llars."

This knowledge of the expense to which Mr. Nichols had been put to
provide him with a mount, for Bob believed it was he who had ordered the
agent so to do, grieved the boy and he became silent, wondering if he
should not send back the one hundred dollars present in part payment.

Merry Dick, however, mistook his silence for displeasure and exclaimed:

"I don't mean Firefly ain't a good pony. He's the best within fifty
mile, so you didn't get stuck."

In due course of time, they reached a spot where a few trees surrounded
a spring, and there the cowboy said they would pitch camp.

With surprise, he watched Bob hobble his pony and then rub him down,
observing:

"I reckon you ain't so green as you make out."

Ignoring the left-handed compliment, Bob asked:

"What do I have to do with the cattle?"

"Mighty little, so long as you have the dog with you. He's as good as
any cowboy." And then Merry Dick explained that Bob's duties lay in
riding around and driving back the cattle that strayed from the herd,
especially in the morning, and in case of a stampede, than which there
is nothing more dreaded by cowboys, in outrunning the leaders and
changing their direction, yelling and waving arms, until the frenzied
animals are made to tire themselves out traveling in a circle.

The hours till twilight passed quickly with the stories the cowboy told
of experiences he had had and had heard, in both of which he did not
hesitate to draw freely on his imagination.

As the sunset bathed the plains in a glorious red, the two rode out and
drove the straggling cattle back to the herd, and then Merry Dick showed
Bob how to boil coffee over a bed of coals and fry bacon by holding it
on a fork.

As night fell, many sounds reached the boy's ears, but none scared him
except the melancholy howl of the coyotes.

Without incident the hours of darkness passed and the two days that
Merry Dick was with him, and, on the third, Ford rode over to see how
they were getting along.

"He'll do," announced the cowboy, nodding toward Bob.

"Then you can go back to the others," returned his boss, who remained
with the boy.

Day followed day with monotonous regularity, and many a time Bob was
glad of the dog's company. Several times Thomas came to see him,
bringing letters from both Mr. Perkins and Mr. Nichols and taking back
Bob's answers, which told of his experiences, gratitude for their
assistance, and delight in his new life.

O