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 tramping of our _remuda_ as they came trotting up to the wagon the
next morning, and Honeyman’s calling, “Horses, horses,” brought us to
the realization that another day had dawned with its duty. McCann had
stretched the ropes of our corral, for Flood was as dead to the world
as any of us were, but the tramping of over a hundred and forty horses
and mules, as they crowded inside the ropes, brought him into action
as well as the rest of us. We had had a good five hours’ sleep, while
our mounts had been transformed from gaunt animals to round-barreled
saddle horses,--that fought and struggled amongst themselves or
artfully dodged the lariat loops which were being cast after them.
Honeyman reported the herd quietly grazing across the river, and after
securing our mounts for the morning, we breakfasted before looking
after the cattle. It took us less than an hour to round up and count
the cattle, and turn them loose again under herd to graze. Those of us
not on herd returned to the wagon, and our foreman instructed McCann
to make a two hours’ drive down the river and camp for noon, as he
proposed only to graze the herd that morning. After seeing the wagon
safely beyond the rocky crossing, we hunted up a good bathing pool and
disported ourselves for half an hour, taking a much needed bath. There
were trails on either side of the Powder, and as our course was
henceforth to the northwest, we remained on the west side and grazed
or trailed down it. It was a beautiful stream of water, having its
source in the Big Horn Mountains, frequently visible on our left. For
the next four or five days we had easy work. There were range cattle
through that section, but fearful of Texas fever, their owners gave
the Powder River a wide berth. With the exception of holding the herd
at night, our duties were light. We caught fish and killed grouse; and
the respite seemed like a holiday after our experience of the past few
days. During the evening of the second day after reaching the Powder,
we crossed the Crazy Woman, a clear mountainous fork of the former
river, and nearly as large as the parent stream. Once or twice we
encountered range riders, and learned that the Crazy Woman was a stock
country, a number of beef ranches being located on it, stocked with
Texas cattle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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