Frank V. Webster

“ CHAPTER X DAVE WONDERS Giving utterance to this sneering remark Len Molick began to urge his horse forward, but, though his face flushed, and a sense of anger choked him, Dave remained cool as he put out a hand and caught the bridle of the other's steed.
"Not so fast, Len Molick!" Dave exclaimed.
"You may not want to talk to a nobody—that's your business—but you're going to talk to a somebody right now, and that somebody is I!" ”

“ Pushing, struggling, rearing with heads up against one another, bellowing and stampeding.
On the outside vainly rode two or three cowboys who were doing their best to keep the rearmost cattle from rushing over those in the front rank, who were nearest the water.
"What does it mean?" demanded Mr. Carson of Skinny, as he urged his horse forward. "What does it mean?"
"It's a stampede!" cried Dave. "Maybe Len is trying some of his mean tricks again."
"It's a trick, but it isn't any like that," said Skinny. "None of that
Molick crowd is around here now." ”

“ But once let a man be on foot, while the cattle do not actually attack him, they seem to lose all fear of him, and may trample ruthlessly over him. Then is when a cowpuncher's life depends on his steed. The cattle seem to regard horse and man as one and as a superior being to whom they must give place. That is why Dave did not want his horse to stumble and throw him. For his life, and that of his fine steed, Crow, would not have lasted a minute under the pounding rush of those sharp hoofs.
While thus riding wildly at the rushing steers Dave had many thoughts in his mind. ”

“ The cowboys themselves tipped back their big hats from their foreheads, which showed curiously white in contrast to their bronzed faces, and beat the dust from their trousers. A few of them wore sheepskin chaps.
One after another the punchers slung their legs across the saddle horns, tossed the reins over the heads of their steeds, as an intimation that the horses were not to stray, and then slid to the ground, walking with that peculiarly awkward gait that always marks one who has spent much of his life in the saddle.
"Grub ready, Hop Loy?" ”

“ Lots of the cowboys do. It isn't so much of a secret as you think. If you don't believe me ask your father—no, he ain't your father—but ask the Old Man himself. Just ask him what your name is, and where you came from, and see what he says."
Whitey was sneering now, and he chuckled as he looked at Len. Dave's face paled beneath his tan, and he did not answer.
A nameless, picked-up nobody! How the words stung! And he had considered himself, proudly considered himself, the son of one of the best-liked, best-known and most upright cattle raisers of the Rolling River country. ”

“ He could admire even an enemy's mount.
"Yes, but he can't keep up that speed," said Mr. Bellmore. "And our animals are fresh."
This was true, as during the fire-fighting the ponies of the Bar U ranch had been able to rest. Now they were fresh for the chase that was on. And a fierce chase it was.
Setting a prairie fire, when the person who did it could not but know it would eat its way toward a bunch of cattle, was a crime not far from horse stealing, than which there is no blacker offense in the West, where a man's life depends on his horse. ”

“ Dave said. "I'm going to call Mr. Carson dad until I find my real one—if I ever do. No matter what happens, even if I do find my real folks, I can't forget that he has been as good as a father to me."
"That's what he has, Dave," said the foreman, solemnly. "An' I hope you don't ever forget that. There's not many folks—not even a fellow's real ones—who can beat th' Old Man. He's th' real stuff an' twenty-four carats fine every time."
Together they urged the now quieted cattle toward the corral. ”

“ The flames were spreading in the dry, tinder-like grass, and for a moment Dave was worried. Then he reflected that the cowboys who were with the herd ought to be able to handle it, and, as Pete had said, the plowed strip would act in the same manner as had the burned area.
"We've got to take a chance," murmured Dave, "and it can't be a much worse chance than the one we took earlier in the night. And we must get that fellow!"
It would be the worst possible procedure to leave loose in the country so desperate a character as one who would deliberately start a prairie fire. ”

“ Then Dave, with a deep breath, murmured:
"Brothers! Is it possible?"
"Not only possible, but probable!" cried Mr. Bellmore. "We are brothers, I tell you, Dave! Your mention of that cork life-preserver almost proves it to me." ”

“ Dave's horse needed no urging toward the inviting water and soon both master and beast were drinking deeply. Dave also plunged his head down in a puddle and soused his arms and hands in it.
"There, I feel better," he said. "A heapsight better. And now what am I going to do with you?" he asked as he saw Len's abandoned horse cropping the grass near the tank. "I can't leave you here for rustlers to make off with. You're too good an animal, if you do belong to a mean skunk. And yet I don't feel like doing Len any favor. ”

“ His ankle would not yet permit him to step on it, but he managed to get about with the help of his horse. To-day he had ridden out in the chuck wagon to witness the round-up.
"Locating a good place to plant an irrigation scheme is child's play compared to this cattle business," went on Mr. Bellmore. "Still I suppose you get more or less used to it."
"In a way, yes," said Pocus Pete, who rode up just then. "But there are always some things you never can count on. Gimp's horse just broke his leg," he added, more to Dave than to the visitor. ”

“ For fire on the prairies means more than would at first seem, and when a herd of cattle is in its path it is a warning that must be heeded at once if one would save the stock.
If there is not actual danger from the fire itself, there is the risk of its stampeding the cattle causing them to make a mad rush in which many will be killed.
"Fire! Fire!" yelled Dave, but his first cry was enough. All the sleepers jumped to their feet, and an echoing cry came from the cowboys who, on the far side of the herd of cattle were riding around them to keep them from straying. ”

