d to see a herd of cattle
in the distance. Pausing, he gazed at them interestedly, noticing that
they were moving steadily instead of grazing. What this meant, he was at
a loss to understand until of a sudden he saw three men on horseback
emerge from the herd and, with arms waving, ride like mad to the head of
the line and gradually change the direction of the cattle away from the
track.

No need was there to tell him the riders were cowboys, and Bob thrilled
with excitement as he watched their wonderful riding. But he did not
wait till they were out of sight. Instead, he quickened his pace,
murmuring:

"The sooner I get to Mr. Ford's, the sooner I'll be a cowboy."

The walk on the track was tiresome, however, unaccustomed to such rough
traveling as he was, and it was with a sigh of relief that he finally
caught sight of a group of buildings, one of which had a red-top roof.

"That must be the place," he exclaimed and, quickly leaving the track,
started across the prairie. But Bob found that walking on the ties was
easy compared to forcing his way through waist-high grass and stubborn
sage-brush.

CHAPTER XIX

AN AMAZING RECEPTION

At last, however, Bob emerged into a clearing and stopped to survey the
group of buildings. The one with the red roof faced the track and was
built of logs. It was only one story high and about twenty feet long.
The other two stood one on each side and were about twice as long but no
higher. Back of the building, toward the west, was an enclosure
surrounded by a high fence.

Had any one familiar with ranches been with Bob, they could have told
him that enclosure was the corral, into which the cowboys turned their
ponies when at the ranch, that the long building nearest the corral was
the bunkhouse for the cowboys, and that the other long structure was the
eating-house and storeroom of the ranch. But it was not long before Bob
learned these facts for himself.

To all appearances, there was not a soul in any of the three houses and,
as Bob stood gazing at them, trying to discover some sign of life, for
he was loath to take the long tramp back to Fairfax without at least
having asked Ranchman Ford for a job, he was suddenly startled to see a
huge dog bounding toward him, its lips drawn back disclosing
wickedly-long fangs.

Bob's first impulse was to flee, but such tremendous leaps did the
creature take that he realized it would be only a few minutes before the
dog would ove