Wells Brothers Part 25

"Link, that kind of talk shows your raising," replied Sargent. "Your view is narrow and illiberal. You haven't traveled far. Your tickets cost somewhere between four and six bits."

Manly lifted his head from a saddle, and turning on his side, gazed at the dying fire. "Vivian," said he, "it all depends on how your folks bring you up. Down home we buy and sell by ages. A cow is a cow, a steer is a steer, according to his age, and so on down to the end of the alphabet. The cattle never misrepresent and there's no occasion for seeing them. If you are laboring under the idea that my old man would use any deception to sell a herd, you have another guess coming. He'd rather lose his right hand than to misrepresent the color of a cow. He's as jealous of his cattle as a miller is of his flour. These boys are his customers, last fall, this summer, and possibly for years to come. If he wanted them, Joel did perfectly right to buy the cattle unseen."

The second train of Lazy H beeves reached the railroad on schedule time. The shipper was in waiting, cattle cars filled the side track, and an engine and crew could be summoned on a few hours' notice. If corralled the night before, pa.s.sing trains were liable to excite the beeves, and thereafter it became the usual custom to hold outside and safely distant.

The importance of restocking the range hurried the shipping operations.

Instead of allowing the wagon to reach the station, at sunrise on the morning of shipping, it and the remuda were started homeward.

"We'll gather beeves on the lower end of our range to-morrow," said Joel to the cook and wrangler, "and there's no need to touch at headquarters.

Follow the trail to the old crossing, and make camp at the lower tank--same camp-ground as the first shipment of Lazy H's. The rest of the outfit will follow, once these cattle are loaded out. You might have a late supper awaiting us--about ten o'clock to-night."

The gates closed on the beeves without mishap. They were cut into car lots, from horseback, and on the arrival of the crew, the loading began.

A short hour's work saw the cattle aboard, when the dusty hors.e.m.e.n mounted and clattered into the straggling hamlet.

The homeward trip was like a picnic. The outfit halted on the first running water, and saddle pockets disgorged a bountiful lunch. The horses rolled, grazed the noon hours through, and again took up their former road gait. An evening halt was made on the Prairie Dog, where an hour's grazing was again allowed, the time being wholly devoted to looking into the future.

"If we stock the range fully this fall," said Joel, in outlining his plans, "it is my intention to build an emergency camp on this creek, in case of winter drifts. Build a dug-out in some sheltered nook, cache a little provision and a few sacks of corn, and if the cattle break the line, we can ride out of snug quarters any morning and check them. It beats waiting for a wagon and giving the drift a twenty-mile start. We could lash our blankets on a pack horse and ride it night or day."

"What a long head!" approvingly said Sargent. "Joel, you could almost eat out of a churn. An emergency camp on the Prairie Dog is surely a meaty idea. But that's for next winter, and beef shipping's on in full blast right now. Let's ride; supper's waiting on the Beaver."

CHAPTER XXI

LIVING IN THE SADDLE

The glow of a smouldering camp-fire piloted the returning hors.e.m.e.n safely to their wagon. A good night's rest fitted them for the task of the day, which began at sunrise. The next shipment would come from the flotsam of the year before, many of which were heavy beeves, intended for army delivery, but had fallen footsore on the long, drouthy march.

The past winter had favored the lame and halt, and after five months of summer, the bulk of them had matured into finished beef.

By shipping the different contingents separately, the brothers were enabled to know the situation at all times. No accounts were kept, but had occasion required, either Joel or Dell could have rendered a statement from memory of returns on the double and single wintered, as well as on the purchased cattle. Sale statements were furnished by the commission house, and by filing these, an account of the year's shipments, each brand separate, could be made up at the end of the season.

The early struggle of Wells Brothers, in stocking their range, was now happily over. Instead of accepting the crumbs which fell as their portion, their credit and resources enabled them to choose the cla.s.s of cattle which promised growth and quick returns. The range had proven itself in maturing beef, and the ranch thereafter would carry only sufficient cows to quiet and pacify its holdings of cattle.

"If this was my ranch," said Sargent to the brothers at breakfast, "I'd stock it with two-year-old steers and double-winter every hoof. Look over those sale statements and you'll see what two winters mean. That first shipment of Lazy H's was as fat as mud, and yet they netted seven dollars a head less than those rag-tag, double-wintered ones. There's a waste that must be saved hereafter."

"That's our intention," said Joel. "We'll ship out every hoof that has the flesh this year. Nearly any beef will buy three two-year-old steers to take his place. It may take another year or two to shape up our cattle, but after that, every hoof must be double-wintered."

