BOOTS The green of the prairie had given way to brown, and the brown to white, which rolled off to the sky-line and the hills in dazzling billows, in the cold light of the sun.

For winter had the Bar O in its grip.

And though winter was no gentle thing in Montana, there was a tingle in the cold, sharp air that made a boy want to whoop and to get on his snowshoes and go after rabbits, which wise old Nature had also turned white, so that they could blend in with the color of the landscape and the better avoid their enemies.

Not that Injun ever whooped; he never did.

His people always had reserved that form of expression for warlike purposes.
There were many things the boys could do in winter, but these were forgotten for a time by Whitey, for a great event was about to take place.