AMONG THE COW-BOYS.
"Well, now you have got your horses and outfit, Hugh, what air you
going to do next?" Bill Royce said, after the rest of the party had got
up from breakfast and gone out.
"I don't quite know, Bill," Hugh laughed; "I thought of going teaming,
but I am afraid my horse has spoilt me for that."
"Well, so I should say."
"I should like to be my own master for a bit," Hugh went on, "and do
some shooting and hunting on the plains, work across to Sante Fé, and
then take anything that turns up. I have got three hundred dollars in
cash; that will last me for a long time. But I don't like striking out
for myself, I know nothing of the country or the life. What do you say
to going with me, Bill?"
"That is just what I have been turning over in my mind," Bill said.
"I know the plains powerful well, and have been hunting and shooting
there for months. I was saying to myself, as like enough you would
be thinking of striking out for a bit afore you settled down again to
anything, and you would be wanting some one with you as could put you
up to the ropes. I have got pretty sick of working here, but I have
spent my money as fast as I have got it, and cannot afford to get an
outfit; so I said to myself, if Hugh likes to start me with an outfit
I think it would be about square, seeing as he knows nothing of the
country, and I could put him straight there. We have worked together
for a bit, and I reckon we would get on first-rate. So if that would
suit you it would just suit me."
"It suits me capitally, Bill; nothing could be better; it is just what
I wanted. I don't suppose I should ever have gone by myself, but with
you it would be the very thing to suit me. There's my hand on it."
In another three days their preparations were made. Bill knew of
a horse that could be picked up for forty dollars; two rifles were
bought, a saddle and bridle for Bill, and saddle-bags for the spare
horse. A large stock of ammunition was laid in; fifty pounds of flour,
a few pounds of tea and sugar, four blankets, and a few odds and ends,
completed the outfit. Royce had already a revolver, and on the morning
of the fourth day they started from M'Kinney, striking nearly due
south, so as to work round the range of hills. For the first few days
they passed occasional settlements, and then struck out across an open
country.
"Now we may begin to look out for game," Royce said. "You can shoot, I
suppose, Hugh?"
"I have had no practice whatever with the rifle, but I am a pretty good
shot with a shot-gun."
"You will soon pick it up, anyhow," Royce said; "anyone who can shoot
as you do with a Colt, is sure to shoot pretty straight with a rifle."
For the next four months Hugh and his companion wandered over the
plains, and Hugh enjoyed the life immensely. They had directed their
course toward the south-west, for winter was setting in when they
started, and as the cold is sometimes severe in Northern Texas, they
made down towards the Mexican frontier, and there enjoyed delightful
weather. They found an abundance of game, and could have shot any
number of deer, but they were useless to them, except for food.
Herds of wild horses were sometimes seen, and occasionally, in quiet
valleys, they came across half-wild cattle, which had strayed away
from far-distant ranches. It was strange to Hugh to travel thus at
will, to wander freely in whichever direction fancy led them; sometimes
passing a week or two without seeing any other human being; sometimes
stopping for a night at the camp-fire of a party of cow-boys; sometimes
bivouacking with a wandering hunter like themselves, or with a ranchman
in search of stray animals. During this time their expenses had been
next to nothing, their sole outlay being for flour, tea, and sugar,
and even these they generally obtained in exchange for venison or other
game.
Hugh had learned to use his rope with considerable skill on horseback,
for as soon as he got fairly away on the plains he had begun to
practise. The first time he tried it upon his companion he would have
given him a very heavy fall, had not Bill reined in his horse on to its
haunches as soon as the rope fell over his shoulders; for Prince, as
Hugh called his horse, was thoroughly up in his work. The instant the
rope had been thrown he stopped and braced himself, with his fore-legs
extended, to meet the shock, and had it not been for Bill's quickness
he would in an instant have been torn from the saddle.
"Thunder!" the latter exclaimed. "Do you want to break my neck, Hugh?"
"I had nothing to do with it!" Hugh protested. "Prince nearly sent
me over his head. I had not the least idea of pulling him in, and was
perfectly taken aback by his playing me that trick."
