The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the Old Trail Days Page 4

  CHAPTER IV

  THE ATASCOSA

  For the next few days we paralleled the coast, except when forcedinland by various arms of the Laguna Madre. When about a week out fromthe Arroyo Colorado, we encountered the Salt Lagoon, which threw us atleast fifty miles in from the coast. Here we had our last view of saltwater, and the murmurings of the Gulf were heard no more. Our routenow led northward through what were then the two largest ranches inTexas, the "Running W" and Laurel Leaf, which sent more cattle up thetrail, bred in their own brand, than any other four ranches in theLone Star State. We were nearly a week passing through their ranges,and on reaching Santa Gertruda ranch learned that three trail herds,of over three thousand head each, had already started in these twobrands, while four more were to follow.

  So far we had been having splendid luck in securing water for theherd, once a day at least, and often twice and three times. Our herdwas becoming well trail-broken by this time, and for range cattle hadquieted down and were docile and easy to handle. Flood's years ofexperience on the trail made him a believer in the theory thatstampedes were generally due to negligence in not having the herd fullof grass and water on reaching the bed ground at night. Barringaccidents, which will happen, his view is the correct one, if care hasbeen used for the first few weeks in properly breaking the herd to thetrail. But though hunger and thirst are probably responsible for morestampedes than all other causes combined, it is the unexpected whichcannot be guarded against. A stampede is the natural result of fear,and at night or in an uncertain light, this timidity might be impartedto an entire herd by a flash of lightning or a peal of thunder, whilethe stumbling of a night horse, or the scent of some wild animal,would in a moment's time, from frightening a few head, so infect aherd as to throw them into the wildest panic. Amongst the thousands ofherds like ours which were driven over the trail during its briefexistence, none ever made the trip without encountering more or lesstrouble from runs. Frequently a herd became so spoiled in this mannerthat it grew into a mania with them, so that they would stampede onthe slightest provocation,--or no provocation at all.

  A few days after leaving Santa Gertruda Ranch, we crossed the NuecesRiver, which we followed up for several days, keeping in touch with itfor water for the herd. But the Nueces, after passing Oakville, makesan abrupt turn, doubling back to the southwest; and the Atascosa, oneof its tributaries, became our source of water supply. We werebeginning to feel a degree of overconfidence in the good behavior ofour herd, when one night during the third week out, an incidentoccurred in which they displayed their running qualities to ourcomplete satisfaction.

  It occurred during our guard, and about two o'clock in the morning.The night was an unusually dark one and the atmosphere was very humid.After we had been on guard possibly an hour, John Officer and I ridingin one direction on opposite sides of the herd, and The Rebel circlingin the opposite, Officer's horse suddenly struck a gopher burrow withhis front feet, and in a moment horse and rider were sprawling on theground. The accident happened but a few rods from the sleeping herd,which instantly came to their feet as one steer, and were off like aflash. I was riding my Nigger Boy, and as the cattle headed toward me,away from the cause of their fright, I had to use both quirt and rowelto keep clear of the onrush. Fortunately we had a clear country nearthe bed ground, and while the terrified cattle pressed me close, myhorse kept the lead. In the rumbling which ensued, all sounds weresubmerged by the general din; and I was only brought to theconsciousness that I was not alone by seeing several distinct flashesfrom six-shooters on my left, and, realizing that I also had a gun,fired several times in the air in reply. I was soon joined by Priestand Officer, the latter having lost no time in regaining his seat inthe saddle, and the three of us held together some little distance,for it would have been useless to attempt to check or turn thisonslaught of cattle in their first mad rush.

  The wagon was camped about two hundred yards from the bed ground, andthe herd had given ample warning to the boys asleep, so that if wethree could hold our position in the lead, help would come to us assoon as the men in camp could reach their horses. Realizing the widefront of the running cattle, Priest sent Officer to the left andmyself to the right, to point in the leaders in order to keep the herdfrom splitting or scattering, while he remained in the centre and ledthe herd. I soon gained the outside of the leaders, and by droppingback and coming up the line, pointed them in to the best of myability. I had repeated this a number of times, even quirting somecattle along the outside, or burning a little powder in the face ofsome obstinate leader, when across the herd and to the rear I saw asuccession of flashes like fireflies, which told me the boys werecoming to our assistance.

