[Cow-Country by B. M. Bower]@TWC D-Link bookCow-Country CHAPTER FOUR: BUDDY GIVES WARNING 18/20
It will give me one more hand with the cattle.
Now go tell Step-and-a-Half to make ready for a week on the trail, and to have supper early so he can make his start with the rest." Buddy walked stiffly away to the cook's cabin where Step-and-a-Half sat leisurely gouging the worst blemishes out of soft, old potatoes with a chronic tendency to grow sprouts, before he peeled them for supper His crippled leg was thrust out straight, his hat was perched precariously over one ear because of the slanting sun rays through the window, and a half-smoked cigarette waggled uncertainly in the corner of his mouth while he sang dolefully a most optimistic ditty of the West: "O give me a home where the buff-alo roam, Where the deer and the antelope play, Where never is heard a discouraging word And the sky is not cloudy all day." "You're going to hear a discouraging word right now," Buddy broke in ruthlessly upon the song.
Whereupon, with a bit of importance in his voice and in his manner, he proceeded to spoil Step-and-a-Half's disposition and to deepen, if that were possible, his loathing of Indians.
Too often had he made dubious soup of his dishwater and the leavings from a roundup crew's dinner, and watched blanketed bucks smack lips over the mess, to run from them now without feeling utterly disgusted with life.
Step-and-a-Half's vituperations could be heard above the clatter of pots and pans as he made ready for the journey. That night's ride up the pass through the narrow range of high-peaked hills to the Tomahawk's farthest range on Big Creek was a tedious affair to Buddy.
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