"
"Oh, yes, I did. I had the biggest kind of a job. You see, that's what I
was doing on the Divide all night; trying to find some other way to do
it."
"And do you mind telling me what that job is?" asked Phil curiously.
Patches laughed as though at himself. "I don't know that I can,
exactly," he said. "I think, perhaps, it's just to ride that big bay
horse out there."
Phil laughed aloud--a hearty laugh of good-fellowship. "You'll do that
all right."
"Do you think so, really," asked Patches, eagerly.
"Sure; I know it."
"I wish I could be sure," returned the strange man doubtfully--and the
cowboy, wondering, saw that wistful look in his eyes.
"That big devil is a man's horse, all right," mused Phil.
"Why, of course--and that's just it--don't you see?" cried the other
impulsively. Then, as if he regretted his words, he asked quickly, "Do
you name your horses?"
"Sure," answered the cowboy; "we generally find something to call them."
"And have you named the big bay yet?"
Phil laughed. "I named him yesterday, when he broke away as we were
bringing the bunch in, and I had to rope him to get him back.
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