A FIRE ON THE PLAINS.
After the hard work at the round-up the journey north seemed almost a
holiday. Of an evening the cook's accordion was again brought out, and
the men sang and, to Hugh's amusement, danced. He thought the proposal
was a joke when it was first made, but he soon saw that it was quite
serious. He had declined to take part in it, saying that he had never
danced since he was a little boy; but it was as much as he could do to
restrain his laughter, upon seeing the gravity with which eight of the
cow-boys went through a quadrille to the music of the accordion. Then
followed waltzes, and then some Mexican dances, the entertainment being
kept up for a couple of hours.
Dancing, indeed, is one of the favourite amusements of cow-boys, and
there being no females to dance with they dance with each other, and
are so accustomed to do so that it comes to them as naturally as if
dancing with women. When, however, they are camped within thirty or
forty miles of a Mexican village, it is no unusual thing for a party of
half a dozen to ride over to it. Perhaps one has preceded them to make
the arrangements. These are simple. The Mexicans are very musical, and
there is not a village where men capable of playing upon the mandoline,
and perhaps other instruments, cannot be found. An arrangement is made
with these and with the landlord of the little inn.
The preparations are not expensive--spirits for the men and a supply of
cakes and syrups for the women. The news spreads like lightning, and in
the evening Mexican villagers, male and female, in their best attire,
from miles round arrive, some in carts and some on horseback. The music
strikes up, and the dance is kept up until morning. Occasionally these
entertainments end with a fray, arising generally from the jealousy
of some young Mexican at the complacency with which his sweetheart
receives the attentions of a cow-boy admirer. But these are quite
the exceptions. The Mexicans know that their hosts will be off in the
morning, and that they shall probably never see them again, and they
therefore put up philosophically with the temporary inconstancy of the
damsels of their village.
To the Mexican girls, indeed, these cow-boys are veritable heroes.
They have heard endless tales of their courage. They know that the
Indians, who hold their countrymen in absolute contempt, fear to meet
these terrible herdsmen. The careless way in which they spend their
money, their readiness to bestow their gorgeous silk handkerchiefs,
their really handsome and valuable sashes, or the gold cord of their
hats, upon their favourite partner for the evening, fills them with
admiration. They know, too, that when, as occasionally happens, a
cow-boy does marry a Mexican girl, and settles down upon some little
ranche among them, the lot of his wife is greatly easier than that of
those who marry Mexicans, and that she will be treated with an amount
of consideration and courtesy undreamt of by the Mexican peasant,
who, although an humble adorer before marriage, is a despotic master
afterwards. It is not surprising, then, that upon occasions like these
the cow-boy hosts have a monopoly of the prettiest girls at the ball.
Round the camp fires in the evening Hugh heard many tales of such
evenings spent in the villages of New Mexico.
"I had a very narrow escape once," a cow-boy known as Straight Charley
said. "There were six of us went up together to a Mexican village,
and we gave a first-rate hop. There was a big crowd there, find things
went on well until there was a muss between one of our fellows and a
Mexican. Jake was rather a hard man, and we hadn't much fancied his
being of our party, for he was fonder of drink than of dancing, and
was quarrelsome when the drink was in him. I don't know how the muss
began, for I was dancing with as pretty a little Mexican girl as I ever
came across. However, I haven't any doubt as Jake was in the wrong. The
first I knowed about it was that the music stopped, and then I heard
loud voices. I saw a knife flash, and dropped my partner, and was going
to run in to stop it, but I hadn't more than thought about it when
there was the crack of a pistol. Then knives were out all round, and
there was a pretty lively fight.
"It seemed, as I heard afterwards, that when Jake shot the Mexican--and
I don't say he had no right to do so when the Mexican had drawn
his knife first, for if he had not shot he would have been killed
himself--two or three other Mexicans went for him, and, as a matter of
course, two of our fellows went for the Mexicans. If they hadn't been
all mixed up together the six of us could have cleared the hull lot
out, but mixed up like that, and with girls about, our fellows hadn't
much show. I was just breaking through to take a hand in the game,
when a fellow who had been looking pretty sour at me for some time,
jumped on my back like a wild cat, so down I went, and in half a minute
my legs and arms were tied tight with their sashes. I didn't try to
struggle after I had fallen, for I knew well enough that our fellows
had got the worst of it.
