daylight and catch up my own
horse; I'll let yuh take turns being flunky, and I'll expect yuh
to saddle my horse every morning and noon, and bring him to the
cook-tent--and hold my stirrup for me. Also, you are expected, at
all times and places, to anticipate my wants and fall over yourselves
waiting on me. You're just common, ordinary, forty-dollar cow-punchers,
and if I treat yuh white, it's because I pity yuh for not being up where
I am. Remember, vassals, that I'm your superior, mentally, morally,
socially--"

"Chap him!" yelled Pink, and made for him "I'll stand for a lot, but
don't yuh ever think I'm a vassal!"

"Mutiny is strictly prohibited!" he thundered. "Villains, beware!
Gadzooks--er--let's have a swim before the wagons come!"

They laughed and made for the creek, feeling rather crestfallen and a
bit puzzled.

"If I had an outfit like this to run, and a three hundred-mile drive to
make," Bob Nevin remarked to the Silent One, "blessed if I'd make a josh
of it! I'd cultivate the corrugated brow and the stiff spine--me!"

"My friend," the Silent One responded, "don't be too hasty in your
judgment. It's because the corrugated brow will come later that he
laughs now. You'll presently find yourself accomplishing the impossible
in obedience to the flicker of Rowdy Vaughan's eyelids. Man, did you
never observe the set of his head, and the look of his eye? Rowdy
Vaughan will get more out of this crowd than any man ever did; and if he
fails, he'll fail with the band playing 'Hot Time.'"

"Maybe so," Bob admitted, not quite convinced; "but I wonder if he
realizes what he's up against." At which the Silent One only smiled
queerly as he splashed into the water.

After dinner Rowdy caught up the blue roan, which was his favorite for
a hard ride--he seemed to have forgotten his speech concerning
"flunkies"--and rode away up the coulee which had brought them into the
field the night before. The boys watched him go, speculated a lot, and
went to sleep as the best way of putting in the afternoon.

Pink, who knew quite well what was in Rowdy's mind, said nothing at all;
it is possible that he was several degrees more jealous of the dignity
of Rowdy's position than was Rowdy himself, who had no time to think of
anything but the best way of getting the herd to Canada. He would like
to have gone along, only that Rowdy did not ask him to. Pink assured
himself that it was best for Rowdy not to start playing any favorites,