“What does it mean?” inquired Joel, hailing Sargent, when the line-riders met.

“It means that we’ll ride the outside line in the morning,” came the reply.  “There’s a storm coming within twelve hours.  At least, the herd say so.”

“What can we do?”

“Leave that to the cattle.  They’ll not quit the valley unless driven out by a storm.  The instinct that teaches them of the coming storm also teaches them how to meet it.  They’ll bed in the blue-stem to-night, or hunt a cosy nook under some cut-bank.”

A meeting point on the outer line, for the next morning, was agreed upon, when the horsemen separated for the evening.  “Get out early, and keep your eyes open for any trace of cattle crossing the line,” Sargent called back, as he reined homeward.  “Dell and I will leave The Wagon at daybreak.”

The storm struck between midnight and morning.  Dawn revealed an angry horizon, accompanied by a raw, blue-cold, cutting wind from the north.  On leaving their quarters, both patrols caught the storm on an angle, edging in to follow the circle, their mounts snorting defiance and warming to the work in resisting the bitter morning.  The light advanced slowly, a sifting frost filled the air, obscuring the valley, and not until the slope to the south was reached was the situation known.

No cattle were in sight or adrift.  Within an hour after leaving the line-camp, the experienced eye of Sargent detected a scattering trace where an unknown number of cattle had crossed the line.  Both he and Dell dismounted, and after studying the trail, its approach and departure, the range-bred man was able to give a perfect summary of the situation.

“There’s between fifty and a hundred head in this drift,” remarked Sargent, as the two remounted.  “They’re through cattle; the storm must have caught them on the divide, north of the Beaver.  They struck the creek in the flats and were driven out of the valley.  The trail’s not over two hours old.  Ride the line until you meet the other boys, and I’ll trail down these cattle.  The sand dunes ought to catch them.”

Dell and Sargent separated.  Five miles to the eastward Joel was met.  Manly was reported at the rear, the two having intercepted a contingent of cattle approaching the line, and was then drifting the stragglers back to the valley.  On Dell’s report, the brothers turned to the assistance of Sargent, retracing the western line, and finally bearing off for the sand hills.  Several times the sun threatened to break through, lighting the valley, but without revealing any stir among the cattle in the shelter of the creek.  In the short time since leaving their stables, the horses under saddle had whitened from the action of the frost on their sweaty coats, unheeded by their riders.  There was no checking of mounts until the range of dunes was reached, when from the summit of a sand hill the stragglers were located in care of Sargent, and on the homeward drift.  The cattle were so benumbed and bewildered from the cold that they had marched through the shelter of the dunes, and were overtaken adrift on the wind-swept plain.