A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



my strays they knowed all 'bout it at headquarters. 

 I kep' thinkin' 'bout what Shorty sed, 'Come back 

 with yore head up,' but I hed mine down when he met 

 me at the corral. I knowed we hadn't no bosses to 

 race fer money. He looked kinda hard at my extra 

 saddled boss an' roll o' plunder and ses, 'Kid, this 

 ain't no racin' stable. This here is a cow outfit, an' 

 our best bosses is fer cuttin', not racin.' I didn't 

 say a word, jest unsaddled an' started fer the dog- 

 house, when I herd him cumin'. He caught up with 

 me, grabbed me by both shoulders an' turned me 

 'roun'. I saw a great big tear stealin' down his cheek, 

 an' he ses, 'God A'mighty, Kid, I wisht you wus my 

 boy.' Then he turned away quick an' wus gone, 

 while I set down on the groun' an' blubbered in my 

 ole fool way thet I hev never got over. When pay 

 day cum Shorty handed me my wage check, which 

 had growed sum, an' sed, 'Kid, when a boy does a 

 man's work he gits a man's pay. You begin doin' a 

 man's work when you went to gather them strays, an' 

 you cum back the same way.' 



"Then he started to go on, but turned and sed, 

 'Say, Kid, if I owned this here S. M. S. Ranch, bosses 

 an' cattle, I'd a-give the whole damned outfit to a- 

 seed you an' Stud cum over thet line'." 



[226] 



