"If you were a vealy tow-headed kid, I'd have something to say to you,
but you're old enough to be my father, and that silences me. But
try and remember that this is a wolf hunt, and that there are enough
wolves in that brush this minute to kill ten thousand dollars' worth
of cattle this winter and spring, and some of them will be your own.
That turkey might eat a few grasshoppers, but you're cowman enough to
know that a wolf just loves to kill a cow while she's calving."

This lecture was interrupted by a long cheer coming up the line from
below, and Miller galloped away to ascertain its cause. He met Lynch
coming up, who reported that several wolves had been sighted, while at
the lower end of the line some of the boys had been trying their guns
up and down the river to see how far they would carry. What caused the
recent shouting was only a few fool cowboys spurting their horses
in short races. He further expressed the opinion that the line would
hold, and at the close with the cordon thickened, everything would be
forced into the pocket. Miller rode back down the line with him
until he met a man from his own camp, and the two changing horses, he
hurried back to oversee personally the mounting of the beaters when
the grove had been passed.

Reese, after the captain's reproof, turned his trophy over to some
of the men, and was bringing his line down and closing up with the
forward movement of the drive. On Miller's return, no fault could be
found, as the line was condensed to about a mile in length, while the
beaters on the points were just beginning to emerge from the chaparral
and anxious for their horses. Once clear of the grove, the beaters
halted, maintaining their line, while from either end the horse
wranglers were distributing to them their mounts. Again secure in
their saddles, the long yell circled through the plum thickets and
reechoed down the line, and the drive moved forward at a quicker
pace. "If you have any doubts about hell," said Cave to Miller, as the
latter rode by, "just take a little _pasear_ through that thicket once
and you'll come out a defender of the faith."

The buck and doe came out within sight of the line once more, lower
down opposite the sand dunes, and again turned back, and a half hour
later all ears were strained listening to the rapid shooting from the
farther bank of the river. Rebuffed in their several attempts to force
the line, they had taken to the water and were swimming