Just then the door opened in the home cabin, and Jean came out.
“Girls,” she called clearly. “Here comes our Bishop. That’s Jimmie singing to let us know they’re near.”
Then they caught the melody, and words too, as the two horsemen rounded the last bend in the road around old Topnotch, and came down the valley. Clear and full, Jimmie’s voice sounded as he sang,
“Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land,
I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me in Thy powerful hand.”
“That’s Jimmie’s favorite,” Jean said, softly. “He used to herd for father a few years ago, and you could hear him singing nights as he rode round the cattle. He’s with the Big Bow outfit now, and they call him the singing cowboy.”
“Where did he learn it all?” asked Polly. “He sings as if he just knew the right way to.”
“He used to be a choir boy in Denver. I don’t know what we’d do up here without him. He always rides over to meet the Bishop, and looks after everything for him.”