The horseman with the herd saw him now, and rising in his saddle, waved a hand at the foreman. In a few moments Stallings came rushing up with a shout of joy. [Illustration: Good for You, Kid!] "Good for you, kid! How are you?" "Baked to a turn," answered Tad hoarsely, but with face lighting up joyously. "I never was so thirsty in my life." "What? Haven't you had anything to drink?" "Not a drop in two days." "Great heavens, boy! You head that pony for camp mighty quick. Ride for it! You will have no difficulty in following my trail back. Don't drink much at a time. Take it in little sips," commanded the foreman in short, jerky sentences. "Yes, but what about the herd?" asked Tad Butler. "Never you mind the herd. I'll see to them. You move!" Stallings noticed that the boy sat in his saddle very straight, and he knew well enough the effort it cost him to do so. "I think I'll stay," answered the lad after a moment of indecision. "You'll go!" Tad shook his head. "I've pulled them through, even if I have had quite a time of it. Now I'm going to stay with them. I guess I can stand it as well as any of your men could under similar circumstances. They wouldn't desert the herd, would they?" Stallings glanced at him sharply. "All right," he said. "If you insist upon it. By good rights I ought to order you in. But I understand just how you feel, kid. Here, take a drink of this brandy. It will brace you up," said the foreman, producing a flask from his pocket. "I keep it for emergencies, as the men are not allowed to use it while on duty." "Thank you," answered the boy, with an emphatic shake of the head. "I don't drink." "I understand. But this is medicine," urged the foreman. "It will set you right up." "I haven't the least doubt of it," grinned the boy. "But I don't want to be set up that way. You'll excuse me, Mr. Stallings. Don't urge me, please." The foreman replaced the flask in his pocket, a queer smile flickering about the corners of his mouth. "You are the right stuff, kid," he muttered. "If you stayed in this business you'd be a foreman before you knew it. You are a heap sight better than a lot of them now. Fall in. I'll ride around on the other side of the herd, and urge them along from the rear. You ride up to the right of the line and keep them pointed. Follow our trail. You will make out the main herd very soon." With renewed strength, Tad went at his work, though it was with an effort that he kept his saddle. He was afraid he must collapse before reaching the camp, and his straining eyes kept searching for the herd and the white-topped wagon that he knew held what he needed most of all at that moment--drink and food! Soon Tad and the foreman made out a rising cloud of dust approaching them at a rapid rate. Stallings waved his hand toward the cloud and nodded to Tad, being too far away to call.