The life of the ranch was like a series of fairy tales to Nell and Jamie
in these first days of their homecoming to the Diamond H. Not the least
wonderful and delightful of their new experiences were the riding
lessons. A couple of gentle, easy-gaited ponies were saddled for the boy
and his sister, and accompanied by Traynor and Doctor Powell they rode
to the various outlying ranches that formed a part of the immense
Diamond H range. Often Limber rode with them. Always the riders were
preceded by the pack of greyhounds that darted yelping after jackrabbits
or an occasional coyote.
Doctor Powell had been waiting the outcome of King's will, which had
been written out by hand with no witnesses. As there were no heirs, and
Allan Traynor, the executor, had been appointed in the will without
bonds, he was given full power to sell the property in conformance with
the terms of the will. This stipulated positively that the property was
only to be sold to a physician who would establish a sanitarium upon the
place without undue delay; and the Probate Court ordered that these
terms be carried out.
Until after the will was made public, only Traynor and a few Land Office
people were aware that King had patented the land. Glendon expressed his
disappointment vehemently. There were many who wished to bid for the
Springs, but Powell was the only eligible purchaser, and was ready with
the cash. After complying with all legal formalities, he was given
immediate possession of the Hot Springs ranch.
All proceeds of the sale, according to the will, were to be turned over
to the executor until such time as the sanitarium was completed, when
this entire fund was to be applied to the maintenance of the place.
Thus, Doctor King, unable to live and see the realization of his dream,
was assisting in carrying out his plans. It was a partnership between
the dead and living owners of the Hot Springs, which Powell felt a
sacred obligation. He wished heartily that the old doctor could have
lived so they might have worked together; but, he resolved that so far
as he was able the undertaking should embody the ideals which the dead
doctor had not lived to see fulfilled.
Limber was commissioned to find a man to occupy the ranch house at the
Springs until the doctor's plans were completed. The search resulted in
the hiring of a Mexican dwarf, whose own name, long forgotten, found a
substitute in "Chappo," or "Little Chap." When living near any
settlement he was unable to resist his fondness for stimulants, yet he
was honest and faithful to the core, as Limber knew. The plan of sending
him to the place would be an advantage to him as well as to Powell.
The doctor spent much of his time at the Diamond H, while awaiting
replies to his communications with various architects and managers of
sanitaria, in Europe as well as America.
Entering the dining-room for breakfast one morning, Nell, with cheeks
flushing and eyes sparkling, and every movement radiating happiness,
glanced out the window across the wide valley toward Fort Grant.
"Isn't this a wonderful place!" she exclaimed turning from the window
and dropping into her chair at the table. "It is good just to be alive
in this big, free country!"
"I am having two hundred cows branded for you, Nell," spoke Traynor as
she handed him his coffee. "It's your pin-money, and Jamie will start
his herd with fifty cows. Limber is fixing up a special brand for each
of you."
"Allan! You darling!" gasped Nell, then she darted around the table to
where her husband sat and dropped a swift kiss on his forehead when he
looked up at her with laughing eyes. Fong, who had just entered with a
plate of famous pop-overs, grinned sentimentally, and Nell, blushing
furiously, resumed her vacated chair.
"I'm beginning to 'act up,' as Bronco calls it. But now I understand why
cowpunchers race their ponies and shoot their guns. I'd like to 'whooper
up' myself, this morning," she finished with a little laugh.
"Dangerous condition," pronounced the doctor gravely. "I'd prescribe a
good, hard ride as the only hope for improvement."
"All right," responded Traynor with twinkling eyes. "Get your togs on,
Nell. We'll all go to the big rodeo at Box Springs. You'll get a faint
idea of range work, and now that you have your own herd, you should
learn how to run it."
"Limber is showing me how to throw a rope," Jamie broke in eagerly, and
he scrambled from his chair, clutching his new sombrero that he had
deposited on the floor by his chair, the way he noticed the cowboys all
did. "Yesterday I mounted my pony all alone. I can saddle him, too--but
Limber has to pull the cinches tight." With this final declaration, he
hurried through the door, his tiny spurs clicking importantly on the
cement walk.
The greyhound pack yelped shrill protests at being left behind when they
saw Nell and Jamie were in the party. Then Traynor and Powell mounted
their own horses and the four swung along the road in a steady lope
toward the Galiuro mountains, west of the ranch.
