le on him and bust him," they called
resoundingly.

Mose kept on steadily. At last, when all the other horses had been
turned loose, Kintuck, trembling, and with a curious stare in his eyes,
again allowed Mose to lay his hand on his nose. He shrank away, but did
not wheel. It was sunset, and the horse was not merely bewildered, he
was physically tired. The touch of his master's hand over his eyes
seemed to subjugate him, to take away his will. When Mose turned to walk
away the horse followed him as though drawn by some magnetic force, and
the herders looked at each other in amazement. Thereafter he had but to
be accustomed to the bridle and saddle, and to be taught the duties of a
cow horse. He had come to love his master.

This exploit increased the fame of "Dandy Mose," as the cowboys came to
call him, because of the nature of his dress. He was bronzed now, and a
very creditable brown mustache added to the maturity of his face. He was
gaunt with hard riding, and somber and reticent in manner, so that he
seemed to be much older than his years. Before the beef round-up was
ended, he could rope a steer fairly well, could cut out or hold the
herd as well as the best, and in pistol practice he had no equal.

He was well pleased with himself. He loved the swift riding, the night
watches, the voices of wolves, the turmoil of the camp, the rush of the
wild wide-horned herd, and the pounding roar of the relay horses as they
came flying into camp of a morning. It all suited well with the leaping
blood of his heart and the restless vigor of his limbs. He thought of
his old home very little--even Mary was receding into the mist of
distance.

When the beef herd was ready to be driven to the shipping point,
Reynolds asked him if he wished to go. He shook his head. "No, I'll stay
here." He did not say so, but he was still a little afraid of being
called to account for his actions in Running Bear. He saw the herd move
off with regret, for he would have enjoyed the ride exceedingly. He
cared little for the town, though he would have liked the opportunity to
make some purchases. He returned to the Reynolds ranch to spend the
autumn and the winter in such duties as the stock required.

As the great peaks to the west grew whiter and whiter, looming ever
larger at dawn, the heart of the boy grew restless. The dark canons
allured him, the stream babbled strange stories to him--tales of the
rocky spaces from which it came--until the bo