ack there that
the Pinto had the stuff in him."

Tad turned sharply to meet the smiling face of Big-foot Sanders, who,
sitting on his pony, had been watching the boy's efforts and nodding an
emphatic approval.

"You'll make a cowman all right," said Big-foot.

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAMP

The camp-fire was burning brightly when the first guard, having
completed its tour of duty, came galloping in.

In a few moments the sound of singing was borne to the ears of the
campers.

"What's the noise?" demanded Stacy Brown, sitting up with a half scared
look on his face.

"It's the 'Cowboy's Lament,'" laughed Bob Stallings. "Listen."

Off on the plain they heard a rich tenor voice raised in the song of the
cowman.

"Little black bull came down the hillside,
Down the hillside, down the hillside,
Little black bull came down the hillside,
Long time ago."

"I don't call that much of a song," sniffed Chunky contemptuously after
a moment of silence on the part of the group. "Even if I can't sing, I
can beat that."

"Better not try it out on the range," smiled the foreman.

"Not on the range? Why not?" demanded the boy.

"Bob thinks it might stampede the herd," spoke up Big-foot Sanders.

A loud laugh followed at Chunky's expense.

"When you get to be half as good a man on cows as your friend the Pinto,
here, you'll be a full grown man," added Big-foot. "The Pinto rounded up
a bunch of stray cows to-night as well as I could do it myself, and he
didn't go about it with a brass band either."

The foreman nodded, with an approving glance at Tad.

Tad's eyes were sparkling from the experiences of the evening, as well
as from the praise bestowed upon him by the big cowpuncher.

"The pony did most of it," admitted the lad. "I just gave him his head,
and that's all there was to it."

"More than most tenderfeet would have done," growled Big-foot.

Walter had gone out with the second guard, and the others had gathered
around the camp-fire for their nightly story-telling.

"Now, I don't want you fellows sitting up all night," objected the
foreman. "None of you will be fit for duty to-morrow. We've got a hard
drive before us, and every man must be fit as a fiddle. You can enjoy
yourselves sleeping just as well as sitting up."

"Humph!" grunted Curley Adams. "I'll give it as a horseback opinion that
the only way to enjoy such a night as this, is to sit up until you fall
asle