The night was well advanced, and the boys, despite their fine physique, felt the effects of the prolonged ride.  They had come a goodly distance since morning, the tough little ponies most of the time maintaining a sweeping canter, which placed many miles behind them.  Jack and Fred were stiffened, tired and hungry, for no halt was made for supper, it being the intention of the guide to take that meal at the ranch, which he meant to reach before drawing rein.

In the midst of the monotonous gallop of the animals the youths were startled by the sound of a laugh, which suddenly rang out on the still air.  It was brief and hearty, such as a man emits who is highly pleased over something said by a companion.  There was no moon in the sky, but the starlight was as bright as on the previous evening.  Peering ahead in the gloom, nothing was to be seen that explained the singular sound.

“Did you hear that?” asked Jack of Hazletine.

“I s’pose you mean that laugh?  Not being deaf, it would have been cur’us if the same hadn’t reached my ears.”

“What was the meaning of it?”

“It meant, I s’pose, that somebody was pleased.”

The lads had to be satisfied with this indefinite answer, but they did not have to wait long for the explanation.  Suddenly, from the obscurity ahead, loomed the outlines of a building.  It was long, low, and flat, consisting of a single story, like most of the structures in that section of the country.

At the same moment that it was observed, a tiny point of light shone through the gloom, and some one called to them: 

“Is that you, Hank?”

“I reckon,” was the reply.

At the same moment a tall man, rising from the stool on which he had been seated, came forward.  He was smoking a pipe, and the gleam of the fire in the bowl was what had been noted before he became visible.

“These are the younkers we expected,” explained Hazletine, “and, if I ain’t mistook, they’ve brought a purty healthy appetite with ’em.”

“I’ve heard of such things afore.  Howdy?”

The man, who was known as “Kansas Jim,” his full name being James Denham, extended his hand to each boy in turn, and they dismounted.

“I’ll look after the animals,” he explained.  “Go inside, and I reckon Ira can give you some medicine fur that appetite Hank spoke about.”

Hazletine led the way to the small covered porch where Ira Garrison, another cattleman, rose to his feet and shook hands with the boys, expressing his pleasure at receiving a visit from them.  All three of the arrivals sat down at the front, while Ira passed inside and lighted an oil-lamp.  It seemed that he was not absent ten minutes when he called out that the meal was ready-a most welcome announcement to our young friends.  The three were quickly seated at the pine table and feasting with keen enjoyment.  While they were thus engaged, Ira Garrison sat on a stool a few paces away, smoking his pipe, and was soon joined by Kansas Jim, who brought the saddles and belongings of the ponies that he had turned loose to look after their own wants.

Jack and Fred found their new acquaintances typical cowboys, dressed similarly to Hazletine, though neither wore as much beard as he.  Both had long hair, pushed behind their ears, while Jim displayed a luxuriant tawny mustache and goatee, had fine blue eyes, and was thin almost to emaciation.  Garrison was short and stockily built, with a powerful physique.  His hair, eyes and mustache were as black as coal.  He had a fine set of even white teeth, and was so full of jest and humor that it was safe to conclude it was something said by him that had caused Jim to break into laughter.

The structure, as has been said, was a low, flat building, similar to the majority found in that part of the country.  It was made wholly of wood, with only a single door at the front, where was a shaded porch, provided with seats, most of which were occupied at times by the cowmen through the day and late into the night.

There were five men employed at the ranch in looking after the immense herd of cattle grazing over the surrounding country and acquiring the plumpness and physical condition which fitted them for the Eastern market.  Hank Hazletine was in charge of the four men, and would so remain until the task was finished and the stock disposed of.  Barton Coinjock and Morton Blair were absent looking after the animals, whose wanderings in quest of food sometimes took them fifteen or twenty miles from the house.  Most of the time, however, the cattle obtained their grazing on the ranch, a half of which belonged to Mr. Dudley, and which extended into the foot-hills of the Wind River Mountains.

