The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail DaysAdams, Andy
General
The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days
Adams, Andy
Cattle drives -- Fiction; Cowboys -- Fiction; Western stories
The count confirmed the success of our driving by night, and on its
completion all but two men rode to the wagon for breakfast. By the
time the morning meal was disposed of, the herd had come up parallel
with the wagon but a mile to the westward, and as fast as fresh mounts
could be saddled, we rode away in small squads to relieve the herders
and to turn the cattle into the trail. It was but a little after eight
o’clock in the morning when the herd was again trailing out on the
Powder River trail, and we had already put over thirty miles of the
dry drive behind us, while so far neither horses nor cattle had been
put to any extra exertion. The wagon followed as usual, and for over
three hours we held the trail without a break, when sighting a divide
in our front, the foreman went back and sent the wagon around the herd
with instructions to make the noon camp well up on the divide. We
threw the herd off the trail, within a mile of this stopping place,
and allowed them to graze, while two thirds of the outfit galloped
away to the wagon.
We allowed the cattle to lie down and rest to their complete
satisfaction until the middle of the afternoon; meanwhile all hands,
with the exception of two men on herd, also lay down and slept in the
shade of the wagon. When the cattle had had several hours’ sleep, the
want of water made them restless, and they began to rise and graze
away. Then all hands were aroused and we threw them upon the trail.
The heat of the day was already over, and until the twilight of the
evening, we trailed a three-mile clip, and again threw the herd off to
graze. By our traveling and grazing gaits, we could form an
approximate idea as to the distance we had covered, and the consensus
of opinion of all was that we had already killed over half the
distance. The herd was beginning to show the want of water by evening,
but amongst our saddle horses the lack of water was more noticeable,
as a horse subsisting on grass alone weakens easily; and riding them
made them all the more gaunt. When we caught up our mounts that
evening, we had used eight horses to the man since we had left the
South Fork, and another one would be required at midnight, or whenever
we halted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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