eckon we'll have a quiet night," observed Bud.

The three chums slowly rode around the bunch of cattle, the lads
occasionally breaking into the chorus of some song.

The cattle seemed to like this singing--not that this is to be
considered a compliment to the voices of Nort, Dick and Bud, though
their tones were far from unmusical. But the fact is that animals of
most sorts are fond of music in any form, and nothing so seems to
soothe and quiet a bunch of cattle, especially at night, as the singing
of the herders.

Perhaps it is due to this fact that we have so many cowboy songs with
an interminable number of verses, in which there is little sense or
sequence--a mere jumble of words, often repeated. The cattle seem to
care more for the tune than for the sentiment.

At any rate the bunch from Flume Valley grew more quiet as the night
became darker, and when the remains of their camp fire gleamed dully in
the blackness, as they made their way back to it, Bud and his cousins
considered their work done for the day.

"We won't stand any regular watch," Bud said. "I think they'll be all
right. But if we should hear a disturbance--I mean any one of us--he
can awaken the others, and we'll do whatever we have to."

"And if we have any luck we won't have to roll out," observed Nort, as
he spread out his blankets and tarpaulin, which last was to keep the
dampness of the ground away.

"Then I'm going to cross my fingers for luck," observed Dick.

Save for the occasional distant howl of a coyote, or the uneasy
movement of an occasional steer, with, now and then, the clashing of
the horns of some of the beasts, there was silence in the camp. Bud
was the first to fall asleep, because he was more accustomed to this
sort of life than were his cousins. But they were rapidly falling in
with the ways of the west, which teaches a wayfarer to consider home
wherever he hangs up his hat, and his bed any place he can throw his
blanket and saddle.

But finally Nort and Dick dropped off into slumber, which became
sounder as the hours of night passed. All three of the boy ranchers
were tired and they were in the most healthful state imaginable,
brought about by their life in the open.

"What hour it was Dick had no idea, but he was suddenly awakened by
sensing some movement near him--too near for comfort considering his
exposed sleeping position. For he felt something cold and clammy at
the back of his neck, as though a chunk o