The Range 



relief. Ten days of desert ride behind me ! Promise 

 of wonderful days before me, with the last of the old 

 plainsmen! No wonder a sweet sense of ease stole 

 over me, or that the fire seemed a live and joyously 

 welcoming thing, or that Jim s deft maneuvers in 

 preparation of supper roused in me a rapt admiration. 



&quot; Twenty calves this spring! &quot; cried Jones, punch 

 ing me in my sore side. &quot; Ten thousand dollars 

 worth of calves ! &quot; 



He was now altogether a changed man ; he looked 

 almost young; his eyes danced, and he rubbed his big 

 hands together while he plied Frank with questions. 

 In strange surroundings that is, away from his 

 native wilds, Jones had been a silent man; it had been 

 almost impossible to get anything out of him. But 

 now I saw that I should come to know the real man. 

 In a very few moments he had talked more than on 

 all the desert trip, and what he said, added to the 

 little I had already learned, put me in possession of 

 some interesting information as to his buffalo. 



Some years before he had conceived the idea of 

 hybridizing buffalo with black Galloway cattle; and 

 with the characteristic determination and energy of 

 the man, he at once set about finding a suitable range. 

 This was difficult, and took years of searching. At 

 last the wild north rim of the Grand Canon, a section 

 unknown except to a few Indians and mustang 



33 



