THE ROUNDUP
The Texan sky seemed a huge mirror upon which were reflected the white
fleecy clouds sailing northward; the warm spring air was full of that
magnetism which calls forth from their earthy beds the gramma grass
and the flowers; the scant vegetation had taken on new dress and
traces of green now showed against the more sombre-colored stems;
while in the distance, rippling in glistening patches where, disturbed
by the wind, the river sparkled like a tinsel ribbon flung carelessly
on the grays and greens of the plain. Birds winged their joyous way
and filled the air with song; and far overhead a battalion of tardy
geese flew, arrow-like, towards the cool lakes of the north, their
faint honking pathetic and continuous. Skulking in the coulees or
speeding across the skyline of some distant rise occasionally could be
seen a coyote or gray wolf. The cattle, less gregarious than they had
been in the colder months, made tentative sorties from the lessening
herd, and began to stray off in search of the tender green grass which
pushed up recklessly from the closely cropped, withered tufts.
Rattlesnakes slid out and uncoiled their sinuous lengths in the warm
sunlight, and copperheads raised their burnished armor from their
winter retreats. All nature had felt the magic touch of the warm
winds, and life in its multitudinous forms was discernible on all
sides. The gaunt tragedy of a hard winter for that southern range had
added its chilling share to the horrors of the past and now the cattle
took heart and lost their weakness in the sunlight, hungry but
contented.
The winter had indeed been hard, one to be remembered for years to
come, and many cattle had died because of it; many skeletons, stripped
clean by coyotes and wolves, dotted the arroyos and coulees. The cold
weather had broken suddenly, and several days of rain, followed by
sleet, had drenched the cattle thoroughly. Then from out of the north
came one of those unusual rages of nature, locally known as a
"Norther," freezing pitilessly; and the cattle, weakened by cold and
starvation, had dumbly succumbed to this last blow. Their backs were
covered with an icy shroud, and the deadly cold gripped their vitals
with a power not to be resisted. A glittering sheet formed over the
grasses as far as eye could see, and the cattle, unlike the horses,
not knowing enough to stamp through it, nosed in vain at the
sustenance beneath, until weakness compelled them to lie down in the
driving snow, and once down, they never arose. The storm had raged for
the greater part of a week, and then suddenly one morning the sun
shown down on a velvety plain, blinding in its whiteness; and when
spring had sent the snow mantle roaring through the arroyos and water
courses in a turmoil of yellow water and driftwood, and when the range
riders rode forth to read the losses on the plain, the remaining
cattle were staggering weakly in search of food. Skeletons in the
coulees told the story of the hopeless fight, how the unfortunate
cattle had drifted before the wind to what shelter they could find and
how, huddled together for warmth, they had died one by one. The valley
along Conroy Creek had provided a rough shelter with its scattered
groves and these had stopped the cattle drift, so much dreaded by
cowmen.
It had grieved Buck Peters and his men to the heart to see so many
cattle swept away in one storm, but they had done all that courage and
brains could do to save them. So now, when the plain was green again
and the warm air made riding a joy, they were to hold the calf
roundup. When Buck left his blanket after the first night spent in the
roundup camp and rode off to the horse herd, he smiled from suppressed
elation, and was glad that he was alive.
Peaceful as the scene appeared there was trouble brewing, and it was
in expectation of this that Buck had begun the roundup earlier than
usual. The unreasoning stubbornness of one man, and the cunning
machinations of a natural rogue, threatened to bring about, from what
should have been only a misunderstanding, as pretty a range war as the
Southwest had seen. Those immediately involved were only a few when
compared to the number which might eventually be brought into the
strife, but if this had been pointed out to Jim Meeker he would have
replied that he "didn't give a d--n."
Jim Meeker was a Montana man who thought to carry out on the H2 range,
of which he was foreman, the same system of things which had served
where he had come from. This meant trouble right away, for the Bar-20,
already short in range, would not stand idly by and see him encroach
upon their land for grass and water, more especially when he broke a
solemn compact as to range rights which had been made by the former
owners of the H2 with the Bar-20. It meant not only the forcible use
of Bar-20 range, but also a great hardship upon the herds for which
Buck Peters was responsible.
Meeker's obstinacy was covertly prodded by Antonio for his own
personal gains, but this the Bar-20 foreman did not know; if he had
known it there would have been much trouble averted, and one more
Mexican sent to the spirit world.
