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 been misjudged would have known. They all felt easier for the truce. They drew breath with a lighter and freer feeling, as people always do when the mists of prejudice and suspicion have been blown away.

Bill turned and looked back as if estimating the job he had laid out for himself. There were more cattle waiting to cross the river than Dunham ever had seen together at one time outside the stockyards at Kansas City. Four thousand in the open looked more impressive to him than twenty thousand in the stockyards pens.

The anxious cowboys were looking ahead for some signal, making little effort to hold the cattle in marching order. As the minutes passed the animals spread to graze, inaction during working hours being strange to the program of their lives. They had been bred on a range where constant foraging was necessary to existence. This luxurious pasture presented allurements which even a strong-minded Texas white-face could not resist.

"That's a lot of cows," Bill said, speaking mainly to himself. He turned to Hughes again, briskly. "They used to say I was a damn fool where I was raised, and I don't blame you if the same thing's passin' in your mind. I'm used to it. It does look kind of foolish for a greenhorn to tell a cattleman like you what to do with his herd, but you'll have to act on my suggestion if you want to be ready to take advantage of my scheme."

"Shoot," said Hughes.

Bob fidgeted in his saddle, not impressed by Dun-