by their moanin'. It was real
cold now, an' the poor bunch of beeves stood in the snow with their
heads held low, with icicles hanging from their eyes, groanin'
something pitiful. They never moved. Just stood there while the snow
drifted up around their haunches. What I was afraid of was a drift.
Not a drift of snow, but a drift of cattle.

"I knew those steers would only stay still a certain length of time,
then one of them would start movin' leaward, with the whole bunch
followin'. And they'd march that way into the snow, until every
blessed one of them dropped, and died where it fell. First the little
calves. Then the mothers, who'd stick by their babies until they died,
too. Then the cows of the herd who weren't so strong. An' last, some
big, proud long-horn would drop in his tracks an' die. An' there
wouldn't be nothin' left of the herd except dots in the snow along the
path. That's what we call a drift.

"I knew if they ever started driftin' I couldn't save them. I could
try to turn them by rushin' my bronc into them, but it wouldn't do no
good. It needs at least six men to do that job. An' even then, if
they once get well started, I don't think they'd turn aside fer
_nothin'_. So I just sat on my pony an' waited. The snow kept gettin'
higher, and the wind colder an' colder. The cows were moanin' heavy
now. I saw 'em shift once or twice, an' my heart went in my throat,
but they settled down once more to just breathin' hard. How I did hope
that Joe made the ranch. I sort of felt that if help didn't come soon
the drift would start. It takes so long for a cow to get the idea she
wants to move, and when she gets the notion into her head, her legs
start goin' themselves, an' keep goin' until something bigger and
stronger than she is stops her. I knew that the only thing would stop
this bunch, once they started, would be death.

"All of a sudden the moanin' of the cattle grew louder. I rode up
close to them an' saw what the reason was, and it made me catch my
breath. A big cow was steppin' slowly out, head low, right into the
gale. The drift had started.

"I rode hard at the brute that was leadin'. She never paid no
attention to me whatever. Then I drew my gun and shot her, but the cow
behind kept right on goin'. An' back of her the rest started movin'.
Unless something happened quick the show was over.

"Then I heard what I'd been hopin' an' prayin' for--a yell! Through
the screamin'