Page:Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch.djvu/149

Rh plained the girl from the East. "Why doesn't he try something a bit livelier?"

"You don't want to whistle a jig-tune to keep cows quiet," Jane Ann responded, sagely.

The entire herd seemed astir now. There was a sultriness in the air quite unfamiliar on the range. The electricity still glowed along the horizon; but it seemed so distant that the girls much doubted Darcy's prophecy of rain.

The cattle continued to move about and crop the short herbage. Few of them remained "bedded down." In the distance another voice was raised in song. Ruth's mount suddenly jumped to one side, snorting. A huge black steer rose up and blew a startled blast through his nostrils.

"Gracious! I thought that was a monster rising out of the very earth! And so did Freckles, I guess," cried Ruth, with some nervousness. "Whoa, Freckles! Whoa, pretty!"

"You sing, too, Ruthie," advised her friend. "We don't want to start some foolish steer to running."

The Eastern girl's sweet voice—clear and strong—rang out at once and the two girls rode on their way. The movement of the herd showed that most of the cattle had got upon their feet; but there was no commotion.

As they rode around the great herd they occasionally passed a cowboy riding in the other direc-