"When matters cleared up a bit I found that four Mexicans had been
killed, and five or six others pretty badly hurt. Jake and another of
our boys were dead; two others had broke out, run to their horses, and
ridden away. Another of the boys had been taken prisoner, but he had
got two or three knife-cuts before he was knocked down. There was a big
hubbub for some time, as you may guess, and then they told us we should
be taken to the town in the morning. Well, they took off the sashes,
and marched us away to a house at the end of the village. It was a
plank house, and built in the same fashion as their adobe huts, with
one room behind the other. Of course they had taken our six-shooters
and knives away from us, and they shoved us into the inner room, and
then a dozen of them sat down to play cards and keep watch in the
other.
"The place had been built as a sort of lock-up, and there were heavy
bars to the window, just as you see in a good many Mexican houses. They
had left our legs free, but had put some ropes round our arms; but we
knew that we could shift them easy enough. The Mexicans had shut the
door between the two rooms, but we could hear their talk through it,
and we heard that, though the thing had been brought on by Jake, there
would have been a muss anyhow sooner or later. Two white men had come
into the village a fortnight before; they were dressed like cow-boys,
but I reckon they were horse-stealers or outlaws, anyhow they had
kicked up a row and shot three men, and rode away, and the Mexicans had
seemed to make up their minds that they would take revenge on the next
party that came in, whoever they were.
"Well, things looked pretty bad for us. If we had once got inside one
of their prisons, the Mexican judges would have made short work of us.
The greasers would, of course, have sworn that we had begun the row,
and shot down four or five of their people without the least cause,
and it would have been a case of hanging, as sure as a gun; so Dave
and I agreed that we had got to git somehow. It wur no use talking of
fighting, for there was a dozen fellows in the next room, and they had
all got their guns along with them. We hadn't got our knives, and there
was no chance of cutting our way out. We were talking it over when
someone said, 'Are you there, Charley?' at the window. It was one of
the boys who had got away. You bet I was there pretty sharp.
"'Here I am, Ginger,' I said. 'How goes it?' 'Pretty bad,' he
said; 'Jeffries is cut pretty near to pieces, and I am wounded in
half-a-dozen places, and can scarce crawl. Jeffries is with the
horses a mile away. He is too bad to stand. I made a shift to crawl
back to see what had become of you. I have been creeping round, and
heard the two of you were shut up here, and that you was going to be
taken off to-morrow, and would be hung, sure, so I came round to see
what could be done; here is my six-shooter if it will be any good to
you.' 'No, that won't be any good,' I said; 'there are twelve of them,
and they have all got guns; but give me your knife; these planks are
pretty thick, but we can cut our way through.' 'I haven't got it,'
says Ginger; 'it was knocked out of my belt in the fight, and, worse
luck, Jeffries has lost his too. A fellow got hold of his wrist, so
he couldn't use his pistol, and he drew his knife, and he was fighting
with it, when he got a slice across his fingers which pretty nigh cut
them off, and he dropped his knife, and, as luck would have it, just
wrenched himself free and bolted.'
"'Well, we must do what we can,' I said; 'but it is hard luck on us.
Look here, Ginger, you bring the two horses up to that clump of trees
over there; Dave is pretty badly cut about, and cannot run far, but he
can make a shift to get over there. If we don't come by an hour before
daylight it ain't no use your waiting no longer; you go and pick up
Jeffries, and make tracks; but I reckon that somehow we shall manage
to come.' 'All right!' says he, and went. 'Now, Dave,' I said, 'you
turn over and let me get my teeth at your knots, it is hard if I don't
manage to undo them.'
"Sure enough, in five minutes I had loosed a knot, and then the rest
was easy. Dave untied me, and we were free so far. 'What next?' says
Dave. 'We will have a look round,' says I. Luckily there was a moon,
and there was plenty of light to see what was in the room. There was
some bits of furniture and bedding, just as they had been left by the
people they had turned out to make room for us, but nothing that I
could find as would help us to cut our way out. 'Now, Dave,' says I,
'you get to that corner and I will get to this, and just shove against
the planks, and see if we can't push the hull side of this shanty out.'
