It was no easy victory.  The quarter from which the storm came had been anticipated to a fraction.  The cattle drifted before its wrath, dropped into the valley just above the corral, where the boys doubled on the outside point, and by the aid of a wing-gate turned the wandering herd into the enclosure.  The rear, lashed by the storm, instinctively followed the leaders, and the gates were closed and roped securely.

It was a close call.  The lesson came vividly near to the boys.  “Hereafter,” said Joel, “all signs of a storm must be acted upon.  We corraled these cattle by a scratch.  Now I know what a winter drift means.  A dozen men couldn’t turn this herd from the course of to-day’s storm.  We must hold nearer the corral.”

The boys swung into their saddles, and, trusting to their horses, safely reached the stable.  A howling night followed; the wind banked the snow against every obstacle, or filled the depressions, even sifting through every crack and crevice in the dug-out.  The boys and their mounts were snug within sod walls, the cattle were sheltered in a cove of the creek, and the storm wailed its dirges unheeded.

Dawn broke cold and clear.  Sun-dogs flanked the day’s harbinger and sunrise found the boys at the corral gate.  The cattle lazily responded to their freedom, the course led to the nearest divide, wind-swept of snow, and which after an hour’s sun afforded ample grazing for the day.  The first storm of the winter had been met, and its one clear lesson lent a dread to any possible successors.  The herd in the grip of a storm, cut off from the corral, had a new meaning to the embryo cowmen.  The best advice is mere theory until applied, and experience in the practical things of life is not transferable.

The first storm was followed by ideal winter weather until Christmas day.  The brothers had planned an extra supper on that occasion, expecting to excuse Dell during the early afternoon for the culinary task, and only requiring his services on corraling the herd at evening.  The plan was feasible, the cattle were herd-broke, knew their bed and water, and on the homeward circle all that was required was to direct and time the grazing herd.  The occasion had been looked forward to, partly because it was their very own, their first Christmas spread, and partly on account of some delicacies that their sponsor had forced on Dell on parting at the railroad, in anticipation of the day.  The bounds of the supper approached a banquet, and the question of appetites to grace the occasion was settled.

The supper was delayed.  Not from any fault in the planning, but the weather had not been consulted.  The herd had been grazed out on a northwest course for the day, and an hour after noon, almost the time at which Dell was to have been excused, a haze obscured the sun and dropped like a curtain around the horizon.  Scurrying clouds appeared, and before the herd could be thrown together and started, a hazy, leaden sky