400 



RECREATION 



tent, and we screaming and trying to get in 

 first. Then we understood it was a gallery- 

 play for the benefit of the girls and meant 

 veal for breakfast. The distance between 

 producer and consumer seemed pitifully 

 short, but it certainly was nice, tender veal. 

 After the first eventful day and getting 

 used to camp ways, the days passed very 

 quickly. We worked the country north, 

 camping at our host's old stamping grounds, 

 where there was good water and timber. 



our tent was always ready for us after a 

 late ride into camp, and his devotion to our 

 little hostess was unwavering. One evening 

 the girls left camp to spend Sunday at a 

 " hotel" over the divide at the foot of which 

 we had been in camp two days. Because of 

 an aching spine, the Owner's wife was un- 

 der doctor's orders not to ride, so she jour- 

 neyed in the mountain cart, and one of us 

 or more, as the cart seemed to be elastic 

 would often drive with her. That evening 



A ROUND-UP OF APPROXIMATELY IOOO HEAD OF CATTLE, IN MONTANA 



Each camp held a warm spot in our hearts, 

 from some pleasant association; our affec- 

 tion for the grub-wagon grew daily and our 

 attitude toward the cowboys changed from 

 curiosity to genuine liking. Perhaps they 

 were rough, but never when we were around, 

 and they showed us the deference that every 

 man in the West accords a good woman. 

 One day Cook and Cookee got some grouse 

 w T ith their six-shooters and brought them in 

 for us. At supper time we passed them 

 around, but they all followed the example 

 of the first cowboy, who shook his head: 

 "No, no, them chickens is for you girls; 

 you eat 'em." 



We tried to express our appreciation to 

 the cooks by staying "in" one morning and 

 helping. We peeled vegetables for Mulli- 

 gan, washed dish-towels and even house- 

 cleaned the grub-wagon, Cook and Cookee 

 meanwhile regarding us with dubious 

 smiles. But they let us finish and said 

 "Thank you" very politely. 



We were always sure that Bob would look 

 out for our comfort. It was he who saw that 



two of us were in the cart with her, and Bob, 

 who was to see us safe over the divide, was 

 perched somewhere on the outside of it. 

 That road certainly was a bad one. During 

 the roughest ascent Bob walked beside the 

 cart, blocking it frequently and driving as 

 carefully as he could around fallen timber; 

 all the while keeping solicitous eyes on our 

 hostess to see if the jolting caused her pain. 

 He had been telling us what a bad one he 

 was and how he had taken the name of Bob 

 Setemhard to evade the law; but no hard- 

 ened character could have the honest 

 blue eyes that brightened his weather- 

 beaten face, and when he turned them on 

 the Owner's wife to see if she was all right, 

 the expression in them would have softened 

 the heart of the most implacable vigilante. 



That proved a sorrowful trip for two of us, 

 for on the return we lost camp, which, alas ! 

 meant losing the grub-wagon. Camp was 

 pitched at a certain spring, instead of across 

 the river from the spring, as we thought. 

 The girls in the cart ahead of us were on the 

 wrong trail, but they met an outlying cowboy 