"We ought to have thought of it," Bill said. "It was dead sure he would
be trained to the work. The idea flashed across me just as the rope
came down, and lucky it was so. Well, you will find plenty of other
things to practise on as we go along. There are cattle enough running
about here without owners, and if you come across a bunch of wild
horses you can give chase and rope some of the young ones; and there
are coyotes, they will give you plenty of sport that way."
Hugh had used all these opportunities, and had come to throw the noose
over the head of a flying animal as well as Bill Royce himself could
do, but as yet he was unable to throw the rope round their legs with
any certainty. As the spring approached Hugh proposed that instead of
carrying out their plan of going to Santa Fé they should for a time
take service on a ranche.
"I enjoy this life immensely, Bill, and I should like to become
thoroughly up to all the work. At present I am what you call a
tender-foot, and I should certainly like to have a few months among the
cow-boys."
"Just as well do that as anything else," Bill said. "It is always handy
to know that you can hold your own in a round-up and know the ways of
cattle, and I tell you that there is plenty to learn. But, mind you, it
ain't going to be like this time we've been having. There's no fooling
about a cow-boy's life: it is just about the hardest life there is.
However, it won't be as hard for you as it is for most fellows. You can
ride, though there ain't much merit in sitting on that horse of yours.
Still I see you know your way among horses, and you have taught him to
come to you when you whistle, and to do pretty nigh everything you want
him to; but you will find it a mighty different thing when you get on
the back of a broncho. However, it is worth learning to ride a horse
that has never been backed. Anyhow, I am with you. I have had a spell
at it, and don't mind having another; and there is one thing--you can
quit when you like."
"But how about this horse? I should not like to give up Prince."
"Well, you could do as you like about that. Each cow-boy has six or
eight horses--sometimes he has as many as a dozen--and he just ropes
one out of the crowd and rides him as he has a fancy; so you could let
Prince run with the rest and use him when you liked, or you could leave
him at the headquarters station."
"What do they want such a lot of horses for?" Hugh asked.
"They want them to do the work," Bill said. "A man can go on pretty
nigh for ever, but a horse can't. You will find that you can use up six
horses in the twenty-four hours, and they want a day to rest before
they are fit for work again. Well, they will be starting on their
round-up soon, so we may as well head in their direction so as to get
taken on before they are full. I was working in the O triangle ranche
two years ago; their station ain't above a hundred and fifty miles from
where we are. The boss wasn't a bad sort. We may as well go there as to
another."
"What do you mean by the O triangle, Bill?"
"That is their brand--a circle in a triangle. We call them always by
their brands. They have all sorts of names of their own, but they are
never known by them. There is the O triangle, and the double A, and
the cross T's, and the diamond square, and the half-circles, and a
dozen others. Well, we will head that way to-morrow morning. I don't
know that I shall be sorry to be in a crowd again for a bit. It gets
lonesome when there are only two of you after a while."
Hugh was beginning to feel this also. Their subjects of conversation
had long been exhausted, and after the events of the day's hunting had
been discussed there was little for them to talk about as they sat by
their fire.
On the evening of the third day they arrived at the headquarters
station of the ranche. It consisted of a long, low building, which
formed the storehouse and general room. Near it was the manager's
house, and behind the barracks for the men. A short distance away
was a fence which inclosed fifty or sixty acres of ground. Here were
some of the more valuable of the animals: some handsome bulls and a
couple of dozen good horses. Three or four waggons stood near the huts,
and a number of horses were grazing about over the country. The huts
themselves lay in a hollow, down which a small belt of trees extended.
A score of men were standing or sitting near the huts, and as many more
came out as the new-comers rode up. One or two of these recognized Bill
Royce.
"Hello, Bill!" one of them said; "back again! I thought you had got
rubbed out. Where have you been all this time?"
"Been down in Mexico, and then back among the settlements, got tired of
it, and here I am. Been hunting last. This is my mate, gentlemen. He is
a good sort, a Britisher, and his name is Hugh. Now, you are properly
introduced!"
