"Yes," Mr. Merkel slowly replied, "I took over Dot and Dash, and if everything here at Diamond X and in Happy Valley is in as good shape as you boys seem to think, why, I'm going to send you there."
"Send us where?" Bud wanted to know.
"To the new ranch—Dot and Dash is its cattle brand—to get it in shape before winter sets in. You don't mind; do you?"
"Mind!" joyously cried Bud. "Sure not!"
"That's good news!" commented Nort.
"Right-o!" sang out his brother. "Things were getting slow around here, and if we didn't have the coming rodeo to think about——"
"Well, then if you're willing to take charge of Dot and Dash for a while you can pass up the rodeo," chuckled Mr. Merkel. "Not but what you won't have more excitement, maybe, than if you did try bulldogging and bare-back riding," he added to his son. "Only it will be sort of different, and your stunts will be doing some good instead of just endangering your necks."
"Aw, there wasn't any danger," murmured Bud.
"No!" chuckled Snake Purdee. "The dust is pretty soft to fall on," and his point was illustrated as Bud began whipping some of the accumulated soil from his chaps.
"Well, that's what I came out to tell you, the news about buying Dot and Dash," concluded Mr. Merkel.