When they reached Box Springs, Nell's first impression was a dense cloud
of dust stirred up by the restless hoofs of thousands of cattle. Then
she saw the chuck-wagon, where the camp cook was busy with his pots and
pans over a fire of smouldering oak logs. Near the mountains four or
five thousand head of bawling cattle, with cowpunchers dashing to and
fro among them, gave the appearance of wildest confusion. Yet, to the
initiated, the system was perfect. Part of the cattle were bunched and
herded by certain men, while others rode through the weaving, tossing
mass of horns, deftly picking their way and 'cutting out' some
particular animal.
Nell watched it all with frank delight and curiosity, and appealed to
her husband from time to time. "What are they doing in that bunch where
Limber is riding?"
"'Cutting,'" was the answer. "Watch Limber. See how he picks a cow and
follows it up? Peanut is a wonderful 'cutting pony.' He seems to know
just what Limber is thinking, and once Peanut points the right cow, he
never lets it get away from him till it is out of the bunch and where it
belongs. He's the champion cutting pony of Arizona. Limber can use a
light cord instead of reins. No one but Limber ever rides Peanut. He
turns so quickly he would throw any other man. Watch him, Nell!"
Powell and Nell lost no movement of the pinto pony and its master, now
following a big, bald-faced steer. The animal, knowing it was being
singled out, twisted and dodged adroitly from side to side. Then,
finding its attempts to escape in vain, it made a sudden dash from the
herd and tore wildly toward the mountains back of the camp. Peanut, his
little pinto body hugging low to the ground, his hoofs tossing clods of
dirt, kept close behind the steer. Limber, leaning slightly forward in
his saddle held a coiled rope in his hand.
Only a few feet separated them, when the steer's hoof struck a
prairie-dog hole, and it went down with a crash. Those who watched gave
an involuntary cry. Peanut, too near to stop or turn aside, reached the
fallen steer just as it started to rise.
Without a second's hesitation, the gallant little pony leaped over the
steer, whirled and raced after it as it scurried in the opposite
direction.
A yell of admiration sounded from all the cowboys; they knew how close
had been the danger to pony and rider. Nell gasped in terror and
amazement.
"That's the finest bit of riding I've ever seen!" Traynor enthused.
"Why, no one but Limber and Peanut could have done it! The steer was
almost on his forefeet when the pony jumped. If the horse had missed, or
waited an instant, it might have meant a broken neck for both man and
horse!"
"It was magnificent!" Powell exclaimed in accents of hearty admiration.
"But, I suppose Limber counts it all in the day's work and nothing
more."
"That's just it," was the answer from the Boss of the Diamond H. "It's a
game of chance each day when you ride the open range."
Limber had succeeded in driving the recalcitrant steer into a band of
stock herded away from the other cattle.
"Why did he have to put it there?" Nell motioned with her whip.
"That's the 'stray herd,'" Traynor explained. "You see, Arizona being
all open range, cattle mix indiscriminately. Twice a year there is a
general round-up, or rodeo. Then notice is sent to all ranchers
informing them of the itinerary of the work, which extends over certain
sections."
They were riding closer to the stray herd as he spoke, and halted the
horses a little distance away.
"Each rodeo has its Captain, who is general manager for the territory
covered by a number of ranches. All ranches contribute their pro rata of
men, horses and chuck, making the work co-operative."
"That's rather fair toward the small cattle owner," Powell interrupted;
"but, that is the spirit of the country here. A square deal for all."
Traynor nodded assent. "Frequently cattle are located a hundred miles or
more from their 'home range.' We cut these into the stray herd and hold
them till the owner drives them back to his place. If he is not
represented at the rodeo, he is notified and arranges to get the
animals. So, the stray herd is an important item in the round-up work,
you see."
They had ridden around the herd until reaching the spot where a fire of
glowing coals was tended by a couple of cowpunchers, Traynor said, "This
is the branding place. Look at Bronco!"
He pointed the galloping horse that carried Bronco. "You'll see some
pretty work now. Bronco won the championship for roping at the last
Territorial contest."
"What is it?" demanded Nell. "It's all Greek to me."
