He shook his head, then the smile came back.
“A freezing cow started me,” he announced.
“A what?” Her eyes were once more puzzled.
“You see,” he elucidated, “I was a cow-puncher in Montana, without money. One winter, the snow covered the prairies so long that the cattle were starving at their grazing places. Usually, the breeze from the Japanese current blows off the snow from time to time, and we can graze the steers all winter on the range. This time, the Japanese current seemed to have been switched off, and they were dying on the snow-bound pastures.”
“Yes,” she prompted. “But how did that—?”
“You see,” he went on, “the boss wrote from Helena to know how things were going. I drew a picture of a freezing, starving cow, and wrote back, ‘This is how.’ The boss showed that picture around, and some folk thought it bore so much family resemblance to a starving cow that on the strength of it they gambled on me. They staked me to an education in illustrating and painting.”
“And you made good!” she concluded, enthusiastically.
“I hope to make good,” he smiled.
After a pause, she said:
“If you were not busy, I’d guide you to some places along the creek where there are wonderful things to see.”