Leaving Forrest at the camp, Mr. Lovell and Joel took the rig and leisurely followed the departing horsemen.  “This is one of the best herds on the market,” said the old drover to the boy, “and I’ve kept the deal pending, to see if you and I couldn’t buy it together.  It runs full thirty-five hundred cattle, twelve hundred threes and the remainder twos.  I always buy straight two-year-olds for my beef ranch, because I double-winter all my steer cattle—­it takes two winters in the north to finish these Texas steers right.  Now, if you can handle the threes, the remnant of twos, and the saddle stock, we’ll buy the herd, lock, stock, and barrel.  The threes will all ship out as four-year-old beeves next fall, and you can double-winter the younger cattle.  I can use two thousand of the two-year-olds, and if you care for the others, after we look them over, leave me to close the trade.”

“Mr. Lovell, it has never been clear to me how I am to buy cattle without money,” earnestly said Joel.

“Leave that to me—­I have that all figured out.  If we buy this herd together, you can ship out two thousand beef cattle next fall, and a ranch that has that many beeves to market a year hence, can buy, with or without money, any herd at Dodge to-day.  If you like the cattle and want them, leave it all to me.”

“But so many horses—­We have forty horses already,” protested Joel.

“A wide-awake cowman, in this upper country, always buys these southern horses a year in advance of when he needs them.  Next year you’ll be running a shipping outfit, mounting a dozen men, sending others on fall round-ups, and if you buy your horses now, you’ll have them in the pink of condition then.  It’s a small remuda, a few under sixty horses, as fifty head were detailed out here to strengthen remudas that had to go to the Yellowstone.  This foreman will tell you that he topped out twenty-five of the choice horses before the other trail bosses were allowed to pick.  As the remuda stands, its make-up is tops and tailings.  A year hence one will be as good as the other.  You’ll need the horses, and by buying down to the blanket, turning the owner foot-loose and free, it will help me to close the trade, in our mutual interest.”

The cattle were some two miles distant, under close herd, and by quietly edging them in onto a few hundred acres, they could be easily looked over from the conveyance.  On the arrival of the prospective buyers, the foreman had the cattle sufficiently compact, and the old man and the boy drove back and forth through the herd for fully an hour.  They were thrifty, western Texas steers, had missed the drouth by coming into the trail at Camp Supply, and were all that could be desired in range cattle.  The two agreed on the quality of the herd, and on driving out from among the cattle, the foreman was signaled up.

“One of my outfits arrived from the Platte this afternoon,” said Mr. Lovell, “and we’ll receive to-morrow.  That leaves me free to pick up another herd.  If Dud would try his best, he would come very near selling me these cattle.  I’ve got a buyer in sight for the threes and remnant of twos, and if you price the horses right, we might leave you afoot.  If you see Dudley before I do, tell him I looked over his cattle again.”