One of the cowboys, wiping the dust and sweat from his face, with his big, red silk handkerchief, or, rather, neckerchief, started this song. It was taken up by half a score of loud voices.
"Yi-yippy!" came in stentorian tones from Yellin' Kid. "This is the life!"
But as, just then, his pony slipped and he missed the throw he made for a calf, it is doubtful if Yellin' Kid felt as gay as he sounded.
"Hot work; eh, boys?" asked Mr. Merkel, when Dick, Nort and Bud rode past to get drinks of water.
"But it's great, all the same!" answered Dick, with shining eyes—eyes that gleamed amid a face dark with the tan of the western sun and grimy with the dust of the western plains.
"Glad you like it!" commented the proprietor of Diamond X as he kept on with his tallying. "How they coming, Slim?" he asked his foreman.
"Couldn't be better! Old Buck Tooth is doing a heap sight more than I ever dreamed a Zuni could."
"Bud said that his old Indian helper was up to snuff!" commented Mr. Merkel. "I'm glad to know it. Heard anything from Double Z?" he asked, and there was an anxious note in his voice.
"No, Hank and his gang seem to have quieted down after what I told 'em!"
"Well, I hope he doesn't make trouble for Bud and the boys.
They're going back to Happy Valley to-night."