The cowboys,
for his quick and genuine appreciation of their skill and knowledge, as
well as for his unassuming courage, hearty good nature and ready laugh,
took him into their fellowship without question or reserve, while Little
Billy, loyal ever to his ideal, "Wild Horse Phil," found a large place
in his boyish heart for the tenderfoot who was so ready always to
recognize superior wisdom and authority.
So the stranger found his place among them, and in finding it, found
also, perhaps, that which he most sorely needed.
[Illustration:]
When rodeo time came Patches was given a "string" of horses and, through
the hard, grilling work that followed, took his place among the riders.
There was no leisurely roaming over the range now, with only an
occasional short dash after some animal that needed the "iron" or the
"dope can;" but systematically and thoroughly the thirty or forty
cowboys covered the country--mountain and mesa and flat, and wash and
timbered ridge and rocky pass--for many miles in every direction.
In this section of the great western cattle country, at the time of my
story, the round-ups were cooperative.
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