“ Plow down the east side of the ravine. Try to get all the way around the south side of the fire and then back again,” he directed the two men with one of the teams. “I’ll take the other, with Jake, and we’ll try to cut her off across the top here!”
“ You can’t do it, Cus,” said one of the older men. “It’s too steep.”
“ We’ve got to try it,” said Pennington. “Otherwise we’d have to go back so far that it would get away from us on the east side before we made the circle. Jake, you choke the plow handles—I’ll drive!”
Jake was a short, stocky, red-headed boy of twenty, with shoulders like a bull. He grinned good-naturedly.
“ I’ll choke the tar out of ’em!” he said.
“ The rest of you shovel and beat like hell!” ordered Custer.
Shannon watched him as he took the reins and start
