sn't see, at least, that's ther way he explains ter
me later, an' he slams ther door in my face jest ez ther cow arrives.

"My only chance is ter keep runnin', an' I starts around ther house,
hopin' that when I gits ter ther door ag'in Fleshy will have discovered
his mistake, an' have it open hospitablelike fer me, but cold feet fer
ther cow.

"But, no, ther door is closed an' bolted, an' I start on another lap
around ther house with Mrs. Cow a-snortin' an' a-blowin' in my immediate
vicinity, an' comin' fast. Every time I hit ther ground with my hoofs I
grunted 'woof.' I wuz gittin' winded, what with runnin' an' yellin', so
thet I wuz gruntin' 'woof' most all ther time.

"Inside, all wuz merriment, an' me runnin' fer my life, fer ther cow wuz
most industrious, an' didn't know what it wuz ter git tired.

"Well, ter make a long tale short, I kept runnin' an' gruntin' 'woof' at
every jump, ther sweat runnin' down an' freezin' on my clothes, until
mornin', when ther cow gits tired an' goes away. Then ther boys comes
out an' finds me, an' says they're mighty surprised ter see me, havin'
conclooded that I'd gone home.

"'We hear somethin' goin' "woof" all night, an' thought it wuz ther
cow,' says Fleshy, 'an' we didn't dast open ther door fer fear she'd
want ter come in, an' as there wuz ladies there, it wouldn't do. Wuz
that you what was woofin' all night?'

"After that I wuzn't nothin' ter them boys but 'The Woofer.'"

CHAPTER XXXI.

SINGING BIRD'S SECRET.

The boys laughed at the story, for Woofer, as they began to call him
immediately, told it in a most comical manner. They all took to him
immensely, and regarded him as quite an acquisition to the camp.

Dinner was announced by McCall, the cook, and Woofer certainly did
justice to it, being, as Bud remarked in an aside to Hallie, "holler all
the way down to his toes." He confessed that he had had nothing to eat
but a little mud, which he had absorbed when he got a drink at a water
hole, since the noon of the day before.

Ted had been thinking about the man. It would do no harm to have another
puncher in the outfit, and would relieve the night guard, which at times
was a little overworked.

"Say, Woofer, you won't take a reward for bringing in our strays, how
would you like a job with this outfit?" he said.

"I don't want you to think I'm workin' ther grub line," said the
cow-puncher quickly.

When a cow-puncher is said to be working the grub line,