It would be useless to attempt a description of how Whitey felt about those boots.  Shakespeare would have to come back to life to do that, and I doubt if he could have done it.  I know that Bacon could not.  Whitey’s first impulse was to put the boots on, and go out and show them to all the men in the bunk house.  His next impulse was to save the surprise till morning, when the decorations on the boots would show better.

But he put them on.  And after his father had finished unpacking, Whitey sat in the living-room with him, and it is to be feared that he listened rather absent-mindedly to his father’s talk.  He would stretch out his legs and admire the boots.  Then he would twist his feet about so that he could get a good view of the high heels.  Then he would double up his knees, and fairly hug the boots.  And if Mr. Sherwood noticed all this he gave no sign.  Probably he remembered the day he had his first pair of boots.  And that night, though Whitey did not sleep in the boots, he took them to bed with him.

In the morning Whitey restrained his impatience until breakfast-time, then strolled down to the bunk house, wearing the boots.  Several of the men were there, just finishing the meal, and rolling their after-breakfast cigarettes.  Whitey sat down, sort of offhand and careless-like, and to his pained surprise, no one noticed the boots.  Then he crossed his legs and leaned back, with his hands clasped behind his head—­and Buck Higgins noticed them.

And Whitey certainly was gratified, for they attracted a great deal of admiration and praise, and there was much discussion about them, and feeling of the leather, and estimating how much they cost.  After a while Injun arrived.  Now, Injun did not care about boots, though he might have liked a pair had they been made of pink leather.  But even Injun was moved to admiration by these boots.

Then Whitey strutted around the ranch buildings and corrals for a while, and the milch cows, and the horses and the pigs—­all the stock, in fact—­had a good look at the boots.  And Sitting Bull admired them so much that he wanted to lick them, but of course that wouldn’t do.

Bill Jordan had an errand at the Junction and he drove Whitey and Injun over with him.  Al Strong’s store was also the postoffice, and every man, woman, and child that happened to be there at mail-time had a fine view of Whitey’s boots.  That night, when Whitey went to bed, he was quite tired from exhibiting them.

The next day Whitey figured that about every human being and animal in the neighborhood had seen his boots.  Then he happened to think of the Indians fishing on the river.  I say on the river, for it was frozen over, with its first solid covering of ice.  Now, the Indians never fish in the summer-time.  Few white people know about it, but the Indians don’t like to fish.  They only eat fish when they can’t hunt much.  When the Indian goes into camp for the winter, he has his provisions all stacked to carry him through, but to be sure that these provisions will hold out, he will eat just a little fish.