It has already been made clear that little was to be apprehended from the hostility of the red men in Wyoming.  Rarely is anything of the kind known north of Arizona and New Mexico, and in those Territories it seldom manifests itself since the conquest of the Apaches.  There have been fierce collisions of late years between the cowmen and rustlers of the West, and at one time there was considerable bloodshed, but the quarrel seems to have been adjusted.

The reader need hardly be told that in the new States, where grazing has become so important an industry, a perfect system prevails among the cattlemen.  Large associations, with their enormous herds of cattle, have their own peculiar brands by which their stock is stamped with their sign of ownership.  All these brands are registered, and the cattleman who uses the same, or is found in possession of cattle with the brand of another, is subject to a severe penalty.

Comparatively slight friction, therefore, takes place in those sections.  It is a stirring time when the wonderful horsemen are engaged for days in branding the calves that have been added to their herds during the previous months.  Sometimes some of the branded cattle wander off while grazing, but if a cattleman from Central Wyoming came upon an animal hundreds of miles north in Montana, bearing his brand, he would promptly cut out the brute from another herd, whose owner would not think of making objection.

It happens now and then that some of the cattle stray off before they are branded.  The difficulty of their owners identifying them will be understood.  Such cattle are mavericks, and whoever comes upon them loses little time in scorching his brand into their shoulders or hips, after which no one cares to dispute their ownership.

The cowmen whose duty it was to look after the large herd browsing over the thousands of acres composing Bowman’s ranch had two annoyances to guard against.  It was their duty, as may be said, to keep the animals well in hand.  But for this precaution hundreds of them would gradually drift apart until, when the time came for rounding them up, they would be gone beyond recovery.  Great loss, therefore, was averted by looking after them.

A more aggravating annoyance, however, brings loss to the owners of the herds.  Despite the stringent law, there is always a certain number of desperate men who take perilous chances in stealing cattle and running them off beyond recovery by their owners.  This practice is not so prevalent as formerly, for since the brands are registered, and the agents well known at Cheyenne, Helena, and other shipping-points, the thieves find it hard to explain their possession of the carcasses thus marked and escape the arrest and imprisonment provided as a penalty.

One feature of this annoyance comes from the Indians.  By far the greater majority of those on the reservations are law-abiding.  Under the patient and skilful tutorship of the Government agents they are advancing in civilization, and in a knowledge of the trades and of agriculture.  Rarely is there any trouble with them; but it would be strange indeed if, among these people not yet fairly emerged from barbarism, there were not a number sullen because of the change, and who cling to the traditions and practices when the Indian looked upon every white man as his enemy, whom it was his duty to kill upon the first opportunity.  The watchfulness of the authorities prevents grave crimes, but no vigilance can keep the dusky thieves from stealthily raiding upon the cattle and property of their white neighbors.

One of the tasks, therefore, of the cowmen of Bowman’s ranch was to guard against aboriginal thieves.  Since those fellows were sure to have the same trouble as white pilferers in disposing of their stolen stock, they were fond of stampeding the cattle when not under the eyes of their caretakers.  About all that resulted from this amusement was extra exasperation and work on the part of the cowmen.

A more serious mischief was that of killing the animals.  Having satisfied themselves that they were safe from detection, three or four Indians would entertain themselves for an hour or two in shooting down cattle in pure wantonness, and then making off before they were seen.  True, this brought the dusky scamps no gain, but it served as a partial outlet for their enmity of the white man, and that sufficed.

That this peculiar feature of ranch life sometimes assumed grave phases was proved by several narrations made by the cowmen to the boys on their first night at the ranch.  Less than a year previous, Kansas Jim shot from his horse an Indian whom he caught killing his cattle; and, not many months previous, the five cowmen, under the leadership of Hank Hazletine, had a running fight for half an afternoon with a dozen Bannocks, engaged in the same sport.  At that time Barton Coinjock and Kansas Jim were severely wounded, but three of the marauders were slain, and the mischief nearly ended for a time.

