you can see there was no chance to get around. I intended to take
the Dodge trail, from this creek where we are now, but there we were,
blocked in! I was getting a trifle wolfish over the way they were
acting, so I rode forward to see what the trouble was.

"'Oh, I'm in no hurry. You're driving too fast. This is your first
trip, isn't it?' he inquired, as he felt of a pair of checked pants
drying on the wagon wheel.

"'Don't you let any idea like that disturb your Christian spirit, old
man,' I replied with some resentment. 'But if you think I am driving
too fast, you might suggest some creek where I could delude myself
with the idea, for a week or so, that it was not fordable.'

"Assuming an air of superiority he observed, 'You seem to have forgot
what I said to you yesterday.'

"'No, I haven't,' I answered, 'but are you going to stay all night
here?'

"'I certainly am, if that's any satisfaction to you,' he answered.

"I got off my horse and asked him for a match, though I had plenty
in my pocket, to light a cigarette which I had rolled during the
conversation. I had no gun on, having left mine in our wagon, but
fancied I'd stir him up and see how bad he really was. I thought it
best to stroke him with and against the fur, try and keep on neutral
ground, so I said,--

"'You ain't figuring none that in case of a run to-night we're a
trifle close together for cow-herds. Besides, my men on a guard last
night heard gray wolves in these sand-hills. They are liable to show
up to-night. Didn't I notice some young calves among your cattle
this morning? Young calves, you know, make larruping fine eating for
grays.'

"'Now, look here, Shorty,' he said in a patronizing tone, as though he
might let a little of his superior cow-sense shine in on my darkened
intellect, 'I haven't asked you to crowd up here on me. You are
perfectly at liberty to drop back to your heart's content. If wolves
bother us to-night, you stay in your blankets snug and warm, and
pleasant dreams of old sweethearts on the Trinity to you. We won't
need you. We'll try and worry along without you.'

"Two or three of his men laugh