Finally conditions got so bad that it got out of control of the local authorities and the militia was called out to settle the trouble. They arrested everybody—cattlemen, cowboys, rustlers and Rangers, and took them all to Cheyenne. That broke up the feud and nobody gained anything. Most of the cowmen lived in the East and they were sick of the whole affair. Some of them sold out and never did come back to Wyoming. The cowboys and rustlers drifted to parts unknown, and things in Johnson County got on a more legitimate basis. I met several of those cowboys afterwards in Montana. Most of them were under assumed names, and some of them had very good jobs, such as stock inspectors and foremen of big outfits. They generally made pretty good men, as they had had plenty of experience. At the time those conditions existed, I was breaking colts for the PK Cow outfit on Soldier Creek, close to Sheridan, Wyoming, and Buffalo Bill Cody sent notice to Sheridan that he would be there on a certain day and wanted to buy a carload of wild horses to ship to Boston for his show, also he wanted to hire some Wild West riders to take back to Boston. That is a long time ago and there wasn’t the bronc riders there is today. Some rode with tied stirrups, some with buck straps. There was a quite a number of riders but only one boy qualified—his name was Scotty. I tried for that job, but Bill hurt my pride very much, as he told me I might make a rider but wouldn’t do at that time. The only consolation I had was to say to myself that Bill didn’t know a good rider when he saw one. CHAPTER XVI BRONCOS Several people not familiar with horses have asked me what a bronco-buster means, and they seem to think all cowboys are bronco riders, which is not so. I sometimes talk to an old-timer that once rode broncs and broke horses, and like most all old-timers in every line of work they claim the younger generation cannot compete with them the way they did it in their day. But the old boys are only kidding themselves when they think those young fellows can’t ride a bucking horse. They have made a profession of it and keep in practice. Another thing, the old-tuners never flanked a horse like they do in contest today—that’s putting a strap around his kidneys and cinching it up to make him buck—and it does make him buck harder than without it. He gets in a twist when he is up off the ground. That the horses of the old days never did. I have been judge at several bucking contests and shows and I would venture to say that no old-timer could ever have rode those horses with that rigging on him without first getting used to it. Another thing, in the old days of the range the good riders tried to keep their horse from bucking, whereas today they train and teach them to buck for the shows. So naturally the horse and rider have more practice.