Page:Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch.djvu/135

Rh "Oh, I'd love to see a real stampede!" exclaimed Helen, who overheard this conversation.

"You would eh?" responded Jane Ann. "Well, here's hoping you never get your wish—eh, boys?"

"Not with the Bar-Cross-Naught outfit, Miss Jinny," agreed Bud, fervently.

"But it must be a wonderful sight to see so many steers rushing over the plain at once—all running as tight as they can run," urged the innocent Helen.

"Ya-as," drawled Jimsey. "But I want it to be some other man's cattle."

"But do you really ever have much trouble with the cattle?" asked Helen. "They all look so tame."

"Except Old Trouble-Maker," laughed her twin, who stood beside her.

"Looks jest like a picnic, herdin' them mooley-cows, don't it?" scoffed Jimsey.

"They'd ought to be on the night trick, once," said Jane Ann. "It's all right punching cows by daylight."

"What's the night trick?" asked Heavy.

"Night herding. That's when things happen to a bunch of cows," explained the ranchman's neice.

"I believe that must be fun," cried Ruth, who had come out upon the porch. "Can't we go