Well, it wur too strong for us. It was made of rough boards, pretty
strongly nailed. I thought it gave a little, but nothing as would be
any good. 'If we could throw ourselves against it both together it
might go,' I said; 'but it mightn't, and if it didn't we should have
them inside in a moment, and there would be an end to it. What do you
say to our burning ourselves out, Dave?'
"'How are we to do that, Charley?' he said. 'Well, I have got my box
of matches in my boot, and I suppose you have yours too. Let us pile up
some of these wooden things against the two corners; there is plenty of
straw in this bed. Before we begin we will hang one of these blankets
over the doorway so as to keep the smoke from going through the cracks.
I reckon they are all smoking in there, and they won't smell it very
quick.' So we made a pile, moving as quiet as we could, standing still
when they were not talking much in the next room, and moving whenever
they made a row, which was pretty often. 'These things are as dry as
chips,' I said, 'and what smoke there is will mostly go out through
the window, but I expect there will be more than we shall like. Here is
a big pitcher of water, we will soak these two blankets, and then lie
down close to the floor; you cover your head over with one, and I will
do it with the other. Now, then!'
"We lit a couple of matches and touched off the straw, and in half a
minute there was a blaze up to the roof. Then we lay down by the other
wall one on each side of the door, and waited. In about two minutes
there was a shout in the next room and a rush, then the door was flung
open and the blanket torn down, and such a yelling and cussing as you
never heard. The smoke was pretty bad where we was lying, and I reckon
that up higher it was as thick as a wall. 'The cursed Americans have
lighted the house and smothered themselves,' one of them shouted. Then
they rushed out, coughing and choking, and we heard them shouting for
water, and there wur as much row as if the village had been attacked by
Injuns.
[Illustration: "A COUPLE OF KICKS SENT OUT THE PLANKS, AND THEN WE
BOLTED."]
"We waited another three or four minutes, and then Dave shouted, 'I
can't stand this no longer.' I had hoped they would have left the outer
door open, and that we could have got out that way, but we had heard it
shut. I expect someone more cute than the rest suspected we wur inside
biding our time. 'Take a long breath, Dave,' says I, 'and don't breathe
again until you are out; now jump up and join me.' We joined hands and
made a run, and threw ourselves against one corner of the end of the
hut. Several of the planks fell, and a couple of kicks sent the rest
out, then off we bolted.
"There wur a yell outside, for by this time half the village were
there. Luckily the men with guns was mostly round by the door, and
when the yells fetched them there was too many women and children about
for them to shoot. We went straight on, as you may guess, and we were
half-way to the woods before the shooting began, and it wur pretty wild
at that. Dave gave out afore he got to the trees, and I had to carry
him.
"'This way,' Ginger shouted. I lifted Dave on to a horse, and jumped
up behind him, and we wur off just as the Mexicans came running up.
After that it wur easy enough. We rode to where Jeffries had been left,
got him on to Ginger's horse, and made tracks for the camp. Jeffries
died next day, but Dave got over it. That wur a pretty near touch, I
reckon."
"It was indeed," Hugh said. "That was a very lucky idea of yours of
burning out the corners of the house."
"Some of them Mexicans is cusses," another cow-boy put in. "I had a
smart affair with them in one of their villages last year. I had rid
in with Baltimore Rube. We had been searching some of the gullies
for cows, and had run short of sugar and tea. Waal, I was on a young
broncho I had only roped two days before, and the critter wur as wild
as could be. When we rode in, a lot of them brutes of dogs that swarms
almost as thick as their fleas in all these Mexican villages, came
barking round, while one big brute in particular made as if he would
pin my broncho by the nose, and the pony plunged and kicked till I
thought he would have me off. There was a lot of their men standing at
their doors smoking, for it wur late in the afternoon, and they wur all
back from what they called work. I shouted to them to call their dogs
off, but they just laughed and jeered, so I did the only thing as there
was to do, just pulled out my six-shooter and shot the dog. Waal, if
it had been a man there could not have been a worse sort of row. The
Mexicans ran into their houses just as quick as a lot of prairie-dogs
when they scent danger, and in a moment were back with their guns, and
began to blaze away. Waal, naturally, our dander riz, a bullet chipped
the bark off my cheek, and by the way my broncho jumped I knew one had
hit him, so Baltimore and I blazed away in return, and neither of us
didn't shoot to miss, you bet. We just emptied our six-shooters, and
then rode for it.
