fists against the legs of his
breeches. "God damn 'em!" he said. It was the most terrible oath that I
have ever heard. Then he closed his mouth.

Ump looked at the man, then rode his horse over to me.

"Quiller," he said slowly, "we're gone up unless we can swim the drove
across, an' it's a hell of a risky job. Do you see that big eddy?" and
he pointed his finger to the middle of the Valley River where the yellow
water swung around in a great circle. "If the steers bunched up in that
hole, they'd drown like rats."

I looked at the wide water and it scared me. "Ump," I said, "how long
could they stay in there without giving out?"

"They wouldn't give out," replied the hunchback, "if we could keep 'em
above the eddy. A steer can swim as long as a horse if he ain't crowded.
If we could keep 'em goin' in a long loop, we could cross 'em. If they
bunched up, it would be good-bye, pap."

"Do you think they would grind in there if they happened to bunch?" said
I.

"To kindlin'," responded Ump, "if they ever got at it good."

"Ump," I said, looking him squarely in the face, "I'm afraid of it."

The man chewed his thin upper lip. "So am I, Quiller," he answered. "But
there ain't much choosin'; we either swim 'em or we go up the spout."

"Well," said I, "do we do it, or not do it?"

The hunchback studied the river. "Quiller," he said finally, "if we
knowed about that current----"

I cut him short. "I'll find out about the current," I said. Then I threw
away my hat, pitched my coat down on the sod and gathered up my bridle
reins.

"Wait!" cried the hunchback. Then he turned to Jud. "Wash your face in
the tub by the spout yonder, an' bring up your horse. Take Danel with
you. Open Tolbert's fence an' put the cattle in the grove. Then come
back here. Quiller's the lightest; he's goin' to try the current."

Then he swung around and clucked to the mare. I spoke to El Mahdi and we
rode down toward the river. On the bank Ump stopped and looked out
across the water, deep, wide, muddy. Then he turned to me.

"Hadn't you better ride the Bay Eagle?" he said. "She knows more in a
minute than any horse that was ever born."

"What's wrong with El Mahdi?" I said, piqued a little.

"He ain't steady," responded the hunchback; "an' he knows more tricks
than a meetin'-house rat. Sometimes he swims an' sometimes he don't
swim, an' you can't tell till you git in."

"This," said I, "is a case of 'have to.' If he don't like the top,