"Yes, we have been in luck—got a goodish bunch. Hello, Sam!"
"Hello, Broncho Harry!" the negro replied, putting his head out of the waggon.
"Got any hot water, because we want tea?"
"Not got now, but make him quick. Plenty of fire in the ashes. Not expect anyone back to dinner, only just twelve o'clock."
"Well, here we are, Sam, anyhow. Hand me out a frying-pan; a hot dinner is better than a cold lunch any day. I have brought you in a stag, Sam."
"Dat's good, Broncho, deer's meat better than cow meat."
"Not a bit of it, Sam. It does for a change; but you cannot go on eating it every day as you can beef, unless you have got to, and then one can eat anything."
"Are we going out again after dinner, Harry?" Hugh asked, as they watched the beef frying over the embers of the great fire.
"No, sirree, we have done our day's work. We have brought in our bunch, and a good bunch it is. It is just luck that we came on them early, and are back early. If it had been the other way we might not have got back until after dark; maybe we mightn't have got back until to-morrow. After we have done our meal we will go and see if the cattle have settled down quiet, and if they have joined the rest. If they have, we will have a bathe in the stream and then wash our shirts. It will be a good opportunity. One don't get many chances of washing on a round-up."
The cattle were found to have joined those brought in the day before, and the cow-boys' programme was carried out.