t hurt, and thanked the
Lord the tents were pitched close to the creek and out of the track of
the maddened herds.

Then they went back to bed to wait philosophically for daylight.

When Sunfish, between flashes, stumbled into a shallow washout, and sent
Thurston sailing unbeautifully over his head, Bob pulled up and slid off
his horse in a hurry.

"Yuh hurt, Bud?" he cried anxiously, bending over him. For Thurston,
from the very frankness of his verdant ignorance, had won for himself
the indulgent protectiveness of the whole outfit; not a man but watched
unobtrusively over his welfare--and Bob MacGregor went farther and
loved him whole-heartedly. His voice, when he spoke, was unequivocally
frightened.

Thurston sat up and wiped a handful of mud off his face; if it had not
been so dark Bob would have shouted at the spectacle. "I'm 'kinda sorter
shuck up like,"' he quoted ruefully. "And my nose is skinned, thank you.
Where's that devil of a horse?"

Bob stood over him and grinned. "My, I'm surprised at yuh, Bud! What
would your Sunday-school teacher say if she heard yuh? Anyway, yuh ain't
got any call to cuss Sunfish; he ain't to blame. He's used to fellows
that can ride."

"Shut up!" Thurston commanded inelegantly. "I'd like to see you ride a
horse when he's upside down!"

"Aw, come on," urged Bob, giving up the argument. "We'll be plumb lost
from the herd if we don't hustle."

They got into their saddles again and went on, riding by sound and the
rare glimpses the lightning gave them as it flared through the storm
away to the east.

"Wet?" Bob sung out sympathetically from the streaming shelter of his
slicker. Thurston, wriggling away from his soaked clothing, grunted a
sarcastic negative.

The cattle were drifting now before the storm which had settled to a
monotonous downpour. The riders--two or three men for every herd that
had joined in the panic--circled, a veritable picket line without the
password. There would be no relief ride out to them that night, and they
knew it and settled to the long wait for morning.

Thurston took up his station next to Bob; rode until he met the next
man, and then retraced his steps till he faced Bob again; rode until the
world seemed unreal and far away, with nothing left but the night and
the riding back and forth on his beat, and the rain that oozed through
his clothes and trickled uncomfortably down inside his collar. He lost
all count of time, and was startled when