An hour after sunrise, the drag-net was drawing together the first round-up of the day. The importance of handling heavy beeves without any excitement was fully understood, and to gather a shipment without disturbing those remaining was a task that required patience and intelligence. Men on the outside circle merely turned the cattle on the extremes of the range; they were followed by inner hors.e.m.e.n, and the drag-net closed at a grazing pace, until the round-up halted on a few acres.

The first three shipments had tried out the remuda. The last course in the education of a cow-horse is cutting cattle out of a mixed round-up.

On the present work, those horses which had proven apt were held in reserve, and while the first contingent of cattle was quieting down, the remuda was brought up and saddles shifted to four cutting horses. The average cow can dodge and turn quicker than the ordinary horse, and only a few of the latter ever combine action and intelligence to outwit the former. Cunning and ingenuity, combined with the required alertness, a perfect rein, coupled with years of actual work, produce that rarest of range mounts--the cutting horse.

Dell had been promised a trial in cutting out beeves. Sargent took him in hand, and mounted on two picked horses, they entered the herd. "Now, I'll pick the beeves," said the latter, "and you cut them out. All you need to do is to rein that horse down on your beef, and he'll take him out of the herd. Of course you'll help the horse some little; but if you let too many back, I'll call our wrangler and try him out. That horse knows the work just as well as you do. Now, go slow, and don't ride over your beef."

The work commenced. The beeves were lazy from flesh, inactive, and only a few offered any resistance to the will of the hors.e.m.e.n. Dell made a record of cutting out fifty beeves in less than an hour, and only letting one reenter the herd. The latter was a pony-built beef, and after sullenly leaving the herd, with the agility of a cat, he whirled right and left on the s.p.a.ce of a blanket, and beat the horse back into the round-up. Sargent lent a hand on the second trial, and when the beef saw that resistance was useless, he kicked up his heels and trotted away to join those selected for shipment.

"He's laughing at you," said Sargent. "He only wanted to try you out.

Just wanted to show you that no red-headed boy and flea-bit horse could turn him. And he showed you."

"This beats roping," admitted Dell, as the two returned to the herd, quite willing to change the subject. "Actually when a beef reaches the edge of the herd, this horse swells up and his eyes pop out like door-k.n.o.bs. You can feel every muscle in him become as rigid as ropes, and he touches the ground as if he was walking on eggs. Look at him now; goes poking along as if he was half asleep."

"He's a cutting horse and doesn't wear himself out. Whenever you can strip the bridle off, while cutting out a beef, and handle your steer, that's the top rung a cow-horse can reach. He's a king pin--that's royalty."

A second round-up was required to complete the train-load of beeves.

They were not uniform in weight or age, and would require recla.s.sing before loading aboard the cars. Their flesh and finish were fully up to standard, but the manner in which they were acquired left them uneven, their ages varying from four to seven years.

"There's velvet in this shipment," said Sargent, when the beeves had been counted and trimmed. "These cattle can defy compet.i.tion. Instead of five cents a head for watering last year's drive, this year's shipment from crumbs will net you double that amount. The first gathering of beef will square the account with every thirsty cow you watered last summer."

An extra day was allowed in which to reach the railroad. The shipment must pen the evening before, and halting the herd within half a mile of the railway corrals, the recla.s.sing fell to Joel and Sargent. The contingent numbered four hundred and forty beeves, and in order to have them marketable, all rough, heavy cattle must be cut into a cla.s.s by themselves, leaving the remainder neat and uniform. A careful hour's work resulted in seven car-loads of extra heavy beeves, which were corralled separately and in advance of the others, completing a long day in the saddle.

Important mail was awaiting Wells Brothers at the station. A permit from the state quarantine authorities had been secured, due to the influence of the commission house and others, admitting the through herd, then en route from Ogalalla. The grant required a messenger to meet the herd without delay, and Dell volunteered his services as courier. Darkness fell before supper was over and the messenger ready.

"One more shipment will clean up our beeves," said Joel to his brother, "and those through cattle can come in the day we gather our last train.

We'll give them a clear field. If the herd hasn't reached the Republican, push ahead until you meet it."

A hundred-mile ride lay before Dell Wells. "You mean for the herd to follow the old trail," he inquired, "and turn off opposite our middle tank?"

"That's it; and hold the cattle under herd until we can count and receive them."

Dell led out his horse and mounted. "Dog-toe will take me safely home to-night," said he, "and we'll reach the Republican by noon to-morrow.

If the herd's there, you haven't an hour to waste. We'll drop down on you in a day and a half."

