called them.

"Now, Miller, the foreman, didn't have any sympathy for them; in fact
he delighted to see them in that condition. He hadn't any use for a
man who wasn't dead tough under any condition. I've known him to camp
his outfit on alkali water, so the men would get out in the morning,
and every rascal beg leave to ride on the outside circle on the
morning roundup.

"Well, three days before Christmas, just when things were looking
gloomiest, there drifted up from the Cheyenne country one of the old
timers. None of them had seen him in four years, though he had worked
on that range before, and with the exception of myself, they all knew
him. He was riding the chuckline all right, but Miller gave him a
welcome, as he was the real thing. He had been working out in the
Pan-handle country, New Mexico, and the devil knows where, since he
had left that range. He was meaty with news and scarey stories. The
boys would sit around and listen to him yarn, and now and then a smile
would come on their faces. Miller was delighted with his guest. He had
shown no signs of letting up at eleven o'clock the first night, when
he happened to mention where he was the Christmas before.

"'There was a little woman at the ranch,' said he, 'wife of the owner,
and I was helping her get up dinner, as we had quite a number of folks
at the ranch. She asked me to make the bear sign--doughnuts, she
called them--and I did, though she had to show me how some little.
Well, fellows, you ought to have seen them--just sweet enough, browned
to a turn, and enough to last a week. All the folks at dinner that day
praised them. Since then, I've had a chance to try my hand several
times, and you may not tumble to the diversity of all my
accomplishments, but I'm an artist on bear sign.'

"Miller arose, took him by the hand, and said, 'That's straight, now,
is it?'

"'That's straight. Making bear sign is my long suit.'

"'Mouse,' said Miller to one of the boys, 'go out and bring in his
saddle from the stable and put it under my bed. Throw his horse in the
big pasture in the morning. He stays here until spring; and the first
spear of green grass I see, his name goes on the pay roll. This outfit
is shy on men who can make bear sign. Now, I was thinking that you
could spread down your blankets on the hearth, but you can sleep with
me to-night. You go to work on this specialty of yours right after
breakfast in the morning, and show us what you can do in that