Before another word could be said, Carol emerged from the house, her face lighting up when she recognized the rider who had come to her rescue. Sudden stole a look at his chum and had hard work to restrain his merriment. Sandy had snatched his hat off and was staring goggle-eyed at the girl who had, so far, hardly looked at him. Sudden mentioned his name again and Carol gave the young man a smile of welcome which completed his discomfiture.
"Well, boys, what's the word?" Eden asked.
"We'll go yu," Sandy blurted out eagerly.
"Good," the rancher replied. "Leave yore war-bags in the bunkhouse. There's plenty hosses in the corral--that mount o' yores, Green, is too good for hazin' longhorns out'n the brush." He pointed to a cloud of dust some miles away on the plain. "The herd is there."
He climbed briskly into his saddle, the girl followed, and they galloped away, Sandy watched till they vanished over a swell in the ground, and then turned to lind his companion doubled up over his saddle-horn. He looked at him suspiciously.
"Got a misery in yore stumick?" he asked.
"yeah, these hatchet-faced, squint-eyed dames alms give me a pain," Sudden chortled, ashake with mirth.
Sandy swore. "Damn funny, ain't it? Look here, yu misfit, ireathe a word o' that to her an' I'll trample the gut's out'n u.
"
"Get her to do it with them number eights," Sudden advised, and then his hand went up. "Awright, I'll be good. Come an' grab them hosses ; I'll bet there's some work a-waitin'."
They soon reached the spot the rancher had indicated. Already about a thousand head had been assembled, and, kept bunched by a couple of riders, were grazing contentedly on the short grama grass which covered the plain. The herd was a mixed one ; evidently everything in the shape of a cow was being rounded up, and the bellowing of the bulls mingled with the bleating of the calves as they staggered weakly after their mothers. At the moment Sudden and his partner approached, an addition of thirty animals arrived, convoyed by two riders who presented a striking contrast, one of them being tall and abnormally thin while the other was short and fat. As Sudden learned later, the pair were great friends, and quarrelled perpetually.
"Well, boys, yu shore have been busy," Eden greeted them. "Ain't all our'n," the tall man explained. "Met Pebbles an' the Infant, an' took over their gather."
"Here's a couple o' fresh helpers, Jed. yu better take Green, an' Dumpy can put Sandy wise."
As the four men rode away, Jed cast a quizzical glance at his late partner and remarked audibly, "Now I got me a real side-kick 'stead o' that dollop o' drippin' we'll git some cows."
The fat man rose to the bait instantly. "G'wan, yu graveyard relic," he retorted. "yu watch out, stranger ; he'll let yu do all the work ; that fella wouldn't breathe if he could git anybody to do it for him."
Jed replied with an impolite gesture, and wheeling his horse to the left, motioned Sudden to follow.
"We've pretty well cleaned up around * here--have to go further afield," he said.
A short ride brought them to where the plain slid off into a spread or country which looked as though it had been the scene of an earthquake. Out of this the long-horns, wild, fierce-eyed, had to be driven, and the task proved to be a trying one to both man and horse. Crashing into the underbrush the riders unearthed a couple of steers and drove them into the open. Then, in turn, each guarded the "catch" while the other searched for additions. Both jobs demanded alertness and patience, for the cattle made repeated efforts to break away. The approach of evening found them with a collection of near two score.
"Pardner, we done noble," Jed said. "Reckon when we git 'em to the main herd we can call it a day."
"Suits me," Sudden grinned, and smacked the nose of a straying steer with his rope. "I certainly hope yu got a good cook ; my belt's damn near slippin' off'n me."
"Peg-leg's the finest cook in Texas--he says so hisself," Jed laughed. "An' he shore can talk to mules in the language they understand."
In their search for cattle they had drifted some distance from the plain, and dark was creeping up by the time they reached the herd. The sight of a big fire and the near-by chuck-wagon brought a doleful expression on Jed's face.
"Gotta sleep on our saddles to-night, seemin'ly," he said.
"Yu'll be some lucky if yu sleep a-tall," a new voice put in.
Another rider had caught them up--a wispy little man, nearing fifty, from whose brown face, wrinkled like a walnut, small blue eyes peered at the pair amusedly.
"'Lo, Jeff," Jed greeted, and turning to his partner, added, "This is our foreman--a pretty ornery fella, as yu can see, Green."
The little man chuckled and shoved out a paw. "Heard o' yu from the 0I' Man," he said. "We can use yu." He waved towards the grazing cattle. "The bunch is gettin' big an' wants watchin', which is why we're campin' alongside. Also, Sam is on the rampage, I reckon we gotta start workin' to-morrow."
"Sufferin' cats!" wailed the cowboy. "C'mon, Green, let's join the other loafers an' load up before this slavedriver makes it to-day."
Having unsaddled and turned their mounts loose--the beasts were too tired to stray far--they joined the group squatting round the fire.
"Hey, Jed, how many yu fetch in?" Dumpy inquired.
"Coupla score, if it's any o' yore damned business," Jed said.
"An' mighty good goin'," commented another.
"Aw, Jed knows the easy places," the fat man gibed.
"Then I wish he'd picked on 'em," Sudden said ruefully. "I'll never see a pincushion again without feelin' sorry for it."
There was a general laugh at this, for all the men were scratched and torn, despite the stout leather "leggin's" they wore.
Sudden had a word with Sandy.
"We joined this outfit too soon," he said whimsically. "We'd oughta waited till they was ready to drive."
"I wish we hadn't joined a-tall," his friend replied. "No, that ain't so neither, but--hell, what's the use?"
With which cryptic remark he rolled his blanket round him and went to sleep. Sudden, too tired even to wonder about this attitude, followed his example. Slumber must be made the most of ; if anything disturbed the cattle, there would be no more for any of them that night.
Chapter VII
SOON after dawn the men were astir and crowding round the fire, for the early air was keen. Breakfast over, Jeff divided his forces ; half were to begin the branding while the others continued to build up the herd. Sudden and Sandy, as not knowing the range, were allotted to the second task, a decision which--to the former's surprise, met with his friend's satisfaction.
"We're shorely outa luck," he remarked tentatively.
"Suits me," Sandy replied gaily. "We'll show these hombres how to label long-horns." He straightened his neckerchief, slapped the dust from his clothes, and fingered his chin uneasily. "Say, Jim, yu got a razor?" He saw the dawning grin of comprehension on the other's face, and added hastily, "These whiskers o' mine'll come out the wrong colour, yu know."
"Mine's at the bunkhouse," Sudden said. "I saw the cook scrapin' his jaw a piece ago."
Peg-leg obliged with a razor and a cracked mirror. "Which if yo're goin' to this trouble on account o' Miss Carol, yu needn't," he advised. "She'll be too busy to look at yu."
"I ain't," Sandy stated, with a flash which contradicted the assertion. "Can't stand a scrubby chin, that's all."
The cook's grimace was one of disbelief--he had seen other new-comers suffering from the same affliction, but he said no more ; he was a man of few words but, as was once remarked, those few were frequently "damn near as strong as his caw-fee."
The branding promised to be a big job. Chutes were unknown in the south-west of that day, and each animal had to be dealt with separately. Sandy found he was to work with his friend. Sudden was waiting for him, a bundle of short tie-ropes (piggin strings) in his hand.