Cow-Country

taken a herd north and had returned with a tale of vast plains and no rivals. Always through the day the dust cloud hung over the backs of the cat

bit of bank where she might do the family washing, leaving Ezra to mind the children. But

leaders of the herd stopped, the cattle would scatter and begin feeding. If there was water they would crowd the banks of the stream or pool, pushing and prodding one another with their great, sharp horns. Later, when the sun was gone and dusk crept out of nowhere, the cowboys would ride slowly around the herd, pushing it quietly into a smaller compass. Then, if Buddy were not

t was time little boys were in bed. Buddy always wanted to know what they said after he had climbed into the big wagon where mother had made a bed, but he never found out. He could remember

along the trail, and they had to be careful of the water and save it, and he and Dulcie were not asked to wash their faces. I think that miracle helped to fix the incident

ght, and failed to produce any. The second he recalled quite clearly. Father came to the wagons someti

It's marked on the trail map. Don't you worry-I'll stay up

r made a funny sound and said right out loud, "Oh God, please!" and told Buddy to creep back and play with Sister-when Sister was asleep, and there were still x, y and z to say, let alone that mysterious And-so-fort

he lagging ones held a sudden significance. It occurred to him that the niggers had their hands full, and that they had never driven so big a "Drag." It was hotter than ever, too, and they had twice stopped to yoke in fresh oxen. Ezra

of water from the barrel. Step-and-a-Half couldn't spare any more, they told mother. He had declared at noon that he needed every drop he had for the cooking, and there would be no washing

em. Once it was to look at the map which mother had studied. They talked together afterwards, and Buddy heard his father say that she must

, his horse walking alongside the high seat where Step-and-a-Half sat perched listlessly with a

rel Send the boys to Step-and-a-Half. Yo' all keep what you've got. The horses have got to have water-to-night it's going to be hell to hold the h

a minute and added optimistically, "Dere's a BI-IG wiver comin' pitty soon. Oxes smells water a hunerd miles. Ezra says so. An' las' night Crumpy was snu

Buddy so hard

is. WE don't mind, do we? I-was

e bawlin' fer a drink of water. I guess de're AWFUL firsty

hat had been unremitting for the past week. Buddy's faith in the big river she could not

t. He had told them that water was scarce, but that his cowboy scouts and the deep-worn buffalo trails had been able to bring him through with wat

. The bawling of the herd became a doleful chant of misery. Even the phlegmatic oxen that drew the wagons bawled and slavered while they strained forward, twisting their heads under the heavy yokes. They s

e, that walked around and around, and would neither eat nor lie down, but lowed incessantly. Once a few animals came close enough to smell the water in a bucket whe

them out trying to hold 'em-they may as well be hunting water as running in circles. Step-and-a-Half, keep your cooked grub handy for the

t they had not found any. He was ten when this was discussed around a spring roundup fi

ized, and was sent to bed for his tactlessness. Bob Birnie himself had thought of that afterwards, and had

is lash, and the oxen strained forward bellowing so that not even Dulcie could sleep, but whimpered fretfully in her mo

up their heads and sniffed, and put a new note into their "M-baw-aw-aw-mm!" They swung sharply so

nto a trot beside the wheelers. "'Tain't fur-lookit dat-ah huhd a-goin' it! No 'm, Mis

le crowded forward at a shuffling half trot, the click-awash of their shambling feet treading close on one another. The rapping tattoo of wide-spread horns clashing against wide-spread horns filled him with a formless terror, so

hing that came in its path. Two thousand parched throats and dust-dry tongues-and suddenly the smell of water that would go gurgling down two thousand eager gull

outdistanced by the herd, and Dulcie screamed when the wagon lurched across a dry wash and almost upset, while Ezra plied the ox-whip and yelled frantically at first on

as he ran alongside the wagon and called to Missy that it was "Dat ole Crumpy actin' the fool", and that the wagon wouldn't upset. "No'm,

herd was still going, but now it was running and somehow the yoked oxen were keeping close behind, lumbering along w

at terrible trap. They're piling over the bank ahead

deafening roar, the acrid smell of black powder smoke, and Crumpy went down loosely, his nose rooting the trampled ground for a space before the gun belched

yes were bright with purple hollows beneath. She held the rifle for a moment, then set the butt of it on the "jockey box" just in front of the dashbo

their chance at the water," she cried sharply, and Ezra, d

d in a troubled sea of weltering backs and tossing horns and staring eyeballs. Riders shouted and lashed unavailingly with their quirts, trying to hold back the full bulk of the herd until the foremost had s

e of the water. The words were indistinguishable, but a warning

they've got him down, somehow. Climb over the bac

then Buddy saw him go over the herd,

s. Down at the edge of the creek the carcasses of many dead animals lay half-buried in the mud. Up on a little knoll where a few stunted trees grew, the neg

all the boys had shaved their faces and looked very sober. The negroes stood back in a group by themselves, and every few minutes Buddy saw them draw their tattered shirtsleeves

er sang. She sang, "We shall meet beyond the river", which Buddy thought was a very queer song, because they were all there but Frank Davis; then she sang "N

Buddy repeating it uncertainly after her and pausing to say "TRETHpatheth" very carefully. Then mother picked up Dulcie in he

en was extremely keen for a time, and he asked questions which not even mother could answer. Then his memory of Frank Davis blurred. B