"Glad to see you!" the man said, holding out his hand to Hugh. "Come to
pay us a visit?"
"No. I have come to work, if I can get work," Hugh said.
"Oh, there's plenty of work. Well, get off your horse. He is a good
un, he is!" Such was evidently the opinion of the rest of the cow-boys,
for they gathered round and made remarks on Prince's points. "He is too
good for this sort of work altogether, leastways for most of it, though
he would do well enough for scouting round and hunting for cattle among
the foot-hills. Where did you get him?"
"I bought him at M'Kinney," Hugh said. "Two fellows came along with him
and wanted to sell bad, so I got him a bargain."
"I expect he didn't cost them much," the man said. "Well, it is all
right as long as you don't fall across the chap he was stolen from. If
you do, there will be a good many questions asked, I can tell you. I
guess he came from some Mexican ranche down south. You don't often see
such a bit of horseflesh about here."
"Here is the boss, Hugh," Bill said; "we may as well speak to him at
once;" and they walked together to a man who had just come out from the
manager's house.
"Have you got room for two hands?" Bill asked. "I was here a couple of
years back; my mate is new at this work, but he can ride and shoot and
throw a rope."
"Oh, it's you, Bill, is it? Yes, I can put you both on; I am not quite
full yet. Forty dollars a month for you; thirty for your mate till he
learns his business."
"That will suit," Bill said. "He won't be long before he gets up to the
forty."
"He will find it hard work at first," the manager said; "but he doesn't
look as if that would hurt him."
Bill and his companion now rejoined the group of cow-boys, while the
manager went into the store. Hugh looked with interest at the men who
were to be his associates for some time. Their dress was similar to
that of all the cow-boys he had met while hunting. They wore hats with
a very wide, straight brim, and made of a stiff felt almost as hard as
a board. Most of them wore a cord of gold or silver mixed with colour
round it. All wore flannel shirts, with a handkerchief--which in the
majority of cases was of silk--round their throats. Round the waist
they wore a Mexican sash of bright colour. Their trousers were either
of thick material, or of very soft tanned leather, and over these were
chaperajos or Mexican overalls, with a coloured fringe down the outside
seam. A few had jackets on, and these had also tufts of coloured fringe
on the seams of the arms. They were most of them spare, active men,
without an ounce of superfluous flesh. They were quiet in manner, with
little of the reckless jollity of the ordinary frontiersman. Hugh was
particularly struck with the keen, watchful expression of their eyes,
the result of long nights of watching and of days spent on horseback
in search of stray animals, and of danger from Indians. All carried
a revolver on the hip or hind pocket, had a long knife stuck in their
sash, and wore high boots cut away behind at the bend of the knee, but
coming several inches higher in front.
Following Bill's example, Hugh unsaddled his horse. "Go off, old boy!"
he said, giving him a pat; and Prince walked leisurely away accompanied
by his two companions, who always kept near to him.
"We cannot offer you a drink," one of the cow-boys said to Hugh. "No
liquor is allowed on the ranche. It comes rather hard at first, but it
is best for us all."
"I have touched nothing for the last four months but tea," Hugh said,
"and don't care for spirits anyway."
"It would be a good thing if none of us did," the other said; "but one
must do something when one goes down to a town." Just at this moment a
bell began to ring. "There is supper," the man said.
There was a general movement into the large hut. Here long tables
were laid out, and dishes piled up with meat, and great platters of
potatoes, were ranged along at short intervals. Hugh was gifted with an
excellent appetite, but he was astonished at the way in which the food
disappeared. The meal was accompanied by a supply of very fair bread
fresh from the oven, and tea with milk.
"Ewart keeps a few cows down here," the man next to Hugh said in answer
to his remark about his not having seen milk for three months. "Of
course we don't get it at the out-stations."
"Who is Ewart?" Hugh asked.
"Oh, he is boss; we don't have any misters out here--one man is as
good as another. You have just arrived here at the right time. We have
been driving in the horses from the ranche for the last three days, and
to-morrow we are going to begin breaking them. Of course a good many of
them were ridden last year, but there are a lot of bronchos among them.
