So when this blasted country Is all closed in with wire, And all the top, as trot grass, Is burnin' in Sol's fire, I hope the settlers will be glad When rain hits the land. And all us cowdogs are in hell With a "set"[9] joined hand in hand. [Footnote 9: "set" means settler.] A DEER HUNT One pleasant summer day it came a storm of snow; I picked my old gun and a-hunting I did go. I came across a herd of deer and I trailed them through the snow, I trailed them to the mountains where straight up they did go. I trailed them o'er the mountains, I trailed them to the brim, And I trailed them to the waters where they jumped in to swim. I cocked both my pistols and under water went,-- To kill the fattest of them deer, that was my whole intent. While I was under water five hundred feet or more I fired both my pistols; like cannons did they roar. I picked up my venison and out of water came,-- To kill the balance of them deer, I thought it would be fun. So I bent my gun in circles and fired round a hill. And, out of three or four deer, ten thousand I did kill. Then I picked up my venison and on my back I tied And as the sun came passing by I hopped up there to ride. The sun she carried me o'er the globe, so merrily I did roam That in four and twenty hours I landed safe at home. And the money I received for my venison and skin, I taken it all to the barn door and it would not all go in. And if you doubt the truth of this I tell you how to know: Just take my trail and go my rounds, as I did, long ago. WINDY BILL Windy Bill was a Texas man,-- Well, he could rope, you bet. He swore the steer he couldn't tie,-- Well, he hadn't found him yet. But the boys they knew of an old black steer, A sort of an old outlaw That ran down in the malpais At the foot of a rocky draw. This old black steer had stood his ground With punchers from everywhere; So they bet old Bill at two to one That he couldn't quite get there. Then Bill brought out his old gray hoss, His withers and back were raw, And prepared to tackle the big black brute That ran down in the draw. With his brazen bit and his Sam Stack tree His chaps and taps to boot, And his old maguey tied hard and fast, Bill swore he'd get the brute. Now, first Bill sort of sauntered round Old Blackie began to paw, Then threw his tail straight in the air And went driftin' down the draw. The old gray plug flew after him, For he'd been eatin' corn; And Bill, he piled his old maguey Right round old Blackie's horns. The old gray hoss he stopped right still; The cinches broke like straw, And the old maguey and the Sam Stack tree Went driftin' down the draw.