all wanted to drink at once, but it did not last long, and Bud, Nort
and Dick were glad when they could slip from their saddles, tossing the
reins over their ponies' heads as an intimation to the animals not to
stray.

"Oh boy! But I'm tired!" exclaimed Nort, sighing.

"Add hungry to that and I'm with you," said his brother. For there had
been days of long and difficult work in preparing this bunch of cattle
for shipment.

"Getting tired of the game?" asked Bud, as he rustled up some sticks of
greasewood to make a fire over which they might boil coffee and fry
bacon.

"Not on your life!" laughed Nort. "We're in the game to stick!"

"Sure thing!" asserted Dick.

They made a simple but ample meal over the camp fire and then, as
evening settled down over the vast prairies, and quiet enfolded them
like some soft mantle, they lay on their blankets and gazed at the
feeding cattle.

The steers were very quiet now, evidently feeling quite satisfied with
the manner in which they had been treated, and having, of course, no
intimation of the fate in store for them. They had food and water and
that is all they required. Overhead was the cloudless sky, in which
sparkling stars were beginning to stud themselves.

"I hope the market is well up in price when we get to the yards,"
observed Bud, idly chewing on a spear of grass.

"Yes, it would be dandy to get a big price for this stock," agreed Nort.

The boy ranchers were rapidly becoming interested in the business end
of their venture, as they had been, for some time, in the more
picturesque side. The difference of a fraction of a cent in the price
of cattle on the hoof meant the difference of several hundred of
dollars where there were many tons of meat to be considered.

"Well, we'd better ride herd a little while, to make sure they get
bedded down quietly," suggested Bud, as it began to get darker. "Then
we'll roll up and snooze ourselves."

This "bedding down" of the cattle, meaning thereby inducing them to get
quiet enough so they would lie down contentedly chewing their cuds, was
part of the routine of a cowboy's life.

"Some of 'em have already started in," observed Nort, as he went up to
his pony, which, with the other two animals, had been contentedly
grazing. "Looks like they'd lived here all their lives."

He indicated a score or more of the steer's that were stretched out on
the rich grass which at once formed their food and their bed.

"Yes, I r