| Soon Henry’s Cat had arrived, and was whisked away
in a big car to a proper ranch where there were real cowboys and horses
and everything.
They gave him a rocking horse to practise on and showed him how to drink
a whole glass of lemonade in one go. He was very good at both, and all
the cowboys thought he was quite clever.
| 
|
The next day they all went out on
the range and ate baked beans and sang cowboy songs and told stories
of bandits and rustlers, and of the Lone Ranger who was such a good
shot that he could hit an acorn tossed in the air with his eyes
shut and back turned, while patting his head with one hand and whistling
‘My Darling Clementine’, and that wasn’t all he
could do. |
| Henry’s Cat liked the idea of
being a rough tough cowboy, and almost resolved to only have cold
water in his hot water bottle that night, but just as he was thinking
about it a cowboy rode fast into the camp.
“The canyon’s flooding” he hollered,
“And old Zeke is trapped and we’ve gotta get there
mighty fast partners”.
Well, this was no time for cold hot-water bottles; all got on their
horses right away, and Henry’s Cat sat behind the head cowboy
and held on fast while they galloped away shouting “Yahoo”
and that sort of thing.
|
|
| 
|
They soon arrived and, sure enough,
old Zeke was on a little island in the middle of the river at the
bottom of the canyon. He was glad to see everyone and waved his
shirt on the end of a stick.
“How are we going to get across the river in time?’’
asked the’Head Cowboy. “We haven’t got a bridge
and we can’t swim the river and it’s too far to throw
a lasso. What are we going to do, eh?”
|
No one knew what to do. They looked at each other and one suggested they
call the fire brigade, but there wasn’t a phone handy and time was
running out. Well, it was a bother, but Henry’s Cat had seen lots
of cowboy films and remembered one just like this. He went up to the Head
Cowboy. |
