The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-08-07

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Riding beside the bunch" on a
wiry little buckskin cow-pony, gal
loped a girl of fifteen, in a short
cloth skirt, high leather shoes, and
a loose flannel blouse. Her short,
wavy brown hair blew loose and free
beneath the shadow of a broad
brimmed felt hat.
She sang as she rode in and out
along the wavering, snorting line,
cracking her long whip and shouting,
"Hi! Hoy! Whoop-la!" as she
drove straying steer or wandering
calf back into the ranks.
Before the cattle, and upon the
other side, rode cowboy in his wide
sombrero and leather "chaps," and
behind the bunch a woman rode
slowly, her tall, straight figure Sc
verely outlined by black dress, and
her face shaded by a broad-leafed
Mexican straw hat.
1t was past noon, sultry and still,
and the cattle plodded quietly along
the road with dropping heads.
ride up little, Billy" called
the girl, in a high, clear voice, "and
let's get out of this dust! They'll go
quietly enough now, and mother is
behind to drive"
Touching her pony with the quirt,
she galloped on to the head of the
column, and fell in beside the cow
boy, who, with one leg over the horn
of his saddle and his hat on his knee,
was pacing along before the herd,
singing Justify.
"Hot, isn't it, Billy?"
"You bet it Isl I'll be glad when
we git to some shade; and," looking
back at the animals that plodded
wearily behind him, them pore crit
ters will, too. They amt had no
water sence yist'day, and l reckon
them steers is plumb dry"
II reckon they are, poor things.
It seems kind o. cruel to drive 'em
on day like this, but this bunch had
to be got back to the ranch. 1t
won't be long now before we get to
the river. There's the bluffs over
yonder."
They both gazed ahead to where a
high bluff loomed up before them, it's
red sides broken with outcropping
rocks, and variegated with green
patches of weeds and clumps of stunt
ed timber.
AS they approached it, the level
prairie road wound close in along the
edge of the bluff, while the land at
the other side of the road gradually
dwindled away until there was only
the width of narrow wagon road
between the high walls that rose up
above their heads and the steep bank
that fell sharply away into the river
twenty feet below.
The shade thrown by the high bank
was grateful, after the ride along the
broiling road, and the cattle threw
up their heads and shifted noisily,
while the cow-ponies fell in side by
side, and the girl lifted her hat from
her damp hair with blissful sigh.
isn't it cool and lovely here?'
she murmured, gazing up at the steep
bluff and out over the shining river.
II wish this trail went all the way
home"
The cowboy, who had been looking
back over his shoulder uneasily
turned in his saddle, and said
bluntly:
"Well, l dou't. Not by iugful.
"Why not? Don't you think this
Is pretty road?"
Hmm, wal, It's pretty enough,
guess, but it amt any good to drive
bunch of thirsty cattle over, I'll tel
you that"
Both riders turned in their saddles
and looked back.
"Oh, they're all right, Billy" SAID
the girl, easily. See, they're coming
along as peaceably as can be-"
Behind them the cattle amblet
along quietly, and through the still
sultry air the voice of the woman
came to them in the soothing, Groom
ing. long-drawn "Yo-hee, yo-hee, yo
D-ho-hee!" which the cattle love.
Diily JclhSu LIB III uIllD ONtT III
shoulder.
''Yer mother knows what the dan
ger is," he said, quietly. "Harkel
at her? She's a-singing to 'em bacl
there for to keep em quiet an
steady"
The girl turned her head, and
soft brightness shone in her wide
frank gray eyes. Eyes, she knows
mother does" she said, softly. Ssh
knows most everything. Poo
mother!"
The cowboy glanced at the sun
Drowned face and wistful eyes, an
hastily changed the subject
You shore can ride some, Mis-
Jess" he said, irrelevantly. II see
you yist'day over to the roundup
How come a leetle gal like you t
know so much about ridin' an cattl
an sich like"
Mother taught me-" answered tn
girl. simply. -after-fathe
died there wasn't any man or bo
about the ranch to do things for VI
and so mother and had to do all th