. Miss Jean was anxious
to have the stock shown, and in spite of my lameness I ordered saddle
horses for both of us. Unable to wear a boot and still hobbling on
crutches, I managed to Indian mount an old horse, my left foot still too
inflamed to rest in the stirrup. From the ranch we rode for the encinal
ridges and sandy lands to the southeast, where the fallow-weed still
throve in rank profusion, and where our heaviest steers were liable to
range. By riding far from the watering points we encountered the older
cattle, and within an hour after leaving the ranch I was showing some of
the largest beeves on Las Palomas.

How that beef buyer did ride! Scarcely giving the cattle a passing look,
he kept me leading the way from place to place where our salable stock
was to be encountered. Avoiding the ranchitos and wells, where the cows
and younger cattle were to be found, we circled the extreme outskirts of
our range, only occasionally halting, and then but for a single glance
over some prime beeves. We turned westward from the encinal at a gallop,
passing about midway between Santa Maria and the home ranch. Thence we
pushed on for the hills around the head of the Ganso. Not once in the
entire ride did we encounter any one but a Mexican vaquero, and there
was no relief for my foot in meeting him! Several times I had an
inclination to ask Mr. Orahood to remember my sore ankle, and on
striking the broken country I suggested we ride slower, as many of our
oldest beeves ranged through these hills. This suggestion enabled me to
ease up and to show our best cattle to advantage until the sun set. We
were then twenty-five miles from the ranch. But neither distance nor
approaching darkness checked Wayne Orahood's enthusiasm. A dozen times
he remarked, "We'll look at a few more cattle, son, and then ride in
home." We did finally turn homeward, and at a leisurely gait, but not
until it was too dark to see cattle, and it was several hours after
darkness when we sighted the lamps at headquarters, and finished the
last lap in our afternoon's sixty-mile ride.

My employer and Mr. Orahood had met before, and greeted each other with
a rugged cordiality common among cowmen. The others had eaten their
supper; but while the buyer and I satisfied the inner man, Uncle Lance
sat with us at the table and sparred with Orahood in repartee, or asked
regarding mutual friends, artfully avoiding any mention of cattle.
But after we had finished Mr. Orahoo