96 The King of the Thundering Herd 



him. He was made of good stuff, however, 

 and did not let his father see that he 

 was afraid. The need of his mother and 

 brother, who had gone all day with little 

 water, must be terrible. For their sakes he 

 must be a man. 



"All right, father," he said, choking 

 down his fears. " To-morrow night we 

 will meet here. I will have old Brindle, 

 and you be here with the wagon and 

 mother and Tom." 



Father and son clasped hands to cement 

 the bargain, and after filling both canteens, 

 for Bennie was to be left without one, Mr. 

 Anderson started back for camp, going by 

 means of the small compass that he always 

 carried. Besides this he also had a com- 

 pass somewhere inside him. A woodsman's 

 compass, an instinct that almost never 

 fails its owner and is priceless upon the 

 frontier. Besides if it was not cloudy, there 

 was always the bright, intense North Star, 



