hills an' is lost t' sight but t' mem'ry dear. Well, I goes back t' that
rock, an' sits down, sad-like, thinkin' mebbe I never will see Bull
again.

"An' p'r'aps it's an hour goes by, when I hears somethin' that sounds
like a engine puffin' strong on a upgrade, an' up over one of them
hummocks comes Bull, draggin' himself along like he has flatirons tied
t' his feet. An' he's all decorated with real estate, an' burrs, an'
everythin' loose what would stick to him. An' when he gets to where I
sits, he flops down flat on his back. He sure is exhausted; even his
paws is limp. But one of his eyes seems t' hold a spark o' life, an' he
fixes that on me. An' he asks, weak-like:

"'Say, Bill, what in tarnation is a fox?'"

The company looked at Bill fixedly; not reproachfully, but fixedly. Then
slowly the men began to take off their clothes, with the idea of turning
in. And Bill Jordan and Whitey started for the ranch house, for the same
purpose.




CHAPTER VI

BOOTS


The green of the prairie had given way to brown, and the brown to white,
which rolled off to the sky-line and the hills in dazzling billows, in