"Baltimore got a shot in his shoulder. I had one in the leg, and there
was two in the saddle. We talked it over and agreed it wur best to say
nothing about it. Them Mexicans will swear black is white, and when
there is a whole village swearing one way, and only two men swearing
the other way, them two has got but a poor show of being believed. So
we concluded to leave those parts altogether, and we rode a hundred and
fifty miles in the next two days, and then camped for a week till our
wounds healed up a bit.
"A fortnight after that we went into the station, and there I
happened to light upon one of them rags the Mexicans calls papers, and
there sure enough was the account of that business. 'Two cow-boys,
unknown, rode last week into the quiet village of Puserey, and
without the slightest provocation commenced a murderous attack upon
its inhabitants, and after killing four and wounding eight men, they
galloped off before the inhabitants had time to betake themselves to
their arms to defend themselves. A reward of five hundred dollars is
offered for their apprehension.' Now, that wur a pretty tall piece
of lying; but Baltimore and I agreed it wur best to keep dark about
it altogether, for if it wur talked about, it might get to the ears
of some of the half-caste Mexicans about the station, and some day or
other, when we went into a village, we might find ourselves roped in."
"That is the way," Broncho Harry said indignantly, "us cow-boys get
a bad name. Now, I dare say that air article wur copied in half the
newspapers in the States, and folks as know nothing about it would
say, 'Them cow-boys is a cuss; they ought to be wiped off the arth
right away.' It is always so whenever there is a row between any of us
and the Mexicans. They give thar account of it, and we goes away and
thinks no more about it one way or the other, and there is no one to
show it up as a lie from beginning to end; and I know there's people
think we are as bad as the Injuns, if not worse, and that we ride about
shooting down people just for amusement. Then all these outlaws and
horse-thieves and bad men near the settlements dress as much as they
can like us, and every murder as they commits, every horse that gits
stolen, every man that gits held up and robbed, it is just put down
to the cow-boys. While if the truth wur known, for every one of these
fellows caught or wiped out by the sheriff and their posse, there is
twenty gets wiped out by us."
There was a cordial "That is so, Broncho," all round the fire, for the
injustice connected with their reputation was a very sore point among
the cow-boys.
"Well, some day, Broncho," Hugh said, "when I get away from here, for,
as you know, I haven't come here to stay, I will take pen in hand and
try to give a true account of you and your doings, so that people may
see that there are two sides to the question."
"Bully for you, Hugh!" Long Tom said; "just you put it in hot and
strong. I tell you it ain't nice if one does go down to the settlements
in the winter, when work is slack, to see people look at you as if
you wur a wild beast, who is only waiting his chance to hold up the
hull town. Why, I have seen women pull their children indoors as I
came along, as if I wur a mountain lion, and was meaning to draw my
six-shooter on them just for amusement."
"Well," Hugh said, "I must say I heard stories at M'Kinney of cow-boys
coming down to a town and riding about shooting off the hats of
the inhabitants, making targets of the bottles in the saloons, and
generally turning the place topsy-turvy. Of course I didn't believe it
all."
There was silence round the fire, and then Straight Charley said:
"Well, Lightning, I won't say as you have been altogether deceived as
to that, and I won't deny as I have taken part in sprees myself, but
you see it don't hurt no one. It is just fun. If we do shoot the heads
off the bottles, we pays for them, and it makes one laugh till one can
scarcely sit in a saddle to see an old cuss jump when you put a bullet
through his stove-pipe hat. It is his fault for wearing such a thing,
which is an unnatural invention altogether and should be discouraged."
"We do carry on," Broncho Harry agreed, "thar ain't no denying it. When
a man has been out in these plains for six months working worse than a
nigger, and that without a drop of liquor, it is natural as he should
go in for a high old time when he gits down to a town with money in his
pockets; but thar ain't no real harm in it. We know how we can shoot,
and that if we fire at a hat there ain't no chance of our hitting the
head inside. It just makes things lively for them for a bit, and there
is never no trouble, unless anyone is fool enough to take the matter up
and make a muss about it."
