and then coiled and tied up to the saddle. Each boy has also a large pair of spurs with rowels two inches long, and little bells to them, so that when the boy walks the spurs roll along upon the ground or floor, and the little bells make quite a noise. Now, with a belt around his waist, and two six-shooters and a large knife upon it, he is rigged. The clothing is made of California duck, lined with blanket, the shirt a double-breasted blue, and the hat a large white broad-brim. In an ordinary stock county, between two and three hundred cow-boys usually come together for the round-up. And you bet this is a big day for the hot coffee-houses of the place of meeting; for the boys usually draw their wages for the occasion, and usually succeed in getting things pretty well warmed up. The bosses try to keep their boys down; but toward evening, when the boys gather in from far and near, there are many social glasses drank. Often old feuds are stirred up; and when once a fight is begun each boy sides one way or the other, and there are seldom less than four or five killed. If a stranger comes in and gives the least occasion, the boys will then have their fun. They will make him stand still and hold out his hand, and then try to shoot between his fingers, or shoot a hole through his ears, or see how closely they can shoot to the top of his head by shooting through his hat. They can do this very well; and there is not much danger until they get pretty full and want to make _too fine_ a shot, such as shooting between the flesh and skin, and then the thing is too fine to be pleasant. Persons coming out here to learn this business find it necessary to keep lip and braggadocio to themselves, or else the initiation is pretty heavy. The boys generally get pretty well gathered in the first day, and the next morning they pull out. The captain commands the men like an army officer. The loose ponies are all turned together, and the herd often has several hundred heads. The captain is a man who understands the country and knows every stream and pool in the range. He lays his plans and arranges his route, and, beginning at one side of the county, he takes a range; and dividing up his men, he sends them here and there, up and down the forks of the creeks and across to the little lakes over the range, and directs them to bring in all the cattle of the range and round them up at a certain place. In a week or ten days they generally come in with the cattle; and they often round up a mighty herd. Each brand now has one or more representatives, and they watch closely after the interests of their employers. They then prepare to take out of the round-up all the brands that belong to that particular range, brand the calves, and let them go. The herd is surrounded and held by cow-boys; and fires are built around, and all the different brands of that range are heated for action.