ad to point
the way, and he told them to head for the Wash Bowl; which they did with
praiseworthy zeal and scant pity for the sheep.

When at last, after a slow, heartbreaking climb up a long, bare ridge,
Pink and Irish paused upon the brow of a slope and let the trail-weary
band spill itself reluctantly down the steep slope beyond, the sun stood
high in the blue above them and their stomachs clamored for food; by
which signs they knew that it must be near noon.

When the last sheep had passed, blatting discordantly, down the bluff,
Weary halted the sweating herders for a parting admonition.

"We don't aim to deal you any more misery, for a while, if you stay
where you're at. You're only working for a living, like the rest of
us--but I must say I don't admire your trade none. Anyway, I'll send
some of your bunch down here with grub and beds. This is good enough
range for sheep. You keep away from the Flying U and nobody'll bother
you. Over there in them trees," he added, pointing a gloved finger
toward a little grove on the far side of the basin, "you'll find a
cabin, and water. And, farther down the river there's pretty good grass,
in the little bottoms. Now, git."

The herders looked as if they would enjoy murdering them all, but they
did not say a word. With their dogs at heel they scrambled down
the bluff in the wake of their sheep, and the Happy Family, rolling
cigarettes while they watched them depart, told one another that this
settled that bunch; they wouldn't bed down in the Flying U door-yard
that night, anyway.

CHAPTER XI. Weary Unburdens

Hungry with the sharp, gnawing hunger of healthy stomachs accustomed
to regular and generous feeding; tired with the weariness of healthy
muscles pushed past their accustomed limit of action; and hot with the
unaccustomed heat of a blazing day shunted unaccountably into the midst
of soft spring weather, the Happy Family rode out of the embrace of
the last barren coulee and up on the wide level where the breeze swept
gratefully up from the west, and where every day brought with it a
deeper tinge of green into its grassy carpet.

Only for this harassment of the Dot sheep, the roundup wagons would
be loaded and ready to rattle abroad over the land. Meadow larks and
curlews and little, pert-eyed ground sparrows called out to them that
roundup time was come. They passed a bunch of feeding Flying U cattle,
and flat-ribbed, bandy-legged calves galloped in brief panic