Buck Peters was probably the only man of all of them who realized just
what such a war would mean, to what an extent rustling would flourish
while the cowmen fought. His best efforts had been used to avert
trouble, so far successfully; but that he would continue to do so was
doubtful. He had an outfit which, while meaning to obey him in all
things and to turn from any overt act of war, was not of the kind to
stand much forcing or personal abuse; their nervous systems were
constructed on the hair-trigger plan, and their very loyalty might set
the range ablaze with war. However, on this most perfect of mornings
Meeker's persistent aggression did not bother him, he was free from
worry for the time.
Just north of Big Coulee, in which was a goodly sized water hole, a
group of blanket-swathed figures lay about a fire near the chuck
wagon, while the sleepy cook prepared breakfast for his own outfit,
and for the eight men which the foreman of the C80 and the Double
Arrow had insisted upon Buck taking. The sun had not yet risen, but
the morning glow showed gray over the plain, and it would not be long
before the increasing daylight broke suddenly. The cook fires crackled
and blazed steadily, the iron pots hissing under their dancing and
noisy lids, while the coffee pots bubbled and sent up an aromatic
steam, and the odor of freshly baked biscuits swept forth as the cook
uncovered a pan. A pile of tin plates was stacked on the tail-board of
the wagon while a large sheet-iron pail contained tin cups. The
figures, feet to the fire, looked like huge, grotesque cocoons, for
the men had rolled themselves in their blankets, their heads resting
on their saddles, and in many cases folded sombreros next to the
leather made softer pillows.
Back of the chuck wagon the eastern sky grew rapidly brighter, and
suddenly daylight in all its power dissipated the grayish light of the
moment before. As the rim of the golden sun arose above the low sand
hills to the east the foreman rode into camp. Some distance behind him
Harry Jones and two other C80 men drove up the horse herd and enclosed
it in a flimsy corral quickly extemporized from lariats; flimsy it
was, but it sufficed for cow-ponies that had learned the lesson of the
rope.
"All ready, Buck," called Harry before his words were literally true.
With assumed ferocity but real vociferation Buck uttered a shout and
watched the effect. The cocoons became animated, stirred and rapidly
unrolled, with the exception of one, and the sleepers leaped to their
feet and folded the blankets. The exception stirred, subsided, stirred
again and then was quiet. Buck and Red stepped forward while the
others looked on grinning to see the fun, grasped the free end of the
blanket and suddenly straightened up, their hands going high above
their heads. Johnny Nelson, squawking, rolled over and over and, with
a yell of surprise, sat bolt upright and felt for his gun.
"Huh!" he snorted. "Reckon yo're smart, don't you!"
"Purty near a shore 'nuf pin-wheel, Kid," laughed Red.
"Don't you care, Johnny; you can finish it to-night," consoled Frenchy
McAllister, now one of Buck's outfit.
"Breakfast, Kid, breakfast!" sang out Hopalong as he finished drying
his face.
The breakfast was speedily out of the way, and pipes were started for
a short smoke as the punchers walked over to the horse herd to make
their selections. By exercising patience, profanity, and perseverance
they roped their horses and began to saddle up. Ed Porter, of the
C80, and Skinny Thompson, Bar-20, cast their ropes with a sweeping,
preliminary whirl over their heads, but the others used only a quick
flit and twist of the wrist. A few mildly exciting struggles for the
mastery took place between riders and mounts, for some cow-ponies are
not always ready to accept their proper place in the scheme of things.
"Slab-sided jumpin' jack!" yelled Rich Finn, a Double Arrow puncher,
as he fought his horse. "Allus raisin' th' devil afore I'm all awake!"
"Lemme hold her head, Rich," jeered Billy Williams.
"Her laigs, Billy, not her head," corrected Lanky Smith, the Bar-20
rope expert, whose own horse had just become sensible.
"Don't hurt him, bronc; we need him," cautioned Red.
"Come on, fellers; gettin' late," called Buck.
Away they went, tearing across the plain, Buck in the lead. After some
time had passed the foreman raised his arm and Pete Wilson stopped and
filled his pipe anew, the west-end man of the cordon. Again Buck's arm
went up and Skinny Thompson dropped out, and so on until the last man
had been placed and the line completed. At a signal from Buck the
whole line rode forward, gradually converging on a central point and
driving the scattered cattle before it.
