ISO WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



confident air which proclaims the tenderfoot. 

 In addition to this, his extra tall, swaying figure 

 struck them like the appearance of a caricature 

 or a clown. But appearances aside, to arrive 

 "on foot" is the surest way in cowboy land to 

 be received with ridicule. 



When dust-covered Sam Davis asked for a 

 job, this was too much for the cowboys. There 

 was sudden silence in the aggressive, noisy rail- 

 lery. No one knew who he was, and, true to the 

 frontier, no one cared. But their curiosity was 

 aroused as to what he might be. He probably 

 was a farmer, although he might be a section 

 hand or a "mule skinner/'' But the foreman was 

 short-handed and willing to take any one on. 



"Can you ride?" the foreman asked. 



"I guess I might," came the drawled answer. 

 "I remember once of being on a horse, when I 

 had to ride bareback and chase a herd of stray 

 cattle out of Dad's cornfield." 



"Have you a saddle?" interrupted the fore- 

 man. 



"Naw, I ain't got no saddle. Do you haft to 

 have a saddle?" There were loud guffaws from 

 the seventeen cowboys. 



Plainly annoyed at Sam's extreme greenness 

 and tedious slowness of speech, the foreman 

 replied, "Well, throw your feet under the table 

 and have a feed. Then we will fix you out." 



