answered the cowboy. "I know my business."

"Hold on!" Roosevelt exclaimed an instant later, "you are putting on
my brand."

"That's all right. I always put on the boss's brand."

"Drop that iron," said Roosevelt quietly, "and go to the ranch and get
your time. I don't need you any longer."

The cowpuncher was amazed. "Say, what have I done? Didn't I put on
your brand?"

"A man who will steal _for_ me will steal _from_ me. You're fired."

The man rode away. A day or so later the story was all over the Bad
Lands.

Roosevelt was scarcely more tolerant of ineffectiveness than he was of
dishonesty. When a man was sent to do a piece of work, he was expected
to do it promptly and thoroughly. He brooked no slack work and he had
no ear for what were known as "hard-luck stories." He gave his orders,
knowing why he gave them; and expected results. If, on the other hand,
a man "did his turn" without complaint or default, Roosevelt showed
himself eager and prompt to reward him.

His companions saw these things, and other things. They saw that "the
boss" was quick-tempered and impatient of restraint; but they saw also
that in times of stress the hot-headed boy seemed instantly to grow
into a cautious and level-headed man, dependable in hardship and cool
in the face of danger. He was, as one of them put it, "courageous
without recklessness, firm without being stubborn, resolute without
being obstinate. There was no element of the spectacular in his
make-up, but an honest naturalness that won him friends instantly."

"Roosevelt out in Dakota was full of life and spirit, always
pleasant," said Bill Sewall in after years. "He was hot-tempered and
quick, but he kept his temper in good control. As a rule, when he had
anything to say, he'd spit it out. His temper would show itself in the
first flash in some exclamation. In connection with Roosevelt I always
think of that verse in the Bible, 'He that ruleth his spirit is
greater than he that taketh a city.'"

"He struck me like a sort of rough-an'-ready, all-around
frontiersman," said "Dutch Wannigan." "Wasn't a bit stuck up--just the
same as one of the rest of us."

Joe Ferris, who frankly adored Roosevelt, declared to a crowd at his
store one day, "I wouldn't be surprised if Roosevelt would be
President."

His hearers scoffed at him. "That fool Joe Ferris," remarked one of
them at his own ranch that night, "says that Roosevelt will be
President some day."

But Joe held