So Whitey trudged and trudged until dusk came.  Then he sat down and ate some of the food he had brought with him.  Then darkness came, and a big moon poked its head up over the eastern horizon, and rode up into the sky, where it began to get smaller and more silvery, and to flood the prairie with its light.  And Whitey started, and it wasn’t so bad to tread the soft road, and to hear the hum of the insects, and to feel the gentle night breeze against his face, and it would be something to tell about afterwards.

Whitey did not know what time it was when he sat down on a hummock to rest.  And he must have fallen asleep, for after a while, out of some vague country that seemed like the mountains near the Bar O Ranch, a great giant came rushing down toward him.  And the giant had a head like Felix’s, but on top of it was a big yellow light—­like those lamps miners wear on their heads—­that grew brighter and brighter, and the giant roared louder and louder, until he woke Whitey up.

Whitey rubbed his eyes, then pinched himself to make sure he was awake, for the roaring still sounded in his ears, and he looked around and saw two little red and green lights disappearing in the distance.  And then he understood that he must have sat down near the track of the railroad, for those lights were on the end of a train, and the big yellow light on the giant’s head must have been the engine’s headlight.

Well, the road followed the railway for a distance, and it couldn’t be such an awful way to the Star Circle Ranch.  Should he go on, or should he sleep some more?  He might catch cold from the dew, but he could put on his slicker, and—­he was awfully tired.

He yawned, he nodded, he was sound asleep before he knew it.

CHAPTER XIII

A FOOL’S ERRAND

When Whitey arrived at the Star Circle Ranch, at about ten o’clock in the morning, he was still a very tired boy.  The Star Circle was a much larger ranch than the T Up and Down, with a much smaller manager, for Walt Lampson, who was also part owner of the place, was not much taller than Whitey, and he was serious-looking, too—­didn’t look at all like Cal Brayton.

After Whitey had delivered his letter to Walt Lampson and had eaten some breakfast, which the cook had rustled for him, he began to tell Walt of his adventures in coming from the T Up and Down, and he was surprised when Walt roared with laughter.  This attracted some of the cowpunchers, and they roared, too.  Whitey had to repeat the part about Felix going home.  It seemed strange to Whitey that Cal Brayton who looked so merry should be so solemn, and Walt Lampson who looked so solemn should be so merry.

After sleeping for about twelve hours at a stretch for three nights Whitey might be said to be a trifle rested and able to look around and take an interest in his surroundings.  And he began to discover things about the character of the men on the Star Circle Ranch.  They were given to loud laughter, but he noticed that most of this laughter was at the misfortunes of others.  And they were always playing jokes on one another and cutting up tricks; but beneath this playfulness there seemed to be a sort of fierceness—­something like the ferocity that lurks beneath the play of a tiger.