But Jack and Fred were tired, and, though interested in the reminiscences of the cowboys, they longed for rest.  The house consisted of four rooms, one being generally reserved for visitors or to serve as a spare apartment.  This contained a wooden bedstead and some simple furniture, for luxuries are not popular on cattle-ranches.  Surely no bed ever felt more luxurious, however, than the blankets upon which the wearied youths flung themselves, sinking almost immediately into deep, dreamless sleep.  There were no wolves or dog Indians to guard against now, and their sense of security was as strong as if in their own beds at home.

The night was well past, when both lads were awakened by the sound of rain pattering upon the roof, which, although they were on the ground floor, was but a brief space above their heads.  The storm foretold by Hank Hazletine had come.

There are few sounds more soothing at night than the falling of rain-drops upon the shingles over one’s head, but in the present instance the music was anything but welcome to Jack and Fred. It meant that there could be no hunting on the morrow, and probably not for several days.  Their time in Wyoming was so limited that they begrudged an hour of enforced idleness.

“But what’s the use of kicking?” asked Fred, after they had fully discussed the situation; “it can’t be helped.”

Nevertheless, they condoled with each other for some time, until, lulled by the gentle patter, they floated off once more into the land of Nod, from which they did not emerge until morning.

The first doleful fact that impressed them was that it was still raining.  A peep through the single front window with which their room was provided showed the dull leaden sky, with its infinite reservoir, from which the drops were descending in streams that bid fair to last for days and weeks.  The air was chilly, and the wood fire burning in the adjoining room was grateful.

The boys were surprised by a characteristic fact.  At some time previous to their emerging from their sleeping-room Jim and Ira had departed to take their turn in looking after the cattle, while Bart and Mort, as they were called, had come in to spend the day and night at the building.  When they saw the boys they greeted them pleasantly and conversed for some time.  Blair showed himself a man of education, and it came out afterward that he was a college graduate, who, having been threatened with pulmonary trouble, had gone to Arizona and engaged in the cattle business.  The experiment wrought a cure, and he was now one of the sturdiest of the five men, not afraid to face the more rigorous climate of the North and to expose himself to all sorts of weather.  It was a surprise, indeed, to Jack Dudley and Fred Greenwood, in the course of the day, when the conversation happened to drift to the subject of higher mathematics, to find this cowboy could give them instruction in the most abstruse problems they had ever attempted to solve.  Thus, although they would have preferred to be away on a hunt, they found the time less monotonous than anticipated.

“This will let up afore night,” said Hank, much to the delight of his young visitors, “and to-morrow will be clear.”

“I hope it will last several days,” ventured Fred.

“So it will,” remarked the cowman, with that air of assurance which showed he was more reliable than the Government in his forecasts of the weather.

Hazletine examined the Winchester repeating-rifles of the boys with great care.  He pronounced them excellent weapons, as were the Smith & Wesson revolvers with which they were furnished.

“Your outfit is all right,” he said, “but it remains to be seed whether you know how to handle ’em.”

“We cannot claim to be skilful,” was the modest remark of Jack, “but we have had some experience at home, though when we hunted there it was mostly with shotguns.”

“The main thing, younker, is not to git rattled.  Now, if you happen to see old Ephraim sailing for you, all you have to do is to make your aim sure and let him have it between the eyes, or just back of the foreleg; or, if you don’t have the chance to do that, plug him in the chest, where there’s a chance of reaching his heart.”

By “old Ephraim” the hunter referred to the grizzly bear, as the boys knew.

“I have heard that it generally takes several shots to kill a grizzly.”

“That’s ’cause the bullets are not put in the right place.  You see, old Ephraim don’t take any trouble to give you a better show than he has to, and you must look out fur yourself.”

“There are other kinds of bears in Wyoming?”