Hopalong, on the east end of the line, sharing with Billy the posts of
honor, was now kept busy dashing here and there, wheeling, stopping,
and manoeuvring as certain strong-minded cattle, preferring the
freedom of the range they had just quitted, tried to break through the
cordon. All but branded steers and cows without calves had their
labors in vain, although the escape of these often set examples for
ambitious cows with calves. Here was where reckless and expert riding
saved the day, for the cow-ponies, trained in the art of punching
cows, entered into the game with zest and executed quick turns which
more than once threatened a catastrophe to themselves and riders.
Range cattle can run away from their domesticated kin, covering the
ground with an awkward gait that is deceiving; but the ponies can run
faster and turn as quickly.
Hopalong, determined to turn back one stubborn mother cow, pushed her
too hard, and she wheeled to attack him. Again the nimble pony had
reason to move quickly and Hopalong swore as he felt the horns touch
his leg.
"On th' prod, hey! Well, stay on it!" he shouted, well knowing that
she would. "Pig-headed old fool--_all right_, Johnny; I'm comin'!" and
he raced away to turn a handful of cows which were proving too much
for his friend. _"Ki-yi-yeow-eow-eow-eow-eow!"_ he yelled, imitating
the coyote howl.
The cook had moved his wagon as soon as breakfast was over and
journeyed southeast with the cavvieyh; and as the cordon neared its
objective the punchers could see his camp about half a mile from the
level pasture where the herd would be held for the cutting-out and
branding. Cookie regarded himself as the most important unit of the
roundup and acted accordingly, and he was not far wrong.
"Hey, Hoppy!" called Johnny through the dust of the herd, "there's
cookie. I was 'most scared he'd get lost."
"Can't you think of anythin' else but grub?" asked Billy Jordan from
the rear.
"Can you tell me anything better to think of?"
There were from three to four thousand cattle in the herd when it
neared the stopping point, and dust arose in low-hanging clouds above
it. Its pattern of differing shades of brown, with yellow and black
and white relieving it, constantly shifted like a kaleidoscope as the
cattle changed positions; and the rattle of horns on horns and the
muffled bellowing could be heard for many rods.
Gradually the cordon surrounded the herd and, when the destination was
reached, the punchers rode before the front ranks of cattle and
stopped them. There was a sudden tremor, a compactness in the herd,
and the cattle in the rear crowded forward against those before;
another tremor, and the herd was quiet. Cow-punchers took their places
around it, and kept the cattle from breaking out and back to the
range, while every second man, told off by the foreman, raced at top
speed towards the camp, there to eat a hasty dinner and get a fresh
horse from his _remuda_, as his string of from five to seven horses
was called. Then he galloped back to the herd and relieved his nearest
neighbor. When all had reassembled at the herd the work of cutting-out
began.
Lanky Smith, Panhandle Lukins, and two more Bar-20 men rode some
distance east of the herd, there to take care of the cow-and-calf cut
as it grew by the cutting-out. Hopalong, Red, Johnny, and three others
were assigned to the task of getting the mother cows and their calves
out of the main herd and into the new one, while the other punchers
held the herd and took care of the stray herd when they should be
needed. Each of the cutters-out rode after some calf, and the victim,
led by its mother, worked its way after her into the very heart of the
mass; and in getting the pair out again care must be taken not to
unduly excite the other cattle. Wiry, happy, and conceited cow-ponies
unerringly and patiently followed mother and calf into the press,
nipping the pursued when too slow and gradually forcing them to the
outer edge of the herd; and when the mother tried to lead its
offspring back into the herd to repeat the performance, she was in
almost every case cleverly blocked and driven out on the plain where
the other punchers took charge of her and added her to the
cow-and-calf cut.
Johnny jammed his sombrero on his head with reckless strength and
swore luridly as he wheeled to go back into the herd.
"What's th' matter, Kid?" laughingly asked Skinny as he turned his
charges over to another man.
"None of yore d----d business!" blazed Johnny. Under his breath he
made a resolve. "If I get you two out here again I'll keep you here if
I have to shoot you!"
"Are they slippery, Johnny?" jibed Red, whose guess was correct.
Johnny refused to heed such asinine remarks and stood on his dignity.
As the cow-and-calf herd grew in size and the main herd dwindled, more
punchers were shifted to hold it; and it was not long before the main
herd was comprised entirely of cattle without calves, when it was
driven off to freedom after being examined for other brands. As soon
as the second herd became of any size it was not necessary to drive
the cows and calves to it when they were driven out of the first herd,
as they made straight for it. The main herd, driven away, broke up as
it would, while the guarded cows stood idly beside their resting
offspring awaiting further indignities.
