Page:Bob Chester's Grit.djvu/199

Rh Merry Dick, however, mistook his silence for displeasure and exclaimed:

"I don't mean Firefly ain't a good pony. He's the best within fifty mile, so you didn't get stuck."

In due course of time, they reached a spot where a few trees surrounded a spring, and there the cowboy said they would pitch camp.

With surprise, he watched Bob hobble his pony and then rub him down, observing:

"I reckon you ain't so green as you make out."

Ignoring the left-handed compliment, Bob asked:

"What do I have to do with the cattle?"

"Mighty little, so long as you have the dog with you. He's as good as any cowboy." And then Merry Dick explained that Bob's duties lay in riding around and driving back the cattle that strayed from the herd, especially in the morning, and in case of a stampede, than which there is nothing more dreaded by cowboys, in outrunning the leaders and changing their direction, yelling and waving arms, until the frenzied animals are made to tire themselves out traveling in a circle.

The hours till twilight passed quickly with the stories the cowboy told of experiences he had had and had heard, in both of which he did not hesitate to draw freely on his imagination.

As the sunset bathed the plains in a glorious