ains, but were sufficiently speedy to
make handling them a fine art.

As he drew near the camp a musical shout arose, and Reynolds spurred his
horse out to meet him. "It's Mose!" he shouted. "Boy, I'm glad to see
ye, I certainly am. Shake hearty. Where ye from?"

"The Wind River."

"What have you been doing up there?"

"Oh, knocking around with some Shoshones on a hunting trip."

"Well, by mighty, I certainly am glad to see ye. You look thin as a
spring steer."

"My looks don't deceive me then. My two sides are rubbin' together. How
are the folks?"

"They ah very well, thank you. Cora and Pink will certainly go plumb
crazy when they see you a-comin'."

"Where's your house?"

"Just over that divide--but slip your packs off. Old Kintuck looks well;
I knew him when you topped the hill."

"Yes, he's still with me, and considerable of a horse yet."

They drew up to the door of one of the main tents and slipped the
saddles from the weary horses.

"Do ye hobble?"

"No--they stay with me," said Mose, slapping Kintuck. "Go on, boy,
here's grass worth while for ye."

"By mighty, Mose!" said Reynolds, looking at the trailer tenderly, "it
certainly is good for sore eyes to see ye. I didn't know but you'd got
mixed up an' done for in some of them squabbles. I heard the State
authorities had gone out to round up that band of reds you was with."

"We did have one brush with the sheriff and some game wardens, but I
stood him off while my friends made tracks for the reservation. The
sheriff was for fight, but I argued him out of it. It looked like hot
weather for a while."

While they were talking the cook set up a couple of precarious benches
and laid a wide board thereon. Mose remarked it.

"A table! Seems to me that's a little hifalutin'."

"So it is, but times are changing."

"I reckon the range on the Arickaree is about wiped out."

"Yes. We had a couple of years with rain a-plenty, and that brought a
boom in settlement; everything along the river was homesteaded, and so I
retreated--the range was overstocked anyhow. This time I climbed high. I
reckon I'm all right now while I live. They can't raise co'n in this
high country, and not much of anything but grass. They won't bother us
no mo'. It's a good cattle country, but a mighty tough range to ride, as
you'll find. I thought I knew what rough riding was, but when it comes
to racin' over these granite knobs, I'm jest a little too old. I'm
getting heavy, t