The drive had covered so much ground and taken so much time that
approaching darkness warned Buck not to attempt the branding until the
morrow, and he divided his force into three shifts. Two of these
hastened to the camp, gulped down their supper, and rolling into their
blankets, were soon sound asleep. The horse herd was driven off to
where the grazing was better, and night soon fell over the plain.
The cook's fires gleamed through the darkness and piles of biscuits
were heaped on the tail-board of the wagon, while pots of beef and
coffee simmered over the fires, handy for the guards as they rode in
during the night to awaken brother punchers, who would take their
places while they slept. Soon the cocoons were quiet in the grotesque
shadows caused by the fires and a deep silence reigned over the camp.
Occasionally some puncher would awaken long enough to look at the sky
to see if the weather had changed, and satisfied, return to sleep.
Over the plain sleepy cowboys rode slowly around the herd, glad to be
relieved by some other member of the outfit, who always sang as he
approached the cattle to reassure them and save a possible stampede.
For cattle, if suddenly disturbed at night by anything, even the
waving of a slicker in the hands of some careless rider, or a
wind-blown paper, will rise in a body--all up at once, frightened and
nervous. The sky was clear and the stars bright and when the moon rose
it flooded the plain with a silvery light and made fairy patterns in
the shadows.
Snatches of song floated down the gentle wind as the riders slowly
circled the herd, for the human voice, no matter how discordant, was
quieting. A low and plaintive "Don't let this par-ting grieve y-o-u"
passed from hearing around the resting cows, soon to be followed by
"When-n in thy dream-ing, nights like t-h-e-s-e shall come a-gain--"
as another watcher made the circuit. The serene cows, trusting in the
prowess and vigilance of these low-voiced centaurs to protect them
from danger, dozed and chewed their cuds in peace and quiet, while the
natural noises of the night relieved the silence in unobtruding
harmony.
Far out on the plain a solitary rider watched the herd from cover and
swore because it was guarded so closely. He glanced aloft to see if
there was any hope of a storm and finding that there was not,
muttered savagely and rode away. It was Antonio, wishing that he
could start a stampede and so undo the work of the day and inflict
heavy losses on the Bar-20. He did not dare to start a grass fire for
at the first flicker of a light he would be charged by one or more of
the night riders and if caught, death would be his reward.
While the third shift rode and sang the eastern sky became a dome of
light reflected from below and the sunrise, majestic in all its fiery
splendor, heralded the birth of another perfect day.
Through the early morning hours the branding continued, and the
bleating of the cattle told of the hot stamping irons indelibly
burning the sign of the Bar-20 on the tender hides of calves. Mother
cows fought and plunged and called in reply to the terrified bawling
of their offspring, and sympathetically licked the burns when the
frightened calves had been allowed to join them. Cowboys were deftly
roping calves by their hind legs and dragging them to the fires of the
branding men. Two men would hold a calf, one doubling the foreleg back
on itself at the knee and the other, planting one booted foot against
the calf's under hind leg close to its body, pulled back on the other
leg while his companion, who held the foreleg, rested on the animal's
head. The third man, drawing the hot iron from the fire, raised and
held it suspended for a second over the calf's flank, and then there
was an odor and a puff of smoke; and the calf was branded with a mark
which neither water nor age would wipe out.
Pete Wilson came riding up dragging a calf at the end of his rope,
and turned the captive over to Billy Williams and his two helpers,
none of them paying any attention to the cow which followed a short
distance behind him. Lanky seized the unfortunate calf and leaned over
to secure the belly hold, when someone shouted a warning and he
dropped the struggling animal and leaped back and to one side as the
mother charged past. Wheeling to return the attack, the cow suddenly
flopped over and struck the earth with a thud as Buck's rope went
home. He dragged her away and then releasing her, chased her back into
the herd.
"_Hi!_ Get that little devil!" shouted Billy to Hopalong, pointing to
the fleeing calf.
"Why didn't you watch for her, you half-breed!" demanded the indignant
Lanky of Pete. "Do you think this is a ten-pin alley!"
Hopalong came riding up with the calf, which swiftly became recorded
property.
"Bar-20; tally one," sang out the monotonous voice of the tally-man.
"Why didn't you grab her when she went by, Lanky?" he asked, putting a
new point on his pencil.
"Hope th' next one heads yore way!" retorted Lanky, grinning.
