94 SUMMER 



faint voices of the men, and all the herd was bound 

 about by the slow, plaintive measure of some old 

 song. It was not to soothe their savage breasts that 

 the riders sang to the cattle, but to prevent the 

 shock of any loud or sudden noise. 



So they sang and rode, and the night wore on to 

 one o'clock, when Wade, coming up on the rim-rock 

 side, felt a cool breeze fan his face, and caught a 

 breath of fresh, moist wind with the taste of water 

 in it. 



He checked his horse instantly, listening as the 

 wind swept past him over the cattle. But they must 

 already have smelled it, for they had ceased their 

 milling. The whole herd stood motionless, the indis- 

 tinct forms nearest him showing, in the dark, their 

 bald faces lifted to drink the sweet wet breath that 

 came over the rim. Then they started again, but 

 faster, and with a rumbling from their hoarse throats 

 that tightened Wade's grip on his reins. 



The sound seemed to come out of the earth, a low, 

 rumbling mumble, as deep as the night and as wide 

 as the plain, a thick, inarticulate bellow that stood 

 every rider stiff in his stirrups. 



The breeze caught the dust and carried it back 

 from the gray-coated, ghostly shapes, and Wade saw 

 that they were still moving in a circle. If only he 

 could keep them going ! He touched his horse to 

 ride on with them, when across the black sky flashed 

 a vivid streak of lightning. 