The night received courier and horse. A clatter of caution and advice followed the retreating figure out of hearing, when the others threw themselves down around the camp-fire. Early morning found the outfit astir, and as on the previous occasion, the wagon and remuda were started home at daybreak. The loading and shipping instructions were merely a repet.i.tion of previous consignments, and the train had barely left the station when the cavalcade rode to overtake the commissary.

The wagon was found encamped on the Prairie Dog. An hour's rest was allowed, fresh horses were saddled, when Joel turned to the cook and wrangler: "Make camp to-night on the middle tank, below headquarters.

We'll ride on ahead and drift all the cattle up the creek. Our only round-up to-morrow will be well above the old winter corral. It's our last gathering of beef, and we want to make a general round-up of the range. We'll drift cattle until dark, so that it'll be late when we reach camp."

The outfit of hors.e.m.e.n followed the old trail, and only sighted the Beaver late in the afternoon. The last new tank, built that spring, was less than a mile below the old crossing; and veering off there, the drag-net was thrown across the valley below it, and a general drift begun. An immense half-circle, covering the limits of the range, pointed the cattle into the valley, and by moving forward and converging as the evening advanced, a general drift was maintained. The pace was barely that of grazing, and as darkness approached, all cattle on the lower end of the range were grazed safely above the night camp and left adrift.

The wagon had arrived, and the men reached camp by twos and threes.

There was little danger of the cattle returning to their favorite range during the night, but for fear of stragglers, at an early hour in the morning the drag-net was again thrown out from camp. Headquarters was pa.s.sed before the hors.e.m.e.n began encountering any quant.i.ty of cattle, and after pa.s.sing the old winter corral, the men on the points of the half-circle were sent to ride the extreme limits of the range. By the middle of the forenoon, everything was adrift, and as the cattle naturally turned into the valley for their daily drink, a few complete circles brought the total herd into a general round-up, numbering over fifteen hundred head of mixed cattle.

Meanwhile the wagon and remuda had followed up the drift, dinner was waiting, and after the mid-day meal had been bolted, orders rang out.

"Right here's where all hands and the cook draw fresh horses," said Sargent, "and get into action. It's a bulky herd, and cutting out will be slow. The cook and wrangler must hold the beeves, and that will turn the rest of us free to watch the round-up and cut out."

By previous agreement, in order to shorten the work, Joel was to cut out the remnant of double-wintered beeves, Manly the Lazy H's, while Sargent and an a.s.sistant would confine their selections to the single-wintered ones in the ---- Y brand. Each man would tally his own work, even car-loads were required, and a total would const.i.tute the shipment. The cutting out began quietly; but after a nucleus of beeves were selected, their numbers gained at the rate of three to five a minute, while the sweat began to reek from the horses.

Joel cut two car-loads of prime beeves, and then tendered his services to Sargent. The cattle had quieted, and a fifth man was relieved from guarding the round-up, and sent to the a.s.sistance of Manly. A steady stream of beef poured out for an hour, when a comparison of figures was made. Manly was limited to one hundred and twenty head, completing an even thousand shipped from the brand, and lacking four, was allowed to complete his number. Sargent was without limit, the object being to trim the general herd of every heavy, rough beef, and a tally on numbers was all that was required. The work was renewed with tireless energy, and when the limit of twenty cars was reached, a general conference resulted in cutting two loads extra.

"That leaves the home cattle clean of rough stuff," said Sargent, as he dismounted and loosened the saddle on a tired horse. "Any aged steers left are clean thrifty cattle, and will pay their way to hold another year. Turn the round-up adrift."

After blowing their horses, a detail of men drifted the general herd up the creek. Others lent their a.s.sistance to the wrangler in corralling his remuda, and after relieving the cutting horses, the beeves were grazed down the valley. The outfit had not spent a night at headquarters in some time, the wagon serving as a subst.i.tute, and orders for evening freed all hands except two men on herd with the beeves.

The hurry of the day was over. On securing fresh horses, Joel and Sargent turned to the a.s.sistance of the detail, then drifting the main herd westward. The men were excused, to change mounts, and relieved from further duty until the guards, holding the beeves, were arranged for the night. The remnant of the herd was pushed up the creek and freed near Hackberry Grove, and on returning to overtake the beeves, the two hors.e.m.e.n crossed a spur of the tableland, jutting into the valley, affording a perfect view of the surrounding country.

With the first sweep of the horizon, their horses were reined to a halt.

Fully fifteen miles to the northeast, and in a dip of the plain, hung an ominous dust cloud. Both hors.e.m.e.n read the sign at a glance.