"No, not for a cent."

"Let him hold the herd foh a day or two," suggested Reynolds. "Give him
time to work in."

"All right, s'pose you look after him this afternoon."

Together Reynolds and Mose rode out toward the slowly "milling" herd, a
hungry, hot, and restless mob of broadhorns, which required careful
treatment. As he approached, the dull roar of their movement, their
snuffling and moaning, thrilled the boy. He saw the gleaming, clashing
horns of the great animals uplift and mass and change, and it seemed to
him there were acres and acres of them.

Reynolds called out to two sweating, dusty, hoarse young fellows: "Go to
grub, boys."

Without a word they wheeled their horses and silently withdrew, while
Reynolds became as instantly active.

His voice arose to a shout: "Now, lively, Mose, keep an eye on the herd,
and if any cow starts to break out--lively now--turn him in."

A big bay steer, lifting his head, suddenly started to leave the herd.
Mose spurred his horse straight at him with a yell, and turned him
back.

"That's right," shouted Reynolds.

Mose understood more of it than Reynolds realized. He took his place in
the cordon, and aided in the work with very few blunders. The work was
twofold in character. Fat cattle were to be cut out of the herd for
shipment, unbranded calves were to be branded, and strays tallied and
thrown back to their own feeding grounds. Into the crush of great,
dusty, steaming bodies, among tossing, cruel, curving horns the men rode
to "cut out" the beeves and to rope the calves. It was a furious scene,
yet there was less excitement than Mose at first imagined. Occasionally,
as a roper returned, he paused on the edge of the herd long enough to
"eat" a piece of tobacco and pass a quiet word with a fellow, then
spurring his horse, re-entered the herd again. No matter how swift his
action, his eyes were quiet.

It was hard work; dusty, hot, and dangerous also. To be unhorsed in that
struggling mass meant serious injury if not death. The youth was glad of
heart to think that he was not required to enter the herd.

That night, when the horse herd came tearing down the mesa, Reynolds
said: "Now, Mose, you fall heir to my shift of horses, too. Let me show
them to you. Each man has four extra horses. That wall-eyed roan is
mine, so is the sorrel mare with the star face. That big all-over bay,
the finest hoss in the whole outfit, is mine, too, but he is unbroken.
He shore is a h