"No, you don't, of course," she admitted, "any more than I understood
some of your terms back East. But come; let's go out and watch the boys.
One of the sheds has a lovely low, flat roof, and we can see right over
into the horse corral from there. It's easy; there's a ladder. Come on!"
"Why, what a lot of horses!" cried Tilly, a moment later, as they
stepped out of doors. "Do they ride all those?"
"Not this morning," laughed Genevieve. "You see, each man has his own
string of horses, and he picks out some one of the bunch, and lets the
rest go. That's Reddy, now, driving them into the corral. The other boys
will be here pretty quick now, and the fun will begin. You'll see!"
The horse corral was high and circular, and there was a fine view of it
from the shed roof. A snubbing post was in the middle of the corral, and
a wing was built out at one side from the entrance gate, so that the
horses could be driven in more easily; yet Reddy quite had his hands
full as it was. At last they were all in, and a merry time they were
having of it, racing in a circle about the enclosure, heads up, and
tails and manes flying.
"Regular merry-go-round, isn't it?" giggled Tilly. But Cordelia clutched
Genevieve's arm.
"Genevieve, look--they've got ropes! Genevieve, what _are_ they going to
do?" she gasped, her eyes on the boys who were running from all
directions now, toward the corral. "Why, Genevieve, they're going _in_
there, with all those horses!"
"I reckon they are," rejoined the mistress of the Six Star Ranch. "Now
watch, and you'll see. There!--see there?--in the middle by that post!
Each man will pick out one of his own horses and rope him; then he'll
lead him out and saddle him, and the deed's done."
"I guess that's easier to say than to do," observed Bertha, dryly. "I
notice there aren't any of those horses just hanging 'round waiting to
be caught!"
"No, there aren't, to-day," laughed Genevieve; "though some of the
horses will do just that, at times--specially Long John's. They're
pretty lively now, however, and it _does_ take some skill to make a nice
job of it when they're jamming and jostling like that. But the boys are
equal to it. We've got some splendid ropers!" This time there was a note
of very evident pride in the voice of the mistress of the Six Star
Ranch.
It was a brief but exciting time that followed, filled, as it was, with
the shouts of the boys--the jeers at some failure, the cheers at some
success--the thud of the horses' hoofs, the swirl of the skillfully
flung ropes. It was almost as exciting when the boys, their horses once
caught, led out, and saddled, rode off for their morning's work. To
Cordelia, especially, it was an experience never to be forgotten.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account