The cattle were lowing uneasily. They knew even better than the men that
a storm was coming, and they dreaded it.
This was the big Circle S herd which the broncho boys had bought in
Texas in the spring of that year, and which they had herded and driven
northward throughout the summer to winter on the Montana plateau, later
to be driven to Moon Valley, and there put into condition for the
market.
Various things had delayed the arrival of the herd on their winter
grounds. A detention of several days at a time by flood, by a stampede,
and by fights with rustlers, had brought the cattle several weeks late
to their winter grounds.
Ted Strong had determined to try the experiment of wintering Southern
cattle in the Montana country in order to harden them and improve the
quality of the beef.
The broncho boys had a large order to fill for the government the
following summer, and it was to accomplish their contract that they had
bought the Texas cattle and driven them north to the Long Tom Ranch in
northern Montana.
Now that they were within a few miles of it, and still on the low
ground, it appeared that a big snow was inevitable, which might
frustrate all their plans and cause them great loss.
But Ted Strong did not complain. It was a condition which he could not
have foreseen, and, being close at hand, there was nothing for them to
do but meet it with all the fortitude at their command.
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