We have got a broncho-breaker out here."
A broncho, Hugh knew, was a horse that had never been ridden. "How do
you do about horses?" he said.
"Well, three or four of those that have been ridden before are told
off to each man. Then, if anyone fancies a broncho, he can take him and
break him for himself. Then men can swop with each other. You see some
men ride better than others. Some men like quiet mounts; others don't
mind what they sit on; and you see the best horses are very often the
most full of tricks. You ride your horses as you like, but everyone
keeps his quietest for night watches. You must have a quiet horse for
that, for if your horse was to begin to play tricks he would stampede
the cattle, sure."
"I suppose after they have been ridden one season they are quiet
enough?" Hugh said.
"Not a bit of it," the man replied. "Some of them seem to get wickeder
and wickeder. They get a bit better towards the end of the season, but
six months' running wild does away with all that. I would just as soon
take my chance with a fresh broken broncho as with one that has been
ridden before. They are wilder, you know, but not so cunning. An old
horse seems to spend most of his time in thinking what game he shall be
up to next, and when you see one walking along as if he had never done
anything but walk along all his time, just look out, or you will find
yourself six feet up in the air."
Supper over, pipes were lighted, and Hugh listened with great interest
to the talk going on around him. Some of the men had been on the ranche
all the winter; others had been away, some back in the settlements,
others in New Mexico, where they had been either loitering away their
time in the towns or working on Mexican ranches. Hugh was struck with
the quiet way in which they talked, the absence of argument, and the
air of attention with which each speaker was listened to. He thought
he had never been among a more quiet set of men, and wondered if these
could be really the cow-boys of whose wild doings he had heard such
tales.
Gradually one by one they lounged off to the hut behind, and he and
Bill soon went off also. It consisted of one room about sixty feet
long. A stove with a huge fire burned in the middle, for the nights
were cold. Down both sides and along the ends extended a double row of
bunks. In the great majority of these lay blankets, showing that they
were occupied. Choosing two empty ones, they placed the blankets and
other articles they had taken from their saddles in them, put their
belongings under their heads, rolled themselves in their blankets, and
were soon sound asleep. The first thing next morning they handed over
to the storekeeper the remainder of their flour, tea, and sugar. The
value of these was credited to them, and they took out the amount in a
couple of pairs of chaperajos, two cow-boy hats and two pairs of high
boots, paying the balance in cash; they then joined the cow-boys. These
were gathered in an inclosure with a very strong fence adjoining the
fenced-in ground.
Several cow-boys rode off as they entered, and in a quarter of an hour
a mob of horses was seen approaching, the men riding behind cracking
their whips and yelling at the top of their voices. The gates were
opened, and a couple of minutes later the horses rushed in. There
were some forty or fifty of them, and of these about two-thirds were
branded. In the first place the others were speedily roped both by the
head and hind legs. Four cow-boys hung on to the ropes while another
approached with a heated brand and applied it to the animals' hind
quarters, the horses kicking and struggling wildly. As soon as the
operation, which lasted but a second or two, was completed the ropes
were loosed, and the frightened animals rejoined their companions, who
were huddled in a corner of the inclosure.
"Now, each man of No. 1 and No. 2 outfit take one of the horses," the
manager said.
Hugh and Bill had the night before been told that they were to form
part of No. 2 outfit. Like the others they had their ropes in their
hands, and had brought their saddles inside the inclosure. Hugh picked
out a horse that struck him as being a good one, and threw his lasso
round its neck. One of the cow-boys belonging to the other outfit, who
was standing by, said: "That is a pretty bad horse, mate. I would take
a quieter one if I were you."
"I have got to learn to sit them," Hugh replied; "so I may as well
begin with a bad one as a good one."
"All right," the other said, taking hold of the rope, and helping Hugh
haul upon it. The animal resisted violently, but the pressure of the
rope half-choked him, and he was forced to leave the group and come up
to them. "I will hold him," Hugh's assistant said. "Get your saddle and
bridle."