“Rather-several of ’em.  For instance, there’s the cinnamon, which, in my ’pinion, is about as bad as Ephraim.  I’ve fit both kinds, and the one that left that big scar down the side of my cheek and chawed a piece out of my thigh was a cinnamon, while I never got a scratch that ’mounted to anything from Ephraim.”

“What about the black bear?”

“He’s less dangerous than any of ’em.  A black bear ain’t much more than a big dog.  Last fall I killed one with my revolver.”

“What other kinds of game are we likely to meet?”

“Wal, it would be hard to name ’em all.  There’s the deer and antelope, of course, which you find in all parts of the West.  Then there’s the mountain lion, that is fond of living on beef.”

“I never saw one of the creatures.”

“Have you ever seen the Eastern panther?” asked Garrison.

“No; though they used to be plentiful in the northern part of the State of New York.”

“Well, the mountain lion is the same animal.  Our climate and conditions have made some changes in his appearance and habits, but there is no doubt the two are identical.”

“There’s one kind of game that I wish we could meet,” resumed Hazletine, “but they’ve got so scarce that I haven’t seen one fur three years.  That’s the big-horn sheep.”

“He seems to be disappearing from certain sections, like the buffalo from the country,” remarked Garrison.

“There’s plenty of ’em in the mountains of Arizona and old Mexico, and I’ve no doubt there’s thousands of ’em in the Wind River and other parts of the Rockies, but it’s mighty hard to find ’em.  Then there’s the black wolf.”

“Is he fiercer than the gray one?”

“He’s ten times worse.  Whenever he meets the gray wolf he tears him to smithereens.  You never seen a wolf of any kind that wasn’t as hungry as you younkers was yesterday.”

“He couldn’t be any hungrier,” said Fred, with a laugh.

“I have knowed one of them critters to foller a steamboat down the upper Missouri fur two days and nights, howling and watching fur a chance to git something to eat.”

“The buffaloes have disappeared.”

“The right name of the animal is the bison,” suggested Garrison; “they have been slaughtered in pure wantonness.  It is a crime, the way in which they have been extirpated.”

“There are a few of ’em left, deep among the mountains,” said Hazletine, “where no one has happened to find ’em, but it won’t be long afore they’ll all be wiped out.  Do you know,” he added, indignantly, “that last year our boys found a herd of eighteen buffaloes some miles back in the mountains.  Wal, sir, we was that tickled that we made up our minds to watch ’em and see that they wasn’t interfered with.  We kept track of ’em purty well till their number had growed to twenty-four.  Then one afternoon a party of gentlemen hunters, as they called themselves, from the States, stumbled onto ’em.  Wal, as true as I’m a settin’ here, they s’rounded that herd and never stopped shooting till they killed every one of ’em!”

The cowman was so angry that he smoked savagely at his pipe for a minute in silence.  His friends shared his feelings, and Kansas Jim remarked: 

“Hank and me hunted two days fur them folks, and if we’d have got the chance to draw bead on ’em not all of ’em would have got home.  Why, the rapscallions just shot the whole twenty-four, and left ’em laying on the ground.  They didn’t even take their hides.  If there ever was such a thing as murder that was.”

“Yes,” assented Garrison; “and although the Government is doing all it can to protect the few in Yellowstone Park, somebody is continually shooting into the herd.  The bison will soon be an extinct animal.”

“It’s too bad, but I don’t see that we can help it,” observed Hazletine, rousing himself; “there’s plenty of other game left, and it’ll last longer than any of us, but it don’t make the killing of the buffaloes any better.  We’re likely to find a good many animals that I haven’t told you ’bout and that I don’t think of.”

“How is it, Hank, that you don’t keep any dogs?”

“’Cause they’re no use.  The hunters from the East seem to think they must have a dozen or more sniffing at their heels, but I don’t like ’em.  We had a big hound a couple of years ago that I took with me on a hunt.  The first critter we scared up was a cinnamon bear, and that dog hadn’t any more sense than to go straight for him.  Wal,” grinned Hank, “we haven’t had any dog since that time.”