te stripe which covered the right
side of his face, including his ear and lower jaw, and continued in
a narrow band beginning on his withers and broadening as it extended
backward until it covered his hips. Aside from his good color the
ranchman was pleased with his sex, for a steer those days was better
than gold. So the cowman rode away with a pleased expression on his
face, but there is a profit and loss account in all things.

When the calf's mother returned she rewarded her offspring for
his obedience, and after grazing until dark, she led him into the
chaparral thicket and lay down for the night. Thus the first day of
his life and a few succeeding ones passed with unvarying monotony. But
when he was about a week old his mother allowed him to accompany her
to the river, where he met other calves and their dams. She was but a
three-year-old, and he was her first baby; so, as they threaded their
way through the cattle on the river-bank the little line-back calf was
the object of much attention. The other cows were jealous of him, but
one old grandmother came up and smelled of him benignantly, as if to
say, "Suky, this is a nice baby boy you have here."

Then the young cow, embarrassed by so much attention, crossed the
shallow river and went up among some hills where she had once ranged
and where the vining mesquite grass grew luxuriantly. There they spent
several months, and the calf grew like a weed, and life was one long
summer day. He could have lived there always and been content, for he
had many pleasures. Other cows, also, brought their calves up to
the same place, and he had numerous playmates in his gambols on the
hillsides. Among the other calves was a speckled heifer, whose dam
was a great crony of his own mother. These two cows were almost
inseparable during the entire summer, and it was as natural as the
falling of a mesquite bean that he should form a warm attachment for
his speckled playmate.

But this June-time of his life had an ending when late in the fall a
number of horsemen scoured the hills and drove all the cattle down to
the river. It was the first round-up he had ever been in, so he kept
very close to his mother's side, and allowed nothing to separate him
from her. When the outriders had thrown in all the cattle from the
hills and had drifted all those in the river valley together, they
moved them back on an open plain and began cutting out. There were
many men at the work, and after all th