“ Bellmore!" burst out Dave. "Here I am keeping you talking, when I ought to be looking for your animal, and helping you to our ranch. I don't know what's got into me. But I just had some trouble with a bunch of our cattle, and I guess I'm thinking of that yet.
"I was on my way to the ranch to get help, when I took this short cut and heard you call. I'll go and see if I can find your horse. If I can't we'll use mine, and I can walk. It won't be the first time, though we cowpunchers are more used to a saddle than we are to our own legs." ”

“ He made up his mind that some day he would have a long talk with Mr. Carson, and see if there was not some way in which clews to his lost parents could be obtained.
"There must be some," reflected Dave.
Mr. Bellmore had almost recovered now. He could ride his horse about, and often accompanied Dave on the latter's trips. The Chicago man could limp about fairly well, but in the West, at least on the cattle ranges, little walking is done. If a person has only to go across the street it is the most natural thing in the world to leap to the saddle to cover the distance. ”

“ If there is time a fire can be started where one is standing. The wind will carry it in the same direction as that in which the main blaze is advancing, but ahead of it. Then, as the grass is burned off, and the ground cools, one can follow the second fire, getting far enough in toward the center of the area one has burned to be safe. But this method can not be used where the second fire would consume buildings or cattle, as would have been the case here.
"How'd you make out?" demanded Mr. Carson, as Dave and the others, smoke-begrimed and weary, rode up. ”

“ Pete himself took the right, and a moment later the two were riding along the front of the steers who were not running so fast now, being somewhat exhausted.
The object of Pete, seconded by Dave, was to turn the stream of cattle—to swing around the front ranks, and so bring those in the rear to a halt.
Often in a cattle stampede the front rank becomes exhausted, and the animals in it would willingly give up and cease running, but there is an irresistible pressure from those in the rear. And if those in front stop they know they will be trampled under foot. So they must keep on or be killed. ”

“ The horse, a beautiful and intelligent beast, raised his head, and looked at Dave approaching on Crow.
"Here you are, old boy. Kurd!" called the young ranchman again.
The other pony, who had been cropping the grass, moved off a short distance.
"That won't do!" Dave murmured. "If he once starts he'll keep going. Looks as if he had speed, too, but I think you can beat him, Crow, old boy," and he patted the neck of his faithful beast.
Kurd continued to amble slowly away. Then Dave thought of the sugar. ”

“ Gradually it grew in volume until a gushing stream filled the muddy bed of the stream.
"That's what was needed," murmured Dave. "That will save our cattle."
"Stop it! Let that dam alone!" yelled Len, over and over again. But no one paid any attention to him—not even the cowboys of the Centre O. They only smiled and rolled cigarettes. Perhaps they were glad to see Len beaten.
But the bully and Whitey Wasson were whispering together, and soon they rode off at a gallop.
"They've gone to get the Old Man," said one of the Bar U cowboys. ”

“ But even with the experienced help of Dave, and the well-meant efforts of Mr. Bellmore, the cattle could not be moved. They fought for places at the edge of the stream-which was a stream no longer, but only a slough, in which more than one fine steer was now mired.
"It's of no use," said Skinny, wearily, after a bit. "You can't budge 'em!
They'll have to die here."
"No they won't!" exclaimed the engineer.
"How are you goin' t' stop 'em?" asked another of the cowboys. "They can't get any water here, they won't leave, an' everybody knows that without water cattle can't live long." ”

“ Carson was not his father.
"I'm going to save those cattle!" Dave murmured over and over again, as he neared the frightened, tumultuous mass of steers. "But don't you stumble with me, Crow!"
For to stumble meant, very likely, the death of horse and rider. Cattle on the range are used to seeing mounted men—in fact they seldom see them otherwise, and for a mounted cowpuncher it is perfectly safe to ride in front of even a wildly running mass of steers. ”

“ But we had a perfect moral, if not a legal, right to do that," the Chicago man said.
They rode back slowly, and soon overtook Pocus Pete, who was ambling along on his injured pony.
"How'd he get away?" asked Pete, as he saw Dave leading the riderless horse. "Was there any shootin'?"
"No, nothing like that," Dave replied. "He jumped on the fast freight, and left his animal behind."
"Huh! Well, maybe it's jest as well," the foreman said. "It's one skunk less in a country that's got more than its share. That's a good horse," he went on, sizing up Len's mount. ”

“ I don't intend to leave you. I guess you know that. I haven't any other place to go. But I would like to know who I am. Maybe—maybe," and Dave's voice was husky, "I might have a—a sister somewhere in this world. Oh, what I'd give if I had!" and unshed tears shone in his eyes.
"Well, Dave, I never thought of it in just that way," said the ranchman. "Yes, what you say may be true. I'll send for this life belt of bottle corks, and let you look at it. Mind, I don't believe it will be of any use as a clew, but I'll send for it." ”

“ Mr. Carson was the "Old Man" referred to, but it was not at all a term of disrespect as applied to the ranch owner. It was perfectly natural to Pete to use that term, and Dave did not resent it.
"Yes, I'm glad dad did send me East," the young man went on, as they continued on their way up the trail. "I was mighty lonesome at first, and I felt—well, cramped, Pete. That's the only way to express it."
"I know how you felt, Dave. There wasn't room to breathe in th' city." ”

“ And while it is true that he may build the dam over again, after we cut through it, I don't so much care for that."
"A change will have to be made anyhow, but if you can get a little water, temporarily, to your cattle it will save them, and you can drive them to other ranges."
"Yes, I could do that," admitted the ranch-man.
"Then on to the dam!" cried the engineer, turning his horse as he spoke.
"Hurrah!" exclaimed Dave. "That's the way to talk!" ”