see how a few
men managed to keep so many cattle in check. The cowboys were
stationed on their horses at near distances all round the herd like so
many sentinels.

If an animal broke away, a horseman was after it at lightning speed.
With a swift turn of his arm he would throw the lariat with a true aim
over the horns of the runaway, and the sagacious horse, knowing what
was expected from it, would twist round on his hind-legs, and the jerk
on the rope would bring the fugitive down to the ground. Sometimes the
cowboys galloped round the running beast, and headed it back to the
herd without using the lariat or long leather rope.

Jack and his companions camped for the night close to the cowboys, and
Jack took a great interest in them for Steve's sake. They relieved
each other like guards all through the night.

The way they rode was wonderful in Jack's eyes, and their horses were
so well trained, they turned to the right or left as their riders bent
their bodies in the direction in which they wanted to go, and if the
reins were thrown over an animal's head it would stand quite still.

There was great work next morning, as the cowboys made an early start,
and the bustle was most exciting to Jack as he watched them standing or
sitting in groups round their grub-waggon eating their breakfast.
Then, directly after, they tightened their saddles, and before long the
gigantic herd of cattle moved slowly on. Such a bellowing they made,
and the dust rose in a huge cloud behind them, in which they were soon
lost to sight. Their grub-waggon followed them, and shortly after Lem
got his horses harnessed, and he, Jeff, and Jack, taking their places
in their prairie schooner, rolled on once more towards the mountains.

These mountains, which were getting nearer every day, were a fresh
source of wonder to Jack. He had lived all his life on the flat
prairie where there was not even a hill to be seen, and he was
speechless with surprise as he gazed on the snow-capped peaks in front
of him, stretching up into the blue sky. Lower down the sides of the
mountains the dark forests of trees spread for miles, and Jeff pointed
out to him where the deep ravines or canyons could be seen where the
mountain creeks rushed down to the valleys, fringed all along their
banks with quaking aspens and cotton-wood trees.

How pleased Jack felt to think that his new home must be somewhere in
sight of these glorious mountains, and already the air