ne
was working his fastest.

"Hoodoo nothing! I guess maybe yuh can't see that bank uh
thunderheads. I guess your sight's poor, straining your eyes towards
the Fourth uh July ever since Christmas. If yuh think yuh can come
Christian Science act on a storm, and bluff it down jest by sayin' it
ain't there, you're away off. I ain't that big a fool; I--" he
trailed into profane words, for the calf he was at that minute
holding showed a strong inclination to plant a foot in Happy's
stomach.

Cal Emmett glanced over his shoulder, grunted a comprehensive
refutation of Happy Jack's fears and turned his whole attention to
work. The branding proceeded steadily, with the hurry of skill that
makes each motion count something done; for though not a man of them
except Happy Jack would have admitted it, the Happy Family was
anxious. With two hundred and fifty calves to be branded in the open
before night, on the third day of July; with a blistering sun sapping
the strength of them and a storm creeping blackly out of the
southwest; with a picnic tugging their desires and twenty-five long
prairie miles between them and the place appointed, one can scarce
wonder that even Pink and Weary--born optimists, both of them--eyed
the west anxiously when they thought no one observed them. Under
such circumstances, Happy Jack's pessimism came near being
unbearable; what the Happy Family needed most was encouragement.

The smoke hung thicker in the parched air and stung more sharply
their bloodshot, aching eyeballs. The dust settled smotheringly upon
them, filled nostrils and lungs and roughened their patience into
peevishness. A calf bolted from the herd, and a "hold-up" man
pursued it vindictively, swearing by several things that he would
break its blamed neck--only his wording was more vehement. A cinder
got in Slim's eye and one would think, from his language, that such a
thing was absolutely beyond the limit of man's endurance, and a blot
upon civilization. Even Weary, the sweet-tempered, grew irritable
and heaped maledictions on the head of the horse-wrangler because he
was slow about bringing a fresh supply of water. Taken altogether,
the Happy Family was not in its sunniest mood.

When Patsy shouted that supper was ready, they left their work
reluctantly and tarried just long enough to swallow what food was
nearest. For the branding was not yet finished, and the storm
threatened more malignantly.

Chip saddled Silver, h