  Running is not a natural gait with cattle, and if we could only holdthem together and prevent splitting up, in time they would tire, whilethe rear cattle could be depended on to follow the leaders. All wecould hope to do was to force them to run straight, and in thisrespect we were succeeding splendidly, though to a certain extent itwas a guess in the dark. When they had run possibly a mile, I noticeda horseman overtake Priest. After they had ridden together a moment,one of them came over to my point, and the next minute our foreman wasracing along by my side. In his impatience to check the run, he tookme with him, and circling the leaders we reached the left point, bywhich time the remainder of the outfit had come up. Now massing ournumbers, we fell on the left point, and amid the flash of gunsdeflected their course for a few moments. A dozen men, however, cancover but a small space, and we soon realized that we had turned onlya few hundred head, for the momentum of the main body bore steadilyahead. Abandoning what few cattle we had turned, which, owing to theirrunning ability, soon resumed their places in the lead, we attemptedto turn them to the left. Stretching out our line until there was aman about every twenty feet, we threw our force against the rightpoint and lead in the hope of gradually deviating their course. For afew minutes the attempt promised to be successful, but our cordon wastoo weak and the cattle went through between the riders, and we soonfound a portion of our forces on either side of the herd, while a fewof the boys were riding out of the rush in the lead.

  On finding our forces thus divided, the five or six of us who remainedon the right contented ourselves by pointing in the leaders, for thecattle, so far as we could tell, were running compactly. Our foreman,however, was determined to turn the run, and after a few minutes' timerejoined us on the right, when under his leadership we circled thefront of the herd and collected on the left point, when, for a thirdtime, we repeated the same tactics in our efforts to turn thestampede. But in this, which was our final effort, we were attemptingto turn them slowly and on a much larger circle, and with a promise ofsuccess. Suddenly in the dark we encountered a mesquite thicket intowhich the lead cattle tore with a crashing of brush and a rattle ofhorns that sent a chill up and down my spine. But there was no time tohesitate, for our horses were in the thicket, and with the herdclosing in on us there was no alternative but to go through it, everyman for himself. I gave Nigger a free rein, shutting my eyes andclutching both cantle and pommel to hold my seat; the black respondedto the rowel and tore through the thicket, in places higher than myhead, and came out in an open space considerably in the lead of thecattle.

  This thicket must have been eight or ten rods wide, and checked therun to a slight extent; but as they emerged from it, they came out inscattering flies and resumed their running. Being alone, and notknowing which way to turn, I rode to the right and front and soonfound myself in the lead of quite a string of cattle. Nigger and Iwere piloting them where they listed, when Joe Stallings, hatlesshimself and his horse heaving, overtook me, and the two of us gavethose lead cattle all the trouble we knew how. But we did not attemptto turn them, for they had caught their wind in forcing the thicket,and were running an easy stroke. Several times we worried the leadersinto a trot, but as other cattle in the rear came up, we werecompelled to loosen out and allow them to resume their running, orthey would have scattered on us like partridges. At this s
tage of therun, we had no idea where the rest of the outfit were, but both of uswere satisfied the herd had scattered on leaving the mesquite thicket,and were possibly then running in half a dozen bunches like the one wewere with.

  Stallings's horse was badly winded, and on my suggestion, he droppedout on one side to try to get some idea how many cattle we wereleading. He was gone some little time, and as Nigger cantered alongeasily in the lead, I managed to eject the shells from my six-shooterand refill the cylinder. On Joe's overtaking me again, he reportedthat there was a slender column of cattle, half a mile in length,following. As one man could easily lead this string of the herd untildaybreak, I left Stallings with them and rode out to the left nearly aquarter of a mile, listening to hear if there were any cattle runningto the left of those we were leading. It took me but a few minutes tosatisfy myself that ours was the outside band on the left, and after Irejoined Joe, we made an effort to check our holding.

  There were about fifty or sixty big steers in the lead of our bunch,and after worrying them into a trot, we opened in their front with oursix-shooters, shooting into the ground in their very faces, and wererewarded by having them turn tail and head the other way. Takingadvantage of the moment, we jumped our horses on the retreatingleaders, and as fast as the rear cattle forged forward, easily turnedthem. Leaving Joe to turn the rear as they came up, I rode to thelead, unfastening my slicker as I went, and on reaching the turnedleaders, who were running on an angle from their former course,flaunted my "fish" in their faces until they reentered the rear guardof our string, and we soon had a mill going which kept them busy, andrested our horses. Once we had them milling, our trouble, as far asrunning was concerned, was over, for all two of us could hope to dowas to let them exhaust themselves in this endless circle.

  It then lacked an hour of daybreak, and all we could do was to ridearound and wait for daylight. In the darkness preceding dawn, we hadno idea of the number of our bunch, except as we could judge from thesize and compactness of the milling cattle, which must have covered anacre or more. The humidity of the atmosphere, which had prevailedduring the night, by dawn had changed until a heavy fog, cutting offour view on every hand, left us as much at sea as we had beenpreviously. But with the break of day we rode through our holding anumber of times, splitting and scattering the milling cattle, and asthe light of day brightened, we saw them quiet down and go to grazingas though they had just arisen from the bed ground. It was over anhour before the fog lifted sufficiently to give us any idea as to ourwhereabouts, and during the interim both Stallings and myself rode tothe nearest elevation, firing a number of shots in the hope of gettingan answer from the outfit, but we had no response.