"I am not saying you do any real harm, Broncho, only you see the people
in the towns don't know how well you shoot. If you knock a pipe out of
my mouth, as you have done once or twice, I only laugh, because I know
there was no chance in the world of your hitting me; but you see they
don't all know that. And so when a man finds there are two holes in his
hat an inch above his head, he thinks he has had a marvellous escape of
being murdered."
"I don't deny as there is something in that," Broncho Harry said
reflectively; "but you see it is in their ignorance that the mistake
comes in, not in our shooting. Anyhow, you see we have got to do
something to amuse ourselves, and we might do worse than just skeer a
few store-men, who take it out of us by charging us about double the
price they charge anyone else."
Hugh was not convinced by the argument, but he felt that it was of no
use to pursue the subject further.
"How do the cows know their calves?" he asked one day, as at the end of
a march some of the cows were loudly lowing for their offspring to come
to them.
"By smell," Broncho Harry replied promptly.
"You don't see much of their ways here, for the calves are pretty well
grown up; but when you are driving a herd, as I have done many a time,
made up altogether of cows and young calves, you see a lot of it. Ten
or twelve miles a day is as much as you can do with a herd of that
sort. What steers there are always go ahead, grazing as they go. The
cows will come straggling along next, and then the calves strung out
all over the place, and the rear-guard have pretty hard work to hurry
them up. You see calves have got no sense, and run anywhere--under your
horse's legs or anywhere else; while the cows don't pay much attention
to them till they get to the end of the march. Then they begin to bawl
for their calves to come to them, and the calves begin to bawl for
their mothers, and I tell you that for a bit there is such a row going
on that you would think the end of the world had come. Two thousand
cows and as many calves can kick up a row, you bet, that will well-nigh
scare you."
"But don't the calves know their mothers' voices?"
"Not a bit of it; it is just smell and nothing else that brings them
together. You would think the cows would know something about the
colour of their young uns, but they don't. I have seen a cow that I
knew had a white calf run up to a black calf and smell it, then to a
brown one, and then to a spotted one, while her own white calf stood
bawling fit to kill herself a dozen yards away. It is wonderful how
they do find each other at all, and the job often takes them two or
three hours. Some of the cows concludes at last that their calves have
been left behind, and then off they set, and would go all the way back
to the place they had started from in the morning if you didn't stop
them. Sometimes they don't find them at all that night."
"But what happens to the calves then?"
"The calves shift for themselves. They run up to other cows which have
got their own calves sucking. Each cow will generally let them have a
suck or two, and then drive them off, and in that way they get enough
to last them on till they find their mothers in the morning.
"There is a good deal of trouble in keeping night-watch over a herd
like that. It isn't that there is any risk of a stampede. A cow herd
will never stampede if there are a lot of young calves in it; but they
don't settle themselves comfortable to sleep. The calves want to wander
about, and the cows who haven't found their young ones keep trying to
slip off to take the back track, and you have got to be always on the
watch for them. Take it altogether, I would rather drive a beef herd
than a cow herd."
After a week's travel they reached the spot that had been fixed upon
for the herd to graze. The cow-boys' work was now much lighter. Parties
of twos and threes could often be spared for a day's excursion up to
some Mexican village among the hills, or they would go off for three or
four days' hunt among the valleys to pick up any cattle that had evaded
search during the round-up. One day, when there were but four of them
in camp, two of the party who had been absent a couple of days rode
in at full speed, and reported to the head of the outfit that they had
seen the light of a fire up north.
"Then there is no time to be lost," Colley said. "Will you two men stop
here and look after things? I will ride off with the other four and
fight the fire. When the others come back do you start out after us.
The last two who come in must stop here. Give us what food you have
got, darkey; we may be away four or five days. Directly we have gone
set to and cook something for the others."
Hugh and Bill Royce had returned the day before from an expedition
among the foot-hills. Broncho Harry and another cow-boy were also in
camp. In five minutes the horses were saddled, and they dashed off at
full speed.
"It is lucky that the wind is not blowing strong," Colley said, "or we
should have the fire down here before we got news of it, and there is
no place handy where we could drive the herd. I expects those blessed
Injuns lit the fire."
