Ted had addressed his remark to Bud Morgan, his chum and able
lieutenant, who threw a glance at the clouds and grunted.
"I reckon we be," he muttered, "an' I'm free ter say I'm dern sorry ter
hear it."
"It's hard luck," resumed Ted. "If we had got away a week earlier, or
hadn't been held up by the high water at Poplar Fork, we would have been
at the ranch now, and settled for the winter."
"Thar's no telling whar an 'if' won't land yer sometimes. If we hadn't
started we wouldn't hev been here at all. But here we aire, an' we'll
hev ter git out o' it."
"Think we better push on, or make camp?" asked Ted.
"Got ter make camp fer ther night somewhere," answered Bud. "But I wisht
ther storm hed held off till ter-morrer this time; we'd hev been within
hootin' distance o' ther Long Tom Ranch."
"Suppose we push on a few hours more. We can camp down in the dark if we
must. If the snow gets deep before ye reach the high ground you know
what it means."
"I shore do. I wuz all through a big snow in this yere man's country a
few years back, an' it wuz some fierce."
"All right. Ride back and drive them up. I'll point. We'll drive until
it gets too dark. Tell the wagons to move up."
Bud wheeled his pony and dashed to the rear of the great herd of cattle
that was coming on at a snail's pace.
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