They felt instinctively--as, in fact, did
Phil and the Dean--that there was something more beneath it all than
such a commonplace.
Nick Cambert, who, with Yavapai Joe, rode in the rodeo, carefully
avoided the stranger. But Patches, by his persistent friendly interest
in the Tailholt Mountain man's follower, added greatly to the warmth of
the discussions and conjectures regarding himself. The rodeo had reached
the Pot-Hook-S Ranch, with Jim Reid in charge, when the incident
occurred which still further stimulated the various opinions and
suggestions as to the new man's real character and mission.
They were working the cattle that day on the rodeo ground just outside
the home ranch corral. Phil and Curly were cutting out some
Cross-Triangle steers, when the riders, who were holding the cattle, saw
them separate a nine-months-old calf from the herd, and start it, not
toward the cattle they had already cut out, but toward the corral.
Instantly everybody knew what had happened.
The cowboy nearest the gate did not need Phil's word to open it for his
neighbor next in line to drive the calf inside.
Not a word was said until the calves to be branded were also driven into
the corral.
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