  When the sun was sufficiently high to scatter the mists which hung inclouds, there was not an object in sight by which we could determineour location. Whether we had run east, west, or south during the nightneither of us knew, though both Stallings and myself were satisfiedthat we had never crossed the trail, and all we did know for acertainty was that we had between six and seven hundred head ofcattle. Stallings had lost his hat, and I had one sleeve missing andboth outside pockets torn out of my coat, while the mesquite thornshad left their marks on the faces of both of us, one particularly uglycut marking Joe's right temple. "I've worn leggins for the last tenyears," said Stallings to me, as we took an inventory of ourdisfigurements, "and for about ten seconds in forcing that mesquitethicket was the only time I ever drew interest on my investment.They're a heap like a six-shooter--wear them all your life and neverhave any use for them."

  With a cigarette for breakfast, I left Joe to look after our bunch,and after riding several miles to the right, cut the trail of quite aband of cattle. In following up this trail I could easily see thatsome one was in their lead, as they failed to hold their course in anyone direction for any distance, as free cattle would. After followingthis trail about three miles, I sighted the band of cattle, and onovertaking them, found two of our boys holding about half as many asStallings had. They reported that The Rebel and Bob Blades had beenwith them until daybreak, but having the freshest horses had left themwith the dawn and ridden away to the right, where it was supposed themain body of the herd had run. As Stallings's bunch was some three orfour miles to the rear and left of this band, Wyatt Roundtreesuggested that he go and pilot in Joe's cattle, as he felt positivethat the main body were somewhere to our right. On getting directionsfrom me as to where he would find our holding, he rode away, and Iagain rode off to the right, leaving Rod Wheat with their catch.

  The sun was now several hours high, and as my black's strength wasstanding the test bravely, I cross-cut the country and was soon onanother trail of our stampeded cattle. But in following this trail, Isoon noticed two other horsemen preceding me. Knowing that my serviceswould be too late, I only followed far enough to satisfy myself of thefact. The signs left by the running cattle were as easy to follow as apublic road, and in places where the ground was sandy, the sod was cutup as if a regiment of cavalry had charged across it. On again bearingoff to the right, I rode for an elevation which ought to give me agood view of the country. Slight as this elevation was, on reachingit, I made out a large band of cattle under herd, and as I was on thepoint of riding to them, saw our wagon and saddle horses heave insight from a northwest quarter. Supposing they were following up thelargest trail, I rode for the herd, where Flood and two of the boyshad about twelve hundred cattle. From a comparison of notes, ourforeman was able to account for all the men with the exception of two,and as these proved to be Blades and Priest, I could give him asatisfactory explanation as to their probable whereabouts. On myreport of having sighted the wagon and _remuda_, Flood at once orderedme to meet and hurry them in, as not only he, but Strayhorn andOfficer, were badly in need of a change of mounts.

  I learned from McCann, who was doing the trailing from the wagon, thatthe regular trail was to the west, the herd having crossed it within aquarter of a mile after leaving the bed ground. Joining Honeyman, Itook the first horse which came within reach of my rope, and with afresh mount under me, we rushed the saddle horses past the wagon andshortly came up with our foreman. There we rounded in the horses asbest we could without the aid of the wagon, and before McCann arrived,all had fresh mounts and were ready for orders. This was my first tripon the trail, and I was hungry and thirsty enough to hope somethingwould be said about eating, but that seemed to be the last idea in ourforeman's mind. Instead, he ordered me to take the two other boys withme, and after putting them on the trail of the bunch which The Rebeland Blades were following, to drift in what cattle we had held on ourleft. But as we went, we managed to encounter the wagon and get adrink and a canteen of water from McCann before we galloped away onour mission. After riding a mile or so together, we separated, and onmy arrival at the nearest bunch, I found Roundtree and Stallingscoming up with the larger holding. Throwing the two hunches together,we drifted them a free clip towards camp. We soon sighted the mainherd, and saw across to our right and about five miles distant two ofour men bringing in another hunch. As soon as we turned our cattleinto the herd, Flood ordered me, on account of my light weight, tomeet this bunch, find out where the last cattle were, and go to theirassistance.

