" But Law,
it appeared, was a born horseman, and seemed to inspire his mount
with an exceptional eagerness and intelligence. In spite of the
man's unusual size, he rode like a feather; he was grace and life
and youth personified. Now he sat as erect in his saddle as a
swaying reed; again he stretched himself out like a whip-lash.
Once he had begun the work he would not stop.
All that afternoon the cowboys labored, and toward sundown the
depleted herd was driven to the water. It moved thither in a
restless, thirsty mass; it churned the shallow pond to milk, and
from a high knoll, where Alaire had taken her stand, she looked
down upon a vast undulating carpet many acres in extent formed by
the backs of living creatures. The voice of these cattle was like
the bass rumble of the sea, steady, heavy-droning, ceaseless.
Then through the cool twilight came the drive to the next pasture,
and here the patience of the cowboys was taxed to the utmost, for
as the stronger members of the herd forged ahead, the wearied,
worried, littlest members fell behind. Their joints were limber,
and their legs unsteady; one and all were orphaned, too, for in
that babel of sound no untrained ears could catch a mother's low.
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