king of the wind:

"Those cattle will be here in five minutes! If you don't have that fence
repaired before then, you drift with them, hoofing it!"

In the allotted time they repaired the fence, working with breathless
energy, while Lawler stood near, the menacing gun in hand, a saturnine
smile wreathing his face.

When the herd reached the fence there was no break in it. More--where
the break had been were three men on horses who took instant charge,
easing the cattle down along the fence, heading them eastward toward the
shelter they were sure to find if they kept going.

The three men followed the cattle for a mile--until they were going
straight and fast toward the home ranch. Then Lawler, smiling with
bitter humor, motioned the men toward the back trail.

They seemed to know what was demanded of them. They wheeled their
horses, sending them into the billowy white smother that was now coming
in a gigantic wave toward them.

The southern light had gone. A dense blackness, out of which roared a
gale that robbed them of their breath, struck them. The snow was hurled
against them like a sand blast, biting deep, blinding them.

It took them more than an hour to travel the distance that lay between
the point at which they had cut the fence, and the line cabin. And when
they reached a windbreak near the structure the two men rode behind it,
silent, thankful.

Lawler had ridden forth, prepared for bad weather. His face was now
muffled in a huge scarf that encircled his neck, and his eyes were
shielded by the peak of the fur cap he wore. He dismounted, waved the
men toward a dugout, and watched them as they dismounted and led their
horses through a narrow door. When the men emerged Lawler led the big
red horse in, leaving the men to stand in the white gale that enveloped
them.

The wind was now roaring steadily, and with such force that no man could
have faced it with uncovered face. It came over the vast emptiness of
the northern spaces with a fury that sent into one the consciousness
that here was an element with which man could not cope.

Lawler emerged from the dugout and closed the door behind him. He barred
it, turned and motioned the two men toward the cabin. He followed them
as they opened the door and entered. Then, after closing the door and
barring it, he lifted the peak of his cap, removed the scarf from his
neck, glanced around the interior of the cabin and looked coldly at the
men.

"Well," he sai