Hugh was very pleased that he was in camp when the news came. He had
heard many stories from the cow-boys of these terrible fires, and knew
that at times they had wrought havoc among the herds, whose only hope
of escape lay in reaching a stream wide enough to check the progress of
the flames.
After riding twenty miles they could distinguish a faint odour of smoke
in the air, and as they gained a crest soon after sunset could see a
long line of light in the distance.
"It is a big un," Broncho Harry said, "and no mistake."
They lost no time in getting to work, for the wind was rising, and
there was but little time to spare. They had on their way picked out a
steer from a bunch they came upon, and had driven it before them, and
had also stopped and cut faggots of wood from a clump of bushes in a
hollow. A shot from Broncho Harry's revolver brought the bullock dead
to the ground, and while Royce lit a fire the others with their long
knives proceeded to split the bullock into two portions, dividing it
from its head down to its tail.
"Now, Broncho, will you go east with Lightning while Royce and Jake go
west? Keep on until you meet some fellows from the other outfits. They
are sure to be at work all along the line. If you don't meet any by
the time you get to the end of the flames, then work back and fight the
fire as you come. I expect the other four man will be up in an hour or
two."
Broncho Harry and Royce at once lit two of the long faggots, and
fastened the others to their saddles. They then tied the ends of
their ropes to the blazing faggots and started. Hugh having been
already instructed in his part, fastened his rope to a leg of the half
bullock, and mounted his horse--he had not brought Prince this time,
as he feared that he might get burned. He waited until Broncho Harry
was a quarter of a mile ahead. Already a line of fire was rising in
his track, the dried grass catching like tinder as the blazing faggot
passed over it. It had already run along a width of twenty feet or so,
burning fiercely on the leeward side, and making its way in a thin red
line to windward. It was the leeward side that Hugh had to attend to,
and galloping his horse along the ground over which the flame had just
passed, he dragged the half carcass of the bullock behind him, so that
in its course it passed over the line of flame, which its weight and
the raw under-surface instantly crushed out. For ten miles he rode on,
and then found that Harry had stopped.
"We are beyond the edge of the fire," the latter said. "It is the other
side where there is most danger, unless Smith's outfit have got news in
time. Waal, we have done our part of the job so far."
Looking back Hugh saw a sea of fire approaching across the plains. The
wind was blowing stronger now, and the air was full of smoke and ashes.
Far along the track they had come a thin line of fire was advancing
against the wind to meet the great wave that was sweeping down towards
it.
"We passed some bushes half a mile back," Harry said. "We will ride
back to them, and then let the horses go. We sha'n't want them any
more, and they are pretty well mad with fright now."
As soon as they reached the bushes they leapt off, and letting the
horses go cut as many boughs as they could carry. Then retiring from
the strip of burnt ground, already forty or fifty yards wide, they
awaited the flames. Their approach was heralded by burning fragments,
and they were both soon at work beating out the flames as fast as they
were kindled to leeward of the burnt strip. Single-handed they would
not have succeeded, but other cow-boys speedily arrived, and along the
whole line parties were at work fighting the fire. At times it got such
hold that it was only checked by lighting fresh fires to leeward, and
crushing them out as had been done at first, and it was thirty hours
before the fire was extinguished along that part of the line.
Then the news came that further west it had burst through, and the
cow-boys, mounting fresh horses that had been brought up, rode off
and joined in the fight there, and it was not until after three days'
unremitting effort that the danger was finally subdued. During all this
time the men had not a moment's rest. Their food and water had been
sent up from the waggons, and a hasty meal was snatched occasionally.
When all was done they were blackened with smoke and ashes. Their hair
and clothes were singed, and they were utterly exhausted with their
efforts. However, they had saved the herds, and were well content with
their work; but, as soon as it was over, each man threw himself down
where he stood and slept for many hours, watch being kept by some of
the last arrivals, for it was by no means improbable that the Indians
would swoop down to take advantage of the confusion and drive off
cattle.
As soon as the cow-boys were roused next morning they rode off to
their respective outfits, and Hugh's party on their arrival enjoyed the
luxury of a bathe in the stream, near which the waggon of No. 2 outfit
was placed. Then, after their change of clothes, they gathered for a
comfortable meal.
"Waal, Lightning, that has been a fresh experience for you," Broncho
Harry said.
