“All right,” said Rob, “we’ll take half the horses, and you and Moise take the other half. Mollycoddles are no good on the trail.”
“They’re no good anywhere. And the way to learn to do a thing is to do it. Rob, take the off side of the first horse, and let John see if he can remember how to throw the hitch on the near side.”
“I’ll tell you what you are, Uncle Dick,” said John, leaving the fire with a piece of bannock still in his hand.
“Well, what then?” smiled Uncle Dick.
“You’re not an engineer—you’re a contractor! That’s what you are.”
“It comes to the same thing. You’ll have to learn how men work in the open and get the big things done through doing little things well.”
The boys now busied themselves about their first horse. After a while, with considerable trouble and a little study, Rob turned to Uncle Dick. “How’s that for the cinch, sir?” he asked.
Uncle Dick tried to run his finger under the lash-hook and nodded approvingly.
“Didn’t it hurt him awfully?” asked Jesse. “He groaned as though it did.”