some little time, a bright flash of lightning
revealed to me an old deserted cabin a few rods below. To this shelter
I turned without even a bid, unsaddled my horse and picketed him, and
turned into the cabin for the night. Early the next morning I was out
and saddled my horse, and the question was, Which way is camp? As soon
as the sun rose clearly, I got my bearings. By my reasoning, if the
river yesterday was south of camp, this morning the wagon must be north
of the river, so I headed in that direction. Somehow or other I stopped
my horse on the first little knoll, and looking back towards the bottom,
I saw in a horseshoe which the river made a large bunch of cattle. Of
course I knew that all herds near about were through cattle and under
herd, and the absence of any men in sight aroused my curiosity. I
concluded to investigate it, and riding back found over five hundred
head of the cattle we had lost the night before. 'Here's a chance to
make a record with my new boss,' I said to myself, and circling in
behind, began drifting them out of the bottoms towards the uplands. By
ten o'clock I had got them to the first divide, when who should ride up
but the owner, the old cowman himself--the sure enough big auger.

"'Well, son,' said my boss, 'you held some of them, didn't you?' 'Yes,'
I replied, surly as I could, giving him a mean look, 'I've nearly ridden
this horse to death, holding this bunch all night. If I had only had a
good man or two with me, we could have caught twice as many. What kind
of an outfit are you working, anyhow, Captain?' And at dinner that day,
the boss pointed me out to the others and said, 'That little fellow
standing over there with the button shoes on is the only man in my
outfit that is worth a --------.'"

The cook had finished his work, and now joined the circle. Parent began
regaling us with personal experiences, in which it was evident that he
would prove the hero. Fortunately, however, we were spared listening
to his self-laudation. Dorg Seay and Tim Stanley, bunkies, engaged in a
friendly scuffle, each trying to make the other get a firebrand for his
pipe. In the tussle which followed, we were all compelled to give way or
get trampled underfoot. When both had exhausted themselves in vain, we
resumed our places around the fire. Parent, who was disgusted over the
interruption, on resuming his seat refused to continue his story at the
request of the offenders, replying, "The more I see of