Page:Patches (1928).pdf/103

 A few minutes later Larry rolled himself up in his blankets on a bed of pine boughs by the camp fire. It had been a hard day, and notwithstanding a chilly wind and the distant howling of the coyotes he was soon sleeping soundly.

It did not seem to Larry that he had been sleeping five minutes when he was aroused by his uncle shaking him by the shoulder.

"Come on, son," he said, "it is our watch."

So Larry crawled reluctantly out of his warm blankets and he and his uncle and one other cow-puncher went to saddle their horses, and a few minutes later they relieved the other watch.

"You see," explained Uncle Henry, "we ride up and down around the herd, forty or fifty feet away from the cattle, just close enough to watch them and at the same time not to disturb them. You can sing if you want to, that will help to keep up your spirits. About this time of night the cattle are usually pretty quiet but two or three hours later they will get restless and begin to mill about. The two hours before daylight are the most dangerous period of the entire night watch, but everything is going to be all right to-night."

So Larry and Patches began their night vigil going up and down, while Larry sang to the cattle. He did not know many of the cattle songs so his repertoire was soon exhausted but he filled in with such old favorites