"I am glad I have seen it," Hugh replied; "but I don't want to repeat
it."
"This was nothing, Hugh. Four years ago there was a fire here that
swept right across the plains; there was a strong wind and no stopping
it, and there were over 100,000 cattle burned. I suppose some day or
other they will be passing laws for putting up fences. If they do, I
tell you it will be something like ruin to a good many ranches, for
it will prevent cattle from running before the flames. As it is now,
their instinct takes them either to a stream or to some high bluff.
But if there was fences they would never get away. In the north they
lose whole herds in the same way from snow-storms. A herd will drift
before snow and wind for hundreds of miles, but if there is anything
that stops them they just get snowed up and die. Ranchmen have troubles
enough, but if they was obliged to fence it would go far to break up
the business.
"Look out, lads, here comes someone galloping into camp. I expect he
has got news of the Red-skins. I reckoned they would be out on the
track of the fire.
"Oh, it's Tom Newport," he said, as the man approached. "Waal, what he
says you may take for gospel. He is not one of them fellows who gets
hold of the tail-end of a story and then scares the whole country.
Waal, Tom, what is it?"
"Just mount up, Broncho, and get all your crowd together. There ain't
no time for talking now; I will tell you all about it when we get on
the track."
In an incredibly short time the men had all saddled, and were ready
for a start, filling their water-skins, and getting from the cook what
bread and cold meat remained over from breakfast. "Now, which way,
Tom?"
"North-east. I will tell you about it. The Injuns have come down and
attacked Gainsford. They have killed five or six men and most of the
women and children. They have carried off five or six girls, and old
man Rutherford's Rose is among them."
An exclamation of fury broke from several of the cow-boys.
"Where is Gainsford? and who is Rutherford's Rose?" Hugh asked.
"Gainsford is a small place just among the foot-hills south of the
Injun country. There are about twenty houses. Rutherford, he wur the
first to settle there. We told him over and over agin that it wur too
close to the Injuns, and that there would, sure, be trouble sooner or
later; but Steve, that is Rutherford, is one of those pesky obstinate
cusses who just go their own way, and won't listen to reason from
no one. He got a little herd of cattle up in the valley there, and
a patch of cultivated land, and he reckoned he wouldn't be solitary
long. He was right enough there, for, as I told you, the place grew,
and there are pretty nigh twenty houses there now, that is, there wur
twenty houses; I don't suppose one is standing now. Rutherford, he war
a cow-boy once, and married and settled down there, and Rose is his
daughter, and as good a lass as there is west of Missouri. Rutherford's
house is free quarters for those of us who likes to drop in. In course
we makes it up to him by taking in a deer or a bear's ham, or maybe a
few bottles of whisky, if we have been down to the settlement and laid
hands on them, and if we come across any mavericks when we are alone,
we just brand them R.R., and I reckon Rosie has got 200 cattle out
here, and they will come in mighty handy for her when she chooses a
husband."
"Is that often done?" Hugh asked.
"You bet. There are a score and more girls, whose fathers' shanties
lie up in the foot-hills, and who are friends of ours, have got a nice
little clump of cattle out on these plains. Of course any man, living
near the plains, can turn his cattle out, and there are dozens of
private marks. Waal, you see, if a girl only gets twenty branded for
her it increases every year, because the calves running with the cows
get the same brand put on them; and I have known many a girl when she
was married have a little herd of three or four hundred. So, I tell
you, it hits us all that Rose Rutherford has been carried away, and we
are bound to get her back if it air to be done. When was it, Tom, that
it happened?"
"Yesterday evening, 'bout ten o'clock, I wur riding that way and
intended to sleep at Steve's, when I saw a light burst up, and then
two or three others. I galloped pretty hard, you may guess, but before
I got thar it wur over and the Injuns had gone; but I larned from a
boy who had been hiding among the bushes, but who came out when he saw
me, how it wur. He said he had seen Rose and five or six other girls
carried off. Whether old Steve wur rubbed out I don't know. I didn't
stop to ask no questions. I knew whereabout your outfit was, and rode
straight for it."
"Then the skunks have got sixteen or seventeen hours' start," Broncho
said. "There is no chance of our catching them till they are right back
into their own country. I reckon we shall have a pretty sharp fight of
it before we get them gals back."
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