rpreted the sound which
had roused him. A distant rumble reached her and the surface of the
earth seemed to vibrate faintly beneath her feet. She knew the jar for
the pounding of thousands of hoofs, the drone for the far-off bawling
of frightened cows. A low black line filled the valley from side to
side, rushing straight on up the gently-sloping bottoms for the Three
Bar flat.

"They're on us," Harris said. "I might have known. Get back to the
house--quick!"

As they ran she noticed that his eyes were not upon the surging mass of
cows in the valley but were trained on the broken slopes back of the
house.

"Anyway, they don't want you," he said. "We'll do the best we can."

Waddles stood in the door of the cookhouse, his big face flushed with
wrath as he gazed at the oncoming sea of cows. He reached up and took
the shotgun which reposed on two pegs above the door.

He slammed the heavy door and dropped the bar as they sprang inside.

"I made that prediction about clipping Slade's claws too soon," Harris
said. "What with Slade locked up and Morrow six feet underground, I
was overconfident. I might have known it was planned ahead."

His face was lined with anxiety, an expression she had never before
seen him wear even in the face of emergency. She had no time to
question him about the assertions relative to Morrow and Slade.

The front rank of the stampede was bearing down on the lower fence.
The barrier went down as so much spider web before the drive; posts
were broken short, wire was snapped and dragged, and three thousand
head of cows pounded on across the meadows.

The girl had a sickening realization that the work of a year would be
blotted out in a space of seconds under those churning hoofs. It
seemed that she must die of sheer grief as she witnessed the complete
devastation of the fields she had watched day by day with such loving
care. The stampede swept the full length of the meadow and held on for
the house. The acute stab of her grief was dulled and replaced by a
mental lethargy. The worst had happened and she viewed the rest of the
scene with something akin to indifference.

The foremost cows struck the corrals and they went down with a
splintering crash under the pressure from behind. She looked out on a
sea of tossing horns and heaving backs as the herd rushed through, the
heavy log buildings shaking from the mass of animals jammed against
them and squeezing past.

The force of