"The road to that bright, mystic region, Is narrow and dim, so they say, But the trail that leads down to perdition, Is staked and is blazed all the way." I had never heard Tom sing this song before, nor had I ever heard him sing so well, and I raised on my elbow to catch every word: "They say that there'll be a big round-up, Where the cowboys like dogies[A] will stand, To be cut by those riders from Heaven, Who are posted and know every brand." [A] A dogie is a name applied to yearlings, that have lost their mothers when very young and just managed to live through the winter. Here an enterprising steer made a sudden break for liberty, and the song was stopped, as Tom raced away over the prairie to bring him back, which being done in a couple of minutes, the song was again taken up: "I wonder was there ever a cowboy Prepared for that great judgment day, Who could say to the boss of the riders, I'm all ready to be driven away." Another interruption which I judged from the sounds was caused by his pony having stumbled into a prairie-dog hole, and I think Tom was "waking him up," as the boys say, with his heavy quirt.[B] [B] Quirt, a short, heavy Mexican riding-whip used by cowboys. That done, he picked up the thread of his song again "And they say, He will never forget you, That He notes every action and look, So for safety you'd better get branded, And have your name in His big 'tally-book.' "For they tell of another big owner, Who is ne'er overstocked, so they say, But who always makes room for the sinner, Who strays from that bright, narrow way." As the closing words floated out on the cool night air, I turned sleepily in my bed and saw that a huge black cloud had come up rapidly from the West and bid fair to soon shut out the moon. I snuggled down in my blankets, wondering if we would have to turn out to help hold the steers if it rained, when the silence of the night was broken by a peal of thunder that seemed to fairly split the skies. It brought every man in camp to his feet, for high above the reverberation of the thunder was the roar and rattle of a stampede. It is hard to find words to describe a stampede of a thousand head of long-horned range steers.