Arizona Nights

DR

the desert. I raised myself on my elbow, throwing aside the blankets and the canvas tarpaulin. Forty other indistinct, formless bundles on the ground all about me wer

," he growled. "Might as well trade my

threw down their tin plates with a clatter, mounted horses and rode a

cold. In the east the sky had paled the least bit in the world, but the moon and stars shone on bravely and undiminished. A band o

ood guard at either end. We picked us each a tin cup and a tin plate from the box at the rear of the chuck wagon; helped ourselves from a dutch oven, a pail, and a coffee pot, and squatt

the adobe of the ranch houses, and the corrals. The cowboys arose one by one, dropped their plates into the dishpan, and began to hunt out their ropes. Everything was obscure and mysterious in the faint grey light. I watched Windy Bill near hi

uda came into view, trotting forward with the free grace of the unburdened horse. Others followed in procession: those near sharp and well defined, those in the background more or less obscured by the dust, n

hoice, and, his loop trailing, was walking toward that part of the revolving circumference where his pony dodged. Some few whirled the loop, but most cast it with a quick flip. It was really marvellous to observe the accuracy with which the noose would fly, past a dozen tossing heads, and over a dozen backs, to s

g, the flashing change of grouping, the rush of the charging animals, recognition alone would seem almost impossible, yet in an incredibly short time each had his mount, and the others, under convoy of the wranglers, were meekly

s to break in to the cow business. Therefore, each morning we could observe a half dozen or so men gingerly leading wicked looking little animals out to

e!" someone woul

in't goin' to make him", the Jud

ery hard bucker, and made some really spectacular jumps, but the trick on which he based his claims to originality consisted in standing on his hind legs at so perilous an approach to the perpendicular that his rider would conclude he was about

se don't think!" ex

had had his little fling. We mounted and rode away, just as the mountain peaks t

Brown Jug was a powerful and well-built animal, about fourteen two in height, and p

rive the mesquite in the wide flats. The rest of us, under the command of Homer, the round-up captain, were to sweep t

k-jumped through and over little gullies, barrancas, and other sorts of malpais-but always without drawing rein. The men rode easily, with no thought to the way nor care for the footing. The air came back sharp against our faces. The warm blood stirred by the rush flowed more rap

ain. Later we looked back and would have sworn them part of the Dos Cabesas system, did we not know them to be at least eight miles' distant from that rocky rampart. It is always that way in Arizona. Spaces develop of whose existence you had not the slightest in

s the centre. The country was pleasantly rolling and covered with grass. Here and there were clumps of soapweed. Far in a remote distance lay a slender dark line across the plain. This we knew to be mesquite

land, flower land, desert. Each in turn seemed entirel

ide directly back to camp, driving all cattle before him. Each was in sight of his right- and

honour, and required the hardest riding, for as soon as the cattle should realise the fact of their pursuit, they would att

d of them caught sight of any one of us, they curled their tails and away they went at a long, easy lope that a domestic cow would stare at in wonder. This was all very well; in fact we yelled and shrieked and otherwise uttered cow-calls to keep them going, to "get the cattle started," as they say. But prett

fairly "belly to earth." The rider sat slightly forward, with the cowboy's loose seat. A whirl of dust, strangely insignificant against the immensity of a desert morning, rose from the flying group. Now they disappeared in a ravine, only to scramble out again the

lunges, doubled like a shot, and was off on the other tack. An unaccustomed rider would here have lost his seat. The second dash was short. With a final shake

h a smooth, swift onward motion. As yet the herd had not taken form; it was still too widely scattered. Its units, in the shape of smal

became even smaller as it departed in pursuit. The Cattleman moved down to cover Homer's territory until he should return-and I in turn edged farther to the right. Then another

ance left open by unforeseen circumstance, I descended and took in on my cinch while yet there was time. Even as I mo

d turn us from the straight line, nothing check the headlong momentum of our rush. My eyes filled with tears from the wind of our going. Saddle strings streamed behind. Brown Jug's mane whipped my bridle band. Dimly I was conscious of soapweed, sacatone, mesquite, as we passed them. They were abreast and gone before I could think of them or how they were to

t their obstinacy took possession of us both. A broad shallow wash crossed our way, but we plunged through its rocks and boulders recklessly, a

pitous gully, the edge of which was so cunningly concealed by the grasses as to have remained invisible to my blurred vision. Brown

scrambling down and across. Brown Jug and I, at more sober pace,

necessity of any suggestion on my part Brown Jug turned after t

ough to start them well in the proper direction, and th

h in the direction of Mount Graham. A hard run set them to rights. We turned. More had poured ou

aged to hold the line unbroken. Never shall I forget the dash and clatter of that morning. Neither Brown Jug nor I thought for a moment of sparing horseflesh, nor of picking a route. We made the shortest line, and paid little attention to anything that stood in the way. A very fever of resistance possessed us. It was like b

e left her; for when a cow has sense enough to "get on the peck," there is no driving her farther. We gained nothing, and had to give ground, but we succeeded in holding a semblance of order, so that the cattle did not break and scatter far

as soon as they had joined a compact band of their fellows, their wildness left them and,

y cows, and the small calves. The difficulty now was to prevent them from lagging and dropping out. To that end we indulged in a great variety of th

ompared notes as to the brands they had seen. Our ponies shuffled along, resting, but always re

ther ranges. At greater or lesser distances we caught the dust, and made out dimly the masses of the other herds collected by our companions, and

ildings, windmills, and corrals we knew. Miniature horsemen could be seen galloping forward to the open white plain where the herd would be held. Then the me

ng and shouting ahead of the herd. Soon they succeeded in turning the leaders back. These threw into confusion those

the man next to me; "a