Nothing would do the joyous crowd then but that Reb should ride forth to be acclaimed the victor. We sat back and yelled ourselves weak with laughter, for Corazón, having done his work, refused resolutely to squander time in vain parade. The steer captured and tied, he had no further interest in the proceedings. The rascal dog-trotted reluctantly to the center of the arena in obedience to Reb, then faced the audience; but, all the time Reb was bowing his acknowledgments, Corazón sulked and slouched, and he was sulking and shuffling the dust when they went through the gate. “Now,” said John, who is very human, “we’ll go help Reb spend that money.” As we jostled amid the outgoing crowd, several cowboys came alongside the grandstand rail, and Big John drew me aside to have speech with them. One rider led a spare horse and when he passed a man on foot, the latter hailed him: “Say, Ed, give me a lift to the hotel?” “Sure,” answered Ed, proffering the reins. The man gathered them up, his hands fluttering as if with palsy, and paused with his foot raised toward the stirrup. “He won’t pitch nor nothing, Ed?” came the quavered inquiry. “You’re shore he’s gentle?” “Gentler’n a dog,” returned Ed, greatly surprised. “You ain’t fooling me, now, are you, Ed?” continued the man on the ground. “He looks kind of mean.” “Give him to me!” Ed exploded. “You kin walk.” From where we stood, only the man’s back was visible. “Who is that fellow?” I asked. “Who? Him?” answered my neighbor. “Oh, his name’s Mullins. They say he used to be able to ride anything with hair on it, and throw off the bridle at that. I expect that’s just talk. Don’t you reckon?” IV THE OUTLAW Steve was recounting an episode of Hell’s Acre. “And jist as I was fighting my horse to make him go through that scrub-oak, he done stubbed his toe in the sand. Up she come with a whoof--one of them ol’ long-horns. That cow had hid herself there. Yes, sir; but she didn’t quite git her horns covered.” Reb said he could well believe it. No longer ago than last Tuesday, while chasing some stubborn cattle, he had chanced upon a cow lying flat behind a bush. A jackrabbit was burying her under leaves, for better concealment. Whereupon the two got to horse and rode away, leaving behind them a thoughtful silence. There was a water-gap to be repaired and they headed for the Salt Fork of the Brazos. “Wait a minute,” said Steve. “Look there.” A cow stood on the crest of a rise--a lean, dun creature, with distended eyes. When they approached, she trotted off to the right, mumbling anxiously. They did not follow. Then she stopped, her head erect and nostrils dilated, to watch them. The two ambled forward and she kept near, very, very anxious. “She’s got a calf hid out somewheres,” Reb remarked.