"I shore do. I wuz all through a big snow in this yere man's country a few years back, an' it wuz some fierce." "All right. Ride back and drive them up. I'll point. We'll drive until it gets too dark. Tell the wagons to move up." Bud wheeled his pony and dashed to the rear of the great herd of cattle that was coming on at a snail's pace. The cattle were lowing uneasily. They knew even better than the men that a storm was coming, and they dreaded it. This was the big Circle S herd which the broncho boys had bought in Texas in the spring of that year, and which they had herded and driven northward throughout the summer to winter on the Montana plateau, later to be driven to Moon Valley, and there put into condition for the market. Various things had delayed the arrival of the herd on their winter grounds. A detention of several days at a time by flood, by a stampede, and by fights with rustlers, had brought the cattle several weeks late to their winter grounds. Ted Strong had determined to try the experiment of wintering Southern cattle in the Montana country in order to harden them and improve the quality of the beef. The broncho boys had a large order to fill for the government the following summer, and it was to accomplish their contract that they had bought the Texas cattle and driven them north to the Long Tom Ranch in northern Montana. Now that they were within a few miles of it, and still on the low ground, it appeared that a big snow was inevitable, which might frustrate all their plans and cause them great loss. But Ted Strong did not complain. It was a condition which he could not have foreseen, and, being close at hand, there was nothing for them to do but meet it with all the fortitude at their command. Soon the herd began to move forward, being crowded by the broncho boys and the force of cow-punchers whom they had employed to assist them. Stella Fosdick, who, with her aunt, Mrs. Walter Graham, had accompanied the boys on their drive, now came galloping up to Ted. She had been riding beside the carriage in which her aunt had been comfortably traveling. "Going to keep on, Ted?" she asked. "Yes. Got to do it. Those clouds are full of snow. If it catches us down here we're likely to be snowed in, and if we do it's all up with the Circle S," he replied. "That's bad." "Oh, I guess we'll pull through all right, if we can keep the cows moving; but it is not going to be very comfortable for your aunt or you. We'll have to drive until the cattle refuse to move farther." "I can stand it, and aunt will have to. She's getting a little anxious, though, and asked me to ride ahead to learn when we're going to stop. Poor auntie likes her comfort. I often wonder why she became the wife of a ranchman." "Or why she consents to traipse all over the country with you," laughed Ted. "Ted, she absolutely cannot refuse me a thing."