  With a hungry look in the direction of our wagon, I obeyed, and onmeeting Durham and Borrowstone, learned that the outside bunch on theright, which had got into the regular trail, had not been checkeduntil daybreak. All they knew about their location was that the upstage from Oakville had seen two men with Circle Dot cattle about fivemiles below, and had sent up word by the driver that they hadsomething like four hundred head. With this meagre information, I rodeaway in the direction where one would naturally expect to find ourabsent men, and after scouring the country for an hour, sighted asingle horseman on an elevation, whom from the gray mount I knew forQuince Forrest. He was evidently on the lookout for some one to pilotthem in. They had been drifting like lost sheep ever since dawn, butwe soon had their cattle pointed in the right direction, and Forresttaking the lead, Q
uarternight and I put the necessary push behindthem. Both of them cursed me roundly for not bringing them a canteenof water, though they were well aware that in an emergency like thepresent, our foreman would never give a thought to anything but therecovery of the herd. Our comfort was nothing; men were cheap, butcattle cost money.

  We reached the camp about two o'clock, and found the outfit cuttingout range cattle which had been absorbed into the herd during the run.Throwing in our contingent, we joined in the work, and though Forrestand Quarternight were as good as afoot, there were no orders for achange of mounts, to say nothing of food and drink. Several hundredmixed cattle were in the herd, and after they had been cut out, welined our cattle out for a count. In the absence of Priest, Flood andJohn Officer did the counting, and as the hour of the day made thecattle sluggish, they lined through between the counters as thoughthey had never done anything but walk in their lives. The count showedsixteen short of twenty-eight hundred, which left us yet over threehundred out. But good men were on their trail, and leaving two men onherd, the rest of us obeyed the most welcome orders of the day whenFlood intimated that we would "eat a bite and go after the rest."

  As we had been in our saddles since one or two o'clock the morningbefore, it is needless to add that our appetites were equal to thespread which our cook had waiting for us. Our foreman, as thoughfearful of the loss of a moment's time, sent Honeyman to rustle in thehorses before we had finished our dinners. Once the _remuda_ wascorralled, under the rush of a tireless foreman, dinner was quicklyover, and fresh horses became the order of the moment. The Atascosa,our nearest water, lay beyond the regular trail to the west, andleaving orders for the outfit to drift the herd into it and water,Flood and myself started in search of our absent men, not forgettingto take along two extra horses as a remount for Blades and Priest. Theleading of these extra horses fell to me, but with the loose end of arope in Jim Flood's hand as he followed, it took fast riding to keepclear of them.

  After reaching the trail of the missing cattle, our foreman set a pacefor five or six miles which would have carried us across the Nueces bynightfall, and we were only checked by Moss Strayhorn riding in on anangle and intercepting us in our headlong gait. The missing cattlewere within a mile of us to the right, and we turned and rode to them.Strayhorn explained to us that the cattle had struck some recentfencing on their course, and after following down the fence severalmiles had encountered an offset, and the angle had held the squaduntil The Rebel and Blades overtook them. When Officer and he reachedthem, they were unable to make any accurate count, because of therange cattle amongst them, and they had considered it advisable tosave horseflesh, and not cut them until more help was available. Whenwe came up with the cattle, my bunkie and Blades looked wistfully atour saddles, and anticipating their want, I untied my slicker, wellremembering the reproof of Quarternight and Forrest, and produced afull canteen of water,--warm of course, but no less welcome.

  No sooner were saddles shifted than we held up the bunch, cut out therange cattle, counted, and found we had some three hundred and thirtyodd Circle Dots,--our number more than complete. With nothing nowmissing, Flood took the loose horses and two of the boys with him andreturned to the herd, leaving three of us behind to bring in this lastcontingent of our stampeded cattle. This squad were nearly all largesteers, and had run fully twenty miles, before, thanks to an angle ina fence, they had been checked. As our foreman galloped away, leavingus behind, Bob Blades said,--

  "Hasn't the boss got a wiggle on himself today! If he'd made this oldworld, he'd have made it in half a day, and gone fishing in theafternoon--if his horses had held out."

  We reached the Atascosa shortly after the arrival of the herd, andafter holding the cattle on the water for an hour, grazed them theremainder of the evening, for if there was any virtue in their havingfull stomachs, we wanted to benefit from it. While grazing thatevening, we recrossed the trail on an angle, and camped in the mostopen country we could find, about ten miles below our camp of thenight before. Every precaution was taken to prevent a repetition ofthe run; our best horses were chosen for night duty, as our regularones were too exhausted; every advantage of elevation for a bed groundwas secured, and thus fortified against accident, we went into campfor the night. But the expected never happens on the trail, and thesun arose the next morning over our herd grazing in peace andcontentment on the flowery prairies which border on the Atascosa.