There was some difficulty in putting these on, for the animal kicked,
plunged, and reared furiously, and it was only when another cow-boy
threw a rope, and, catching one of its hind legs, pulled it out stiffly
behind, that Hugh succeeded in saddling it. "Now, up you go!" the
man said. Gathering up the reins Hugh sprang into the saddle, and the
two men, as soon as they saw him seated, slipped off the ropes. For a
moment the horse stood perfectly still. "Keep his head up," one of the
men shouted; but before Hugh could draw in the reins the horse dropped
its head to its knees. Then it seemed to Hugh that it doubled itself
up, and before he knew what had happened he felt himself flying through
the air, and came down to the ground with a crash. There was a shout of
laughter from the cow-boys, but two or three of them helped Hugh, who
for a moment was almost stunned, to his feet.
"That is bucking, I suppose," he said as soon as he could get breath.
"That's bucking, sure enough," one of those who had helped him said.
"Well, I will try again in a minute," Hugh said.
"Take it quietly," the man said good-naturedly. "You fell pretty heavy,
and you are shaken up a bit. You'd better hitch him on to the fence,
and look about you for a few minutes before you try again."
Hugh thought the advice good, and after fastening up the horse stood
watching the man they called the broncho-breaker, who was fighting
one of the most vicious of the last year's horses. Had he not seen it,
Hugh would not have believed it possible that a horse could go through
such performances. He had ridden many vicious brutes at home, and had
thought that he knew something of horses, but this was a new experience
for him. In the rearing, kicking, and plunging there was nothing novel,
and as the horses were much smaller than the English hunters to which
he had been accustomed he felt that if this had been all he should have
no difficulty in keeping his seat, but the bucking was new to him. To
perform it, it was necessary that the horse should be able to get its
head down. The moment this was done it sprang straight into the air, at
the same moment rounding its back, and this with such a sharp, sudden
jerk that it fairly threw the rider into the air.
On coming down the animal kept its legs stiff, so that the jerk to
the rider was scarcely less than that of the upward spring, and before
he had time to settle himself in the slightest the horse repeated the
performance, varying it occasionally by springing sideways, backwards,
or forwards. The breaker, or as they were generally called the
broncho-buster, kept his figure perfectly upright, with a tremendous
grip upon the saddle with his thighs, but depending, as Hugh could
see, rather upon balance than upon his hold. The exertion was evidently
great. The man's hat had been jerked off, the perspiration stood upon
his bronzed forehead. From time to time he dug his spurs into the
animal's flanks, and excited it to continue its desperate efforts,
until at last the horse was utterly exhausted and stood with its head
drooping unable to make another effort. There was a shout of applause
from the cow-boys looking on.
"Bully for you, Jake! He is a brute, that is, and no mistake."
"I will give him a turn every day for a week," Jake said. "He is worth
taking trouble with. I will take him for a gallop to-morrow."
"Do they buck when they are galloping?" Hugh asked the cow-boy next to
him.
The latter nodded. "Not when they are going at their best pace. They
haven't time to do it then, but when they are going at hand-gallop they
will do it. They wait until you are off your guard, and then up they go
in the air and come down perhaps three yards sideways, and it's fifty
to one against your being on their back when they do come down."
"I see how it is done now, though I don't see how I can do it," Hugh
said. "But I will try again."
[Illustration: "THE NEXT JUMP THREW HIM FAIRLY OVER THE HORSE'S HEAD."]
The horse was led out, and Hugh again mounted. This time he was
prepared for what was to come, but in spite of the grip with his legs
the blow lifted him far above the saddle. It seemed to him that the
next buck came before he had fairly descended, for it struck him with
the force and suddenness of an electric shock. Again and again he was
thrown up, until he felt his balance going, and the next jump threw him
fairly over the horse's head, but as he was prepared for the fall it
was much less heavy than the first time.
"Well done! well done!" several of the cow-boys said as he rose to his
feet. "You will do, you will, and make a good rider before long. That
will do for to-day; I would not try any more."
"I am going to try it until I can sit him," Hugh said. "I have got to
do it, and I may as well go on now before I get stiff."
The broncho-breaker came up to him as, after waiting a minute or two to
get his breath, he again prepared to mount.
