"We ’d had a mild winter for two weeks, an’ a lot of rain. We was chirpin’ like li’l fool birds about winter bein’ over. Ever notice how many times winter is over before it is? But Buck did n’t think so; an’ he shore can smell weather. We was also discussin’ a certain campin’ party Jimmy had discovered across th’ river. Jimmy was at th’ bunkhouse that shift an’ he was a great hand for snoopin’ around kickin’ up trouble. He reports there’s twelve in th’ party an’ they ’re camped back of Split Hill. Now, Split Hill is no place for a camp, even in th’ summer; an’ what got us was th’ idea of campin’ at all in th’ winter. It riled Buck till he forgot to cross off three days on th’ calendar, which we later discovered by help of th’ almanac an’ th’ moon. Buck sends Hoppy over to scout around Split Hill. You know Hoppy. He scouted for two days without bein’ seen, an’ without discoverin’ any lawful an’ sane reason why twelve hard-lookin’ fellers should be campin’ back of Split Hill in th’ winter time. He also found they had come from th’ south, an’ he swore there was n’t no cow tracks leadin’ toward them from our range. But there was lots of hoss tracks back and forth. An’ when he reports that th’ campers had left an’ gone on north we all feel better. Then he adds they turned east below th’ Double Arrow an’ went back south again. That’s different. It’s plain to some of us they was lookin’ us over for future use; learnin’ our ways an’ th’ lay of th’ land. There was seven of us at th’ time, but we could ’a’ licked ’em in a fair fight. "In them days we only had two line houses. Number One was near Big Coulee, with Cowan’s at th’ far end of its fifteen miles of north line; th’ west line was a twenty-five-mile ride south to Lookout Peak. Number Two was where th’ Jumpin’ Bear empties into th’ river, now part of Meeker’s range. From it th’ riders went west twenty-five miles to th’ Peak an’ north from it twenty-five miles along th’ east line. There was a hundred thousan’ acres in Conroy Valley an’ thirty thousan’ in th’ Meeker triangle, which made up Section Two. At that time mebby ten thousan’ cows was on this section—two-thirds of all of ’em. When we built Number Three on th’ Peak this section was cut down to a reasonable size. Th’ third headquarters then was th’ bunkhouse, with only th’ east line to ride. One part, th’ shortest, ran north to Cowan’s; th’ other run about seventeen miles south to Li’l Timber, where th’ line went on as part of Number Two’s. We paired off an’ had two weeks in each of ’em in them days. "When we shifted at th’ end of that week Jimmy Price an’ Ace Fisher got Number One; Skinny an’ Lanky was in Number Two; an’ me an’ Buck an’ Hoppy took life easy in th’ bunkhouse, with th’ cook to feed us. Buck, he scouted all over th’ ranch between th’ lines an’ worked harder than any of us, spendin’ his nights in th’ nearest house.