They were gentle cattle; Johnny rode slowly among them without
stirring up excitement. "River cattle--nester cattle," said Johnny.
There were many brands, few of which he had seen before, though he had
heard of most of them.

A fresh bunch of cattle topped a riverward ridge; the leaders raised
their heads, snorted, turned and fled; Twilight leaped in pursuit.
"River cattle--_bosque_ cattle--outlaws!" said Johnny. From the tail
of his eye, as Twilight thundered across the valley, Johnny was aware
of a deep gashed canyon heading in the north, of a notch in the western
rim of the saucer-shaped basin, and a dark pass at the left. The
cattle turned to the left. Johnny closed in on them, taking down his
rope from the saddle horn. Twenty head--among them one Bar Cross cow
with an unbranded calf some eight or ten months old. Johnny's noose
whirled open, he drove the spurs home and plunged into a whistling
wind. He drew close, he made his cast and missed it; Twilight swerved
aside at the very instant of the throw, the rope dragged at his legs,
he fell to frantic pitching. Johnny gathered up the rope, massaged his
refractory mount with it, brought him to reason; in time to see a dust
cloud of cattle drop into the leftward pass. Twilight flashed after.
As they dived into the pass they came to the wagon road again.

"This is Redgate," thought Johnny.

They careened down the steep curves, the cattle were just ahead;
Twilight swooped upon them, scattered the tailenders, drove ahead for
the Bar Cross cow and her long-ear. A low saddleback pass appeared at
the right, a winding trail led up to an overhanging promontory under
the pass; below, the wagon road made a deep cut by the base of the
hill. Distrusting the cut road as the work of man, the leaders took to
the trail. Twilight was at their heels; at the crown of the little
promontory Johnny threw again, and his rope circled the long-ear's
neck. Johnny flipped the slack, the yearling crossed it and fell
crashing; Johnny leaped off and ran down the rope, loosing the hogging
string at his waist as he ran; he gathered the yearling's struggling
feet and hog-tied them. Twilight looked on, panting but complacent.

"Look proud, now do, you ridiculous old fool!" said Johnny. "Ain't you
never goin' to learn no sense a-tall? You old skeezicks! You've lost a
shoe, too."

He coiled his rope and tied it to the saddle horn; from under the horn
on the other side he took a running iron, held t