"Don't keep your back so stiff, young fellow. Just let your back go as
if there was no bones in it. I have known a man's spine broke before
now by a bucker. Sit easy and lissom. Keep your head, that is the
principal thing. It ain't easy when you are being pitched up and down
like a ball, but it all turns upon that. Let your legs close on him
tight each time you come down, if only for a moment, that saves you
from being thrown clean away from him."
Hugh sprang on to the horse, and the struggle again began. It ended
like the last, but Hugh had kept his seat somewhat longer than before.
Again and again he tried, each time with more success. The fifth time
he felt that the horse's action was less sudden and violent, and that
it was becoming fatigued with its tremendous exertions. "Now, you
brute," he muttered, "it is my turn;" and he dug his spurs into the
horse. A spring more violent than any he had yet felt followed the
application, and for a minute or two he was almost bewildered by the
force and rapidity of the animal's springs; but he was now confident
that he was gaining the mastery, and the moment he found that its
efforts were decreasing, he again applied the spurs. The response
was less vigorous than before, and in five minutes the animal stood
exhausted and subdued. A cheer broke from the cow-boys who were
standing round looking on at the struggle.
"Well done, young fellow! you are the toughest tender-foot I have ever
seen," one of them said, shaking him by the hand. "I don't believe
there are ten men in the camp who would have sat that horse as you
have, and you say that it is the very first time you have been on a
bucker."
"I have beaten him," Hugh said, "but he has pretty well beaten me. You
must help me off my saddle, for I feel as if my back was broken, and
that I could not lift my leg over the saddle if my life depended on
it."
Two cow-boys lifted him from his seat. "That is a hard tussle, mate,"
the broncho-breaker said, coming up to him, "and you have stuck to it
well. You are clear grit, you are. The best thing you can do is to walk
about for the next hour; just keep yourself moving, then go and wrap
yourself up in two or three blankets and lie down in your bunk for a
bit, have a thorough good sweat, and then strip and rub yourself down.
Get your mate to rub your back well, and then dress and move about.
The great thing is not to get stiff; but you will feel it for a day or
two."
Hugh followed the advice, but he found it hard work to do so. He was
bruised all over with his falls; he scarce seemed able to put one leg
before another, and at every movement a sharp pain shot through the
loins, and he felt as if his spine had been dislocated. Still, for
an hour he walked about, and at the end of that time felt that his
movements were more easy; then he went to the hut, wrapped himself in
Bill's blankets and his own, and presently dozed off to sleep. A couple
of hours later he woke and saw Bill standing beside him.
"Now, Hugh, you had better turn out and let me give you a rub. Just
take off that shirt. I have got a lump of hog's grease here."
Hugh got out of the bunk with some difficulty and took off his shirt.
"Now, you lean your hands on that bunk and arch your back; that's it.
Now here goes."
For a good half-hour Bill worked at his back, kneading it with his
knuckles down both sides of the spine and across the loins. "Now, you
will do," he said at last. "Put on a dry shirt and come out."
Hugh strolled down to the stock-yard. He felt wonderfully better after
the rubbing, and was able to walk with far greater ease than before.
The scene in the yard was unchanged. Fresh groups of horses had been
driven in as fast as the others had been saddled and mounted, and by
nightfall each of the cow-boys had been provided with three horses.
Hugh was greatly amused at the scene, for the spills were numerous,
and the shouting and laughter incessant. The next day the work of
breaking in the bronchos commenced. One after another they were roped
and dragged out of the drove. The bridle was slipped on, and they were
then blindfolded while the saddle was put on and fastened. Then Jake
mounted. The cloth was drawn off the animal's head, and the struggle
commenced. The horses tried every means to unseat their rider, but in
vain. Some submitted after comparatively short struggles. Others fought
long and desperately. As soon as the first victory was won bars were
let down, and the horse was taken for a long gallop across the country,
returning home subdued and trembling. Then the process was repeated
with a fresh animal.
"How long does he take to break them?" Hugh asked a cow-boy.
