The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-06-26

WHOSE noses get as Keen rs reu-ueer q,
should suspect nothing till we had time
to see them first, and form our plans
for surrounding them.
Suddenly halt, and few hurried
words from old Jack, and we found our
selves within couple of hundred yards
of a mob, that had already heard us,
and were now all together in q close
ring with their heads up, waiting for
the boldest to begin his dash to the
scrub.
Now was our time. Sitting close to
our saddles, and examining our hats
on our heads, we darted at them in
single file, and, ringing them up as
close as we could jam them together,
set them galloping in a circle contrary
to our own, till the poor br,ttes were SO
confused that they did not know in
which way the scrub lay. Every now
and then one would charge headlong
out of the dense mass, but by the time
he had made up his mind which horse
man to attack, another would have ta-
ken his place, the superior speed of our
horses enabling us to keep the pace up
in a much larger circle than the cattle
could manage; and yet We almost
brushed their horns i'll our mad gallop,
and still kept circling on in the half.
light, looking neither to the right nor
left, but only intent on keeping our
circle unbroken.
know many exciting things in life
the first start from cover, with good
fox running straight, and Jealous field
all riding for start-the last few yards
of q long and weary stalk to royal
stag, when your hand trembles, and
hot and cold perspiration breaks out
all over you aiternately-the finish of a
well-rowed boat-race but 1 can conf
never tried it, the excitement that
slightest mistake If your horse would
your devoted head, while you still keep
galloping madly after a flying figure
whose hat, blown back off his head,
flaps and flaps in front of you, with his
head down, and himself sticking to the
saddle like wax, his little horse scatter
ing the black earth behind him and
by your side q moving panorama of
snorting heads and flashing eyes, with
n rattle of the long horns that would
instantly be down upon you if You al
lowed them moments breathing time.
But this cannot last the place is too
good, and Jacks wary eye has already
shown him that the cattle, for the pres
ent at all events, are his own. With
dexterous sweep he puts himself at the
head of the mob, and, without once
stopping to form line, we seem to fall
by instinct into our places, and by the
light of the moon, now rising in all its
glory, thunder across the plain towards
the coaches, looking like an army of
phantoms, as no one speaks, and no
sound is heard but t. steady gallop of
our game little horses, and the heavy
laborlng breath of our captiveS, that
ind the pace little too hot for them.
But they have not time to stop. Before
we can realise it we are upon the tame
cattle, which have been silently brought
as near to us as possible by the boys in
charge, and, shifting round the other
side, we await the charge of the new
comers, that often try to force their way
straight through the little herd, and
break away on the other side; but here
| the coaches themselves come to our as
SistaHce. Uneasy at being off their own
camp, and thoroughly ont Of temper
{
charge of the strangers gallantly, and,
with hoarse grumblings, close round
them, till, what with the cOnfucion of
their ideas, and their curiosity rs to
what has brought ali these other beasts
on their domain, they give it up as q
bad job, and in half an hours time are
IA mile or two from their own haunts,
and ready themselves to act as coaches
for fresh victims.
And now, having recovered our equa-
nimity, we scrutinize our captives, and
find ten fat bullocks among them-old
rascals that have lived with impunity
through life longer than is appointed
to bullock, and whose hides bear big
"a. t., the brand OF the previous own
er.
think I need not describe all the
expeditions we made that night-how
Scrub Bill" and his mate Tommy both
got falls in the treacherous melon holes,
and how, my girth breaking suddenly,
[ found myself sitting disconsolatelv on
the plain, with good pisskin saddle
between my legs, and the tail of old
"Schemer," that had carried me so well,
vanishing in the darkness, to the sound
of many trampling hoofs. Every raid
we made into the n emy's country was
successful, and We found ourselves
masters of some seventy or eighty
beasts, which we had now to steer to
the station.
Cattle-driving has a peculiar charm.
The old moss-troopers, whp used to
scour the border-country for cattle, as
they pricked along with their spears
good fat lot, belonging to some North
umbrian farmer. must have felt much
the same as we did, warily Watching our
hard-won charge although we indeed
had stock-whips instead of spears,
decided advantage in cattle-drivlng,