"Won't. I ain't abusin' th' kids."
"Bar-20; tally one," droned a voice at the next fire.
All was noise, laughter, dust, and a seeming confusion, but every man
knew his work thoroughly and was doing it in a methodical way, and the
confusion was confined to the victims and their mothers.
When the herd had been branded and allowed to return to the plain, the
outfit moved on into a new territory and the work was repeated until
the whole range, with the exception of the valley, had been covered.
When the valley was worked it required more time in comparison with
the amount of ground covered than had been heretofore spent on any
part of the range; for the cattle were far more numerous, and it was
no unusual thing to have a herd of great size before the roundup place
had been reached. This heavy increase in the numbers of the cattle to
be herded made a corresponding increase in the time and labor required
for the cutting-out and branding. Five days were required in working
the eastern and central parts of the valley and it took three more
days to clean up around the White Horse Hills, where the ground was
rougher and the riding harder. And at every cutting-out there was a
large stray-herd made up of H2 and Three Triangle cattle. The H2 had
been formerly the Three Triangle. Buck had been earnest in his
instructions to his men regarding the strays, for now was the
opportunity to rid his range of Meeker's cattle in a way natural and
without especial significance; once over the line it would be a
comparatively easy matter to keep them there.
For taking care of this extra herd and also because Buck courted
scrutiny during the branding, the foreman accepted the services of
three H2 men. This addition to his forces made the work move somewhat
more rapidly and when, at the end of each day's cutting-out, the
stray herd was complete, it was driven south across the boundary line
by Meeker's men. When the last stray-herd started south Buck rode over
to the H2 punchers and told them to tell their foreman to let him know
when he could assist in the southern roundup and thus return the
favor.
As the Bar-20 outfit and the C80 and Double Arrow men rode north
towards the ranch house they were met by Lucas, foreman of the C80,
who joined them near Medicine Bend.
"Well, got it all over, hey?" he cried as he rode up.
"Yep; bigger job than I thought, too. It gets bigger every year an'
that blizzard didn't make much difference in th' work, neither," Buck
replied. "I'll help you out when you get ready to drive."
"No you won't; you can help me an' Bartlett more by keeping all yore
men watchin' that line," quickly responded Lucas. "We'll work
together, me an' Bartlett, an' we'll have all th' men we want. You
just show that man Meeker that range grabbin' ain't healthy down
here--that's all we want. Did he send you any help in th' valley?"
"Yes, three men," Buck replied. "But we'll break even on that when he
works along th' boundary."
"Have any trouble with 'em?"
"Not a bit."
"I sent Wood Wright down to Eagle th' other day, an' he says th' town
is shore there'll be a big range war," remarked Lucas. "He said
there's lots of excitement down there an' they act like they wish th'
trouble would hurry up an' happen. We've got to watch that town, all
right."
"If there's a war th' rustlers'll flock here from all over,"
interposed Rich Finn.
"Huh!" snorted Hopalong. "They'll flock out again if we get a chance
to look for 'em. An' that town'll shore get into trouble if it don't
live plumb easy. You know what happened th' last time rustlin' got to
be th' style, don't you?"
"Well," replied Lucas, "I've fixed it with Cowan to get news to me an'
Bartlett if anything sudden comes up. If you need us just let him know
an' we'll be with you in two shakes."
"That's good, but I don't reckon I'll need any help, leastwise not for
a long time," Buck responded. "But I tell you what you might do, when
you can; make up a vigilance committee from yore outfits an' ride
range for rustlers. We can take care of all that comes on us, but we
won't have no time to bother about th' rest of th' range. An' if you
do that it'll shut 'em out of our north range."
"We'll do it," Lucas promised. "Bartlett is going to watch th' trails
north to see if he can catch anybody runnin' cattle to th' railroad
construction camps. Every suspicious lookin' stranger is going to be
held up an' asked questions; an' if we find any runnin' irons, you
know what that means."
"I reckon we can handle th' situation, all right, no matter how hard
it gets," laughed the Bar-20 foreman.
"Well, I'll be leavin' you now," Lucas remarked as they reached the
Bar-20 bunk house. "We begin to round up next week, an' there's lots
to be done before then. Say, can I use yore chuck wagon? Mine is shore
done for."
"Why, of course," replied Buck heartily. "Take it now, if you want, or
any time you send for it."
"Much obliged; come on, fellers," Lucas cried to his men. "We're goin'
home."