"A steer is turned loose on the open, then the cowpuncher takes after
it, when it has a certain start. He must rope it, throw it and tie it so
it cannot rise. Then he lifts his hands in the air. The time taken from
the start of the steer to the second the man raises his hands, is what
decides the championship roping."
Leaning forward eagerly Powell and Nell watched Bronco's arm move
swiftly. The coiled riata in his hand shot out like an immense, writhing
snake. The big loop dropped over the calf, slipped almost imperceptibly,
then jerked taut as Bronco's pony squatted down on its haunches and the
calf fell with a heavy thud. A quick turn of the wrist, and Bronco had
the end of his rope twisted firmly about the high horn of his saddle.
Depending on the pony, with its braced feet, and alert eyes, moving
backward and holding the rope from slacking, Bronco snatched a red-hot
iron from the fire.
A curl of smoke, bellow of pain, two quick slashes of a knife. The calf
scrambled up, a freshly burnt brand on its hip, and its bleeding ears,
showing the mark of its owner. The animal stood bewildered, snorted, and
rushed with a loud bawl to the cow's side. She had been watching
anxiously. Now she sniffed at her calf, licked its face in sympathy;
then with one accord they scurried away, free to go where they pleased,
for they were on their home range and their troubles were over.
"It seems cruel," Nell protested warmly.
"It's the only way to handle range cattle," Traynor replied. "Formerly,"
he was speaking to the doctor, "the brands were made as large as
possible--now we make them as small as legible. Once in a while we still
run across an animal with three immense letters--JIM or HUE--across the
entire side of the brute. They were two brothers who determined there
should be no dispute over their respective ownerships. It ruined the
hide and knocked off a good sum on the sale of the animal. Most brands
are on the hip or hind quarter. It's an interesting study once you get
into it."
"Well, so long as they brand the cattle, why cut the ears, too? Is it
necessary?" Nell's sympathy was still with the calf.
"It settles ownership where a brand is indistinct or disputed for any
reason? Branding is done when the flies are not troublesome, and calves
still follow their mothers. Should a calf escape branding at the proper
time, through oversight, it soon becomes large enough to leave its
mother, and thus is hard to identify the next rodeo. So, if a cowboy on
the range sees a large calf with uncropped ears, he investigates at
once."
"Of course," Powell asserted, "I can see the sense of it now that you
have explained it."
"Well, even that does not settle a dispute. The long-eared, motherless
calves are called mavericks, or in Arizona, where the Mexican language
is used, orajanos. The unwritten law of the range gives an unmarked calf
to the fellow who catches it, so long as it is not with its mother, you
see. Naturally, the man on whose range it is found, is supposed to have
a stronger claim. A long-eared calf is a temptation for 'sleepering.'"
"In the name of goodness, Allan," said Nell in despair, "what is
'sleepering'? I just get a glimmer of understanding when something new
comes up and I'm floundering worse than ever. I don't see how any one
ever learns all those terms."
"Well," laughed Traynor, "now you can understand how hard it was for me,
to learn it all. I didn't dare ask questions, you see. Had to pretend I
knew it all. On the range, naturally, the ear-mark shows very plainly at
a distance, for the animal will face any rider. If a cowpuncher sees the
calf, standing by its mother, bears the same ear-mark, he does not
inspect to see if it is branded, unless he has cause for suspicion. The
rustler knowing this, ear-marks a calf and takes chances on its being
discovered the calf has no brand. The ear-mark of calf tallies with that
of the mother, you see. When the calf is old enough to be driven away
from the mother, the rustler finishes his work by driving it away, then
changes the ear-mark and puts on his brand."
"That's what I should class as scientific cattle stealing," Powell
decided, and Nell agreed with him, but before they could ask further
questions they turned startled faces in the direction of an unclassified
noise.
The Boss of the Diamond H laughed, and pointed to the camp cook, who
held a dishpan and was banging vigorously on it with a huge iron spoon.
Far and near, the cowpunchers lifted their voices in the gleeful shout,
"Chuck's ready!"
Part of the outfit remained on guard over the cattle, while the others
raced their ponies pell-mell to the wagon near which the noon-day meal
was spread.
"I'm hungry," announced Nell, and without further ceremony she led the
way on her pony to join the group of men among whom she recognized
Limber and Bronco.