CHAPTER III

"Busting" a Broncho


The boys slept that night the dreamless sleep of wholesome fatigue and
perfect health, and awoke the next morning as fresh as daisies. Life is
astir early on a ranch, and the 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 hosts to do
full justice to the ample meal that awaited them. Then they hurried
outdoors to make acquaintance with this new life that they had looked
forward to so impatiently.

It was a glorious morning. There was not a cloud in the sky and a light
breeze tempered the heat of the sun. At that high level it was seldom
sultry, and the contrast to the heat of the sun-baked plains below was
refreshing. It amply justified, in the boys' opinion, Mr. Melton's wisdom
in the choice of this airy plateau as a location for his home.

The mountains hemmed them in on the north, but on the west and east and
south stretched grassy plains and rolling slopes as far as the eye could
reach. Great herds of cattle dotted the expanse, and here 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 in the mountains. There was an
inexhaustible supply of sparkling water, and it was evident that the