The first three weeks of July saw the bulk of the herds north of the Beaver.  Water and range had been taken advantage of in the trailing of cattle to the Northwest, fully three hundred thousand head having crossed from Dodge to Ogalalla.  The exodus afforded the boys an insight into pastoral life, brought them in close contact with the men of the open, drove false ideas from their immature minds, and assisted in the laying of those early foundations on which their future manhood must rest.

Dell spent every chance hour with the trail men.  He and Forrest slept with the wagons, met the herds, and piloted them in to the best water.  The fact that only experienced men were employed on the trail made the red-headed boy a welcome guest with every herd, while the wide acquaintance of his crippled sponsor assured the lad every courtesy of camp and road.  Dell soon learned that the position of point man usually fell to a veteran of the range, and one whose acquaintance was worthy of cultivation, both in the saddle and around the camp-fire.

“I’m going to be a point man,” Dell confided to Forrest, on one of their trips up to the homestead.  “He don’t seem to have much to do, and nearly always rides with one leg across his horse’s neck.”

“That’s the idea,” assented Forrest.  “Aim high.  Of course, you’ll have to begin as a drag man, then a few trips to Montana in the swing, and after that you have a right to expect a place on the point.  The trouble is, you are liable to slip back a notch or two at any time.  Here I’ve been a foreman in other years, and this trip I was glad to make a hand.  There’s so many slips, and we can’t be all point men and bosses.  Cooks and horse wranglers are also useful men.”

The first serious cloud to hover over the new ranch appeared early during the last week in July.  Forrest’s wounds had nearly healed, and he was wondering if his employer would make a further claim on his services during that summer, which was probable at the hands of a drover with such extensive interests.  He and Dell were still patrolling the ford on Beaver, when one evening a conveyance from the railroad to the south drove up to the crossing.  It brought a telegram from Don Lovell, requesting the presence of Forrest in Dodge City, and the messenger, a liveryman from Buffalo, further assured him that transportation was awaiting him at that station.  There were no grounds on which to refuse the summons, indefinite and devoid of detail as it was, and preparations were immediately made to return with the liveryman.  What few cattle had been secured during that trip were drifted up the creek, when all returned to the homestead for the night.

To Dell and Joel the situation looked serious.  The crippled man, helpless as he was at first, had proven their rock of refuge, and now that he was leaving them, a tenderness of unnoticed growth was revealed.  As an enforced guest, he had come to them at a moment when their poverty had protested at receiving him, his unselfishness in their behalf had proven his friendship and gratitude beyond question, and the lesson was not lost on the parentless waifs.