"Three days generally; sometimes he will ride them four or five times,
but three is generally enough. Then they are handed over to us to
finish."
"It must take a lot out of them," Hugh said. "It would be better to do
it more gradually. You see they are scared nearly to death before they
are begun with."
"He cannot afford the time," the man said. "He gets two dollars a horse
for breaking them. He will be here for a fortnight, and in that time he
will do pretty well a hundred. Then he will go off somewhere else."
"It must be tremendous work for him," Hugh said.
"It is that, you bet. A broncho-buster seldom lasts above two years.
They get shaken all to pieces and clean broke up by the end of that
time."
As fast as the horses were broken in they were handed over to the
cow-boys, and Hugh, who had been unable to do any work for two days,
then began to break in the lot that were to be his particular property.
But he was fond of horses, and could not bring himself to use such
violent measures as those which he saw adopted by his companions. The
first lesson they taught them was to stand still the moment a rope fell
over their necks. The animal was led up to the stump of a tree and then
loosed; it at once went off at full speed, but as it did so its owner
threw the noose of his rope over its head, and then gave the other
end a turn round the stump. The shock was tremendous, the horses being
frequently jerked right over on to their backs.
Two or three experiences of this sort was sufficient, and the animal
thenceforth learned to stand, not only when a rope was thrown round its
neck, but even when the reins were dropped upon it, so that when its
master dismounted it remained perfectly quiet until he again mounted
and took the reins in his hand, even if he was absent a considerable
time. As the teams were to start in a few days on the round-up, Hugh
felt that it would be useless for him to attempt to break the horses
in by English methods, and he was therefore obliged to adopt those in
use by his companions. He mollified them, however, to some extent by
getting another rope and tying it to his own. He then took only half
a turn round the stump, and let the rope run out, at first fast, but
checking it gradually until its pressure upon the neck brought the
animal half suffocated to a stop.
It took him longer to accomplish his object, but he found that by the
end of a week the seven horses had all learned their lessons; each
having been ridden for an hour every day. He had had several severe
battles with the animal he had first mounted, which was by far the most
vicious of them; but the struggle each day had become less severe, as
the horse recognized the futility of endeavouring to unseat its master.
Hugh had many falls during the schooling, but he was upon the whole
well satisfied with the result.
Several of the cow-boys had advised him to use the methods they adopted
for securing them in their seats upon specially vicious horses. One
of these methods was the fastening of a loop of leather to the high
pommel. Holding this in the hand, it was well-nigh impossible to be
bucked from the saddle, but there was the disadvantage that if the
strap broke, nothing could save a rider from a fall far more violent
and heavy than that which came from being pitched from the saddle in
the ordinary way. Another method was to fasten a strap passed under
the horse's belly tightly below each knee; but this, although it held
the riders in their saddles, had the serious disadvantage, that in the
event of the horse rearing and falling back, or of its falling headlong
from putting its foot in a hole, the rider could not free himself,
and was almost certain to be crushed under the horse. Others, again,
fastened themselves by bringing their feet together, and crossing their
spurs, under the horse's belly, a safer measure than the last, but
objectionable inasmuch as the spurs when the animal bucked struck him
in the belly, and so increased the violence of his action.
Of course the best riders refrained from using any of these methods,
trusting only to their leg grip and to balance; and Hugh determined
to ride in this way, even if it did cost him a few more falls. He was
on excellent terms with the rest of the cow-boys. The tender-foot,
as a new-comer is called, is always the subject of endless pranks and
annoyances if he evinces the least timidity or nervousness; but if, on
the other hand, he shows that he has pluck, determination to succeed,
and good temper, he is treated with kindness and cordiality. Hugh's
exhibition, therefore, of courage and horsemanship on the occasion of
his first attempt at once won their liking and admiration, and all
were ready to lend him a hand when necessary, and to give him hints
and advice, and he was free from any of the annoyances to which new
hands are often exposed. There were several other tender-feet among the
party. Two or three of these got on fairly and soon ceased to be butts;
but the rest, before a week was up, found the work altogether too
trying, and one after another went off in search of some less dangerous
occupation.
[Illustration]