time I
ever meets up with a Yellowstone brand on the Canadian.

"You-all can put down a bet I'm no idle an' listless looker-on that
blizzard time; an' I grows speshul active at the close. It behooves us
Red River gents of cattle to stir about. The wild hard-ridin'
knight-errants of the rope an' spur who cataracts themse'fs upon us with
their driftin' cattle doorin' said tempest looks like they're plenty
cap'ble of drivin' our steers no'th with their own, sort o' makin' up the
deeficiencies of the storm.

"I brands over four thousand calves the spring before, which means I has
at least twenty thousand head,--or five times what I
brands--skallihootin' an' hybernatin' about the ranges. An' bein' as
you-all notes some strong on cattle, an' not allowin' none for them
Yellowstone adventurers to drive any of 'em no'th, I've got about 'leven
outfits at work, overhaulin' the herds an' round-ups, an' ridin' round
an' through 'em, weedin' out my brand an' throwin' 'em back on my Red
River range. I has to do it, or our visitin' Yellowstone guests would
have stole me pore as Job's turkey.

"Whatever is a 'outfit' you asks? It's a range boss, a chuck waggon with
four mules an' a range cook, two hoss hustlers to hold the ponies, eight
riders an' a bunch of about seventy ponies--say seven to a boy. These
yere 'leven outfits I speaks of is scattered east an' west mebby she's
a-hundred miles along the no'th fringe of my range, a-combin' an'
a-searchin' of the bunches an' cuttin' out all specimens of my brand when
found. For myse'f, personal, I'm cavortin' about on the loose like,
stoppin' some nights at one camp' an' some nights at another, keepin'
cases on the deal.

"It's at one of my camps one evenin' when I crosses up first with this
yere Hardrobe. His boy, Bloojacket, is with him. Hardrobe himse'f is
mebby goin' on fifty, while Bloojacket ain't more'n say twenty-one.
Shore, they're out for cattle, too; them savages has a heap of cattle,
an' since they finds their brands an' bunches same as the rest of us all
tangled up with the Yellowstone aliens doorin' the blizzard, Hardrobe an'
his boy Bloojacket rides up an' asks can they work partners with a outfit
of mine.

"As I explains previous I'm averse to Injuns, but this Hardrobe is a
onusual Injun; an' as he's settin' in ag'inst a stiff game the way things
is mixed up, an' bein' only him an' his boy he's too weak to protect
himse'f, I yields consent, I yields the more pl