19 The King of the Thundering Herd 



an outcast and the legitimate prey for the 

 gray pack that always skulked upon the 

 outskirts of the herd. 



Buck had barely recovered from the sur- 

 prise of his sudden victory when he was 

 treated to another, for with a joyous bark 

 his old friend Shep leaped in his face, lick- 

 ing his bleeding muzzle with his long, soft 

 caressing tongue. 



For a few minutes they stood thus, Shep 

 licking his old comrade's wounds and Buck 

 permitting himself to be caressed. Then 

 Shep leaped upon Buck's back, just as he 

 had done in the good old days, and they 

 started down the side of the butte to rejoin 

 the rest of the herd. 



At first some of the bulls were inclined 

 to do battle with the new King, for that 

 was what Buck had become by his defeat of 

 the old King, but when they beheld the 

 strange figure of Shep upon the new King's 

 back, they were uncertain. A moment 



