Bert Wilson in the Rockies

ng" a

e day's work had fairly begun when they came down to breakfast. The smell of hot coffee and frying bacon had whetted their appetites, and they needed no urging from their ho

high level it was seldom sultry, and the contrast to the heat of the sun-baked plains below was refreshing. It ampl

e and there could be seen a mounted cowboy, winding in and out among the stock. Dark lines at short intervals marked the course of artificial canals, that were fed by a series of pipes from brooks back

hat piping and digging," suggested Bert as his

r would destroy thousands of head of cattle, to say nothing of the suffering of the poor brutes. And those that didn't die would be so worn to skin and bone that they'd h

ir own. Sometimes it's a disease that comes along and sweeps away half of your herd at a single stroke. The drought gets them in summer and a blizzard covers them up in winter. Then, too, there are the cattle rustlers that, in the course of a season, often get away with hundreds of them, change the brand and send them away to their confederates. Many of them are stung by rattlesnakes.

hose sporting blood had tingled at mention of the n

. Still there are enough around to make it advisable to keep your eye peeled for trouble whenever you get a little way further up in th

hat?" as

gn manual to tell other animals who may be skulking around that it's his kill, and that there'll be trouble if any of them go monkeying

cracked up to be?" asked Bert. "If so

four feet as full of hate and poison, unless perhaps a gorilla. And if it ever

first. I've had more than one tussle with an old silver-tip, and I've got a few hides up at the house to serve as reminders. But it's always been when it was more dangerous to run than it was to stay and fight it out. There ain't many things on four feet

stop them as surely as it would anyth

rly, that it's hard to pick out the right spot to plunk him. And all the time, you know that, if you miss, it's probably all up with you. Even if you get him in the heart, his strength and vitality are such that he may get to you in time enough to take you along with him over the great divide. And it isn't a pleasant way of dying. He jus

e kind that looks for trouble as naturally as a bee hunts for clover. I'll bet at

nd flushed a littl

t if you should happen by any chance to co

aid Dick em

re," ech

I suppose there's no use arguing with you. I was that way once mys

own in Mexico," su

nd Melton looked

and meet some of the boys. A good many are away riding herd, but the foreman is here

ou need to run the

he busiest season I usually take on a few more to help o

a trouble maker in the bunch, except a half breed that I'm not particularly stuck on, and that I'm goi

nd does it right, we don't ask any more about their past than they care to tell. It ain't etiquette out here to do that, and then too it sometimes leads to a man getting shot full of holes if he's too curious. Their language isn't apt to be any too refined and their table manners leave a lot to be desired. When pay day comes, most of their

ng room. A long table, spread with oilcloth, extended down the center, with a row of chairs on either side. The walls were decorated with gaudy lithographs, circus posters and colored sheets taken from the Sunday papers that occasionally drifted out that way. On a side table were a number of well-thumb

ready for the noon-day meal. A couple of great dogs basked in the sunshine that streamed through the open door. They

sers with the fleece still adhering, and his long legs had the slight crook that spoke of a life spent almost entirely in the saddle. A buckskin shirt, a handkerchief knotted loosely around his neck and a broad slouch hat with a rattlesnake skin encir

" said his employer. "I want you to m

n the boys stepped forwar

the house now to look over some accounts and I'm going to leave you in his care. You remember, Sandy, that little scrap in Mexico I told you about? Well, these are the boys that s

those ornery rustlers don't quit fooling with our cattle. But just at this minute things is plumb peaceful. I'm going up to th

while Mr. Melton retraced his steps to the

glers" as they sought to bring their wayward charges under control, while a matter of everyday routine to the cowboys them

a rider. The nearest approach to constraint they had ever experienced was that furnished by the encircling fence of the corral into which they had been driven yesterday. That this was irksome and even terrifying was evident by their dilated nostrils, their wild expression, and the way they p

there he made a wild dash to escape and lashed out fiercely with his heels at the men who held him. But with a skill born of long experience they eluded him, a

truggle for mastery between brute

e snapped viciously at the horseman's leg, which was instantly thrown up out of reach. Then the maddened brute rushed against the bars of the corral in an effort to crush the

stolidity, the boys noticed that he watched his mount like a hawk and always discounted each trick a second in advance. It was

was almost too quick to be followed by the eye. But the man was off at a bound and, when the astonished broncho struggled

It would have jarred a novice out of his seat at once. But the superb horsemanship of the man on his back absorbed

almost by a miracle. All that they had ever seen in Wild West shows seemed pale and weak by comparison with this fight out in the open, where n

His ears were no longer flattened viciously against his head, but drooped forward piteously, and into his eyes came the look that spelled surrender. He had learned the hard and pathe

ut demur a few times more about the corral and dismounted. A stable attendant led the conquered brute to a stall, and the victor, breath

p, all right," breath

n insuring that fellow's life I'd have w

Bert. "A man hasn't any chance

ariations that kept the interest of the boys at fever heat. The time slipped by so rapidly that

m as they were turni

to," he said. "I'd like to have the boys get acquainted with yer. Maybe we won't have all

l be only too glad to come. Just let me speak to Mrs. Melton,

much of the boys' enjoyment of their visit would depend upon friend

on a roller towel behind the door. The boys did the same, and as they came in were introduced by Sandy to the rest of the men. There was a breezy absence of formality that was most refreshing after the more or less artificial life of the East, and the boys warmed at once toward these hardy specimens

way about the adventure in Mexico, and Melton's unstinted praise of them had gone a long way in their favor. Still, that had been a scrap with "greasers," and the contemptuous attitude that most of them held toward the men south of the Rio Grande, led them to attach less value to the exploit. Then, too

ook their part in frank, good fellowship and were hearty in their praises of the hard riding they had seen that morning.

y that would have struck terror to the heart of a boarding-house keeper. Before it was quite over, a belated cowboy galloped in from town. He dismounted, t

ed one of his friends as he pushed

ls. "Got a copy of the Helena 'Recor

e step of the bunkhouse. He looked over it carelessly for a moment and then a head

at they've jugged 'Red' Thompson and 'Shag' L

this and they crowde

or all of them knew of the evil fame and num

uld bag them fellers b

ain't good fur nuthin but to wear tin stars and put up

ans incredulously. "Don't fill

is awful liars," sagely

e," he went on as his stubbed finger moved slowly over the lines. "Here they are-Wilson, Trent, Hend

arrassment carried conviction. The paper was thrown aside and the men gathered about them in a chorus of eager question

," commented Pete when they had ext

s you said about the broncho busti

uped about the door and looking after them with eyes from

in the bunch,"

carries the man b

their beans at my f