“Gosh-a’mighty, I’m a lady now for sure, ain’t I?” she breathed, heaving a deep sigh.
After a time the Overland girls sought to explain to her that it was not the dress she wore nor the way she wore her hair, but her breeding, that made the lady. Judy listened attentively to the brief lecture read to her by Grace and Elfreda, then started for home, this time at a slow jog. Judy was in a thoughtful mood.
For the next week she was a daily visitor at the Circle O ranch. Hippy Wingate was again on his feet, but still wearing a bandage on his head and walking with a cane. His companions were in no haste to leave him; in fact they had been waiting for his recovery quite willingly because they had been urged by Bindloss to stay for the round-up that was now close at hand, when the cattle would be rounded up into herds and the fat ones cut out, branded again and driven to a shipping point for market. Bindloss promised his guests a lively time. The cowpunchers, too, were looking forward to the occasion with more than their ordinary interest, for in it they saw an opportunity to show their horsemanship and skill to the Overland girls.
Judy Hornby was invited to accompany the party to the round-up, but for some reason she refused, and went away that day with her face dark and resentful. The Overlanders were at a loss to account for the sudden change in her.
The day of the big round-up arrived, and the ranch presented a scene of activity long before daylight that morning. There was much equipment to be shipped down the valley, for the first herd to be rounded up were grazing more than twenty miles away, not very far from Judy’s log-cabin home, where her father had quite a herd of cattle of his own, though small compared with the Bindloss herds. His brand was the “Double Q” while Bindloss’s was the “Circle O.”
Lieutenant Wingate, not feeling able to take the long ride, decided to remain at the ranch-house until one of the herds near by was rounded up. He could watch the round-up, then easily get back to the ranch-house should he find it necessary to do so. There being no reason for Jim-Sam’s remaining at the ranch, Bindloss accepted their offer to assist in the round-up.
“I am going to help, too,” promised Emma, as they were eating breakfast in camp next morning with Bindloss as their guest.
“No, you ain’t,” replied the rancher. “You keep out of it and stay where you’re safe. There’s some wild ones in the bunch we are going after today.”
Tom Gray was accepted as a novice, and a pony that knew the ropes was assigned to him for the work. Bindloss told him that so long as he gave the animal its head he would be reasonably safe.
The Overlanders got a later start than the others, but managed to get away shortly after daybreak. It was a wonderful ride through the fragrant morning air, one that every member of the party thoroughly enjoyed. Hippy in the meantime was having a glorious morning, too—snoring in the ranch-house, where he proposed to remain all day and have “peace and quiet,” as he expressed it.