ted as if he knew it and
gloried in the escapade quite as much as did his lady.

The cattle spied them and went trotting away up the river, and Blue
quickened his stride a little and followed after. Billy Louise left
the reins loose upon his neck. Blue could handle cattle alone quite as
skillfully as with a rider, if he chose.

The cattle dodged into a fringe of bushes close to the river and
disappeared, which was queer, since the bluff curved in close to the
bank at that point. Blue pricked up his ears and went clattering
after, slowed a little at the willow-fringe, stuck his nose straight
out before him, and went in confidently. The cattle were just ahead.
He could smell them, and his listening ears caught their heavy
breathing. It was very rocky there in the willows, and he must pick
his way with much care. But when he crashed through on the far side,
and Billy Louise straightened from leaning low along his neck to avoid
the stinging branches, the cattle gave a snort and went lumbering away,
still following the river.

This was another small, grassy bottom. Blue went galloping after them,
indignant that they should even attempt to elude him. They were making
for the head of that pocket, and Billy Louise twitched the reins
suggestively. Blue obeyed the hint, which proved that the human brain
is greater in strategy than is brute instinct, and raced in an angle
from the fleeing cattle. Billy Louise leaned and called to him sharply
for more speed; called for it and got it. They jumped a washout that
the cattle went into and out of with great lunges, farther down toward
its mouth. They gained a little there, and by a burst of hard running
they gained more on the level beyond.

The cattle began to swerve away from them, closer to the river. Blue
pulled ahead a little, swerving also, and as Billy Louise tightened the
reins, he slowed and circled them craftily until they huddled on the
steep bank, uncertain which way to go. Billy Louise pulled Blue down
to a walk as she drew near and eyed the cattle sharply. They did not
look like any of hers, after all. There were five dry cows and two
steers.

One of the steers stood broadside to Billy Louise. The brand stared
out from his dingy red side, the most conspicuous thing about him.
Billy Louise caught her breath. There was no faintest line that failed
to drive its message into her range-trained brain. She stared and
stared. Blue looked around at her inq