nds. You might also deliver a short lecture on the
danger of carrying the hammer of a pistol on a loaded cartridge. The
boys are young and may take the lesson seriously, but you're wasting
good breath on me. Call the boys--I'm an old dog."

"Gunshot wounds are the only crop in this country," continued the
doctor, ignoring the request, "not affected by the drouth. There's an
occasional outbreak of Texas fever among cattle, but that's not in my
department. Well, that bullet surely was hungry for muscle, but
fortunately it had a distaste for bone. This is just a simple case of
treatment and avoiding complications. Six weeks to two months and you
can buckle on your six-shooter again. Hereafter, better wear it on the
other side, and if another accident occurs, it'll give you a hitch in
each leg and level you up."

"But there may be no fool loafing around to borrow it," protested
Forrest.

"Never fear, son; the fool's eternal," replied the doctor, with a quiet
wink at the others.

The presence and unconcern of the old physician dispelled all
uneasiness, and the night passed without anxiety, save between the boys.
Forrest's lecture to Dell during the day, of the importance of making
friends with the drovers, the value of the water, the purchase of
disabled cattle, was all carefully reviewed after the boys were snugly
in bed. "Were you afraid of the men with the herd to-day?--afraid of the
cowboys?" inquired Dell, when the former subject was exhausted.

"Why, no," replied Joel rather scornfully, from the security of his
bunk; "who would be afraid? They are just like any other folks."

Dell was skeptical. "Not like the pictures of cowboys?--not shooting and
galloping their horses?"

"Why, you silly boy," said Joel, with contempt; "there wasn't a shot
fired, their horses were never out of a walk, never wet a hair, and they
changed to fresh ones at noon. The only difference I could see, they
wore their hats at dinner. And they were surely cowboys, because they
had over three thousand big beeves, and had come all the way
from Texas."

"I wish I could have gone," was Dell's only comment.

"Oh, it was a great sight," continued the privileged one. "The column of
cattle was a mile long, the trail twice as wide as a city street, and
the cattle seemed to walk in loose marching order, of their own accord.
Not a man carried a whip; no one even shouted; no one as much as looked
at the cattle; the men rode away off yonder. The her