"Well, he tried hard enough before he managed to stick," exclaimed Nort.
In the excess of her enthusiasm Nell clapped her hands. And Dick, turning to ascertain the source of the noise, chuckled:
"Look who's here!"
"Got a ticket, little girl?" asked Bud, who, having demonstrated that he could do what he had said he could—leap from the corral fence to the back of a passing pony—was now slowing down his steed and riding him back to where the other punchers were perched.
"I'm a reporter," responded Nell with a smile. "I'm writing this rodeo up for the papers."
"Then we'll have to make a press box for you," said Nort.
He and his brother, with the half score of cowboys, and Nell were offering their congratulations to the daring boy rancher when a new voice, floating toward the corral from the direction of the house, called to ask:
"What's all the excitement about?"
"Oh, hello, Dad!" cried Bud, waving his hat toward a well set-up, bronzed specimen of a western ranchman who was walking slowly toward the fence. "Did you see me?"
"I saw you risk your neck, if that's what you mean," answered Mr.
Merkel with a half smile.