n.

The prospect was exceedingly bright; just as though in truth a string
of full moons were shining down upon them. And still there was the
shadow, even at this time, the shadow cast by Terry's absence and
silence. If she were only here to rejoice with them.

Steve snorted his disgust with himself, got on a horse and went
streaking across the fields, riding hard as was a habit here of late,
yelling an order to Barbee as he went. Barbee's innocent blue eyes
followed him thoughtfully: then Barbee shrugged and spat and thereafter
called to his men to "get busy." The round-up began immediately.

Then came a handful of long, hot, feverishly busy days. Strayed steers
carrying the Number Ten brand were hazed back to the big fenced-in
meadows from the mountain slopes, were counted and held, in an
ever-swelling herd. There was little rest for the men, who, shifted
from one sweating horse to another, rode late and early.

Word came from Doan setting the date for the delivery in San Juan.
Steve wired his satisfaction with the arrangement, undertaking to have
the cattle in the stock pens just out of the town two or three days
before Doan's coming. And no one knew better than did Steve Packard
the true size of the job he had on his hands at this time of year and
with a herd of close to two hundred wild steers.

The drive began one morning in the dark long before the dawn. Steve
estimated that he could make the Rio Frio the first night and had
arranged beforehand with the Talbot boys for the night's pasturage.
The second day would find them on the edge of the bad lands; his wagons
hauling baled hay were to push on ahead and be waiting at the only
sufficient water-holes to be found within a number of miles. San Juan
in four days was the schedule.

"We'll lose weight all along the road," he conceded. "But it can't be
helped. And a couple of day's rest and lots of feed and water in San
Juan before Doan shows up will put back a part of the lost weight."

He had made allowances for a hard drive. Nevertheless the actuality
was a sterner matter than he had foreseen. All along the way the feed
was scant. Water was low in the holes, Rio Frio for the first time in
years was a mere series of shallow pools. The blazing heat was such
that men and horses and steers all suffered terribly.

At the end of the second day he ordered a full dozen of the less hardy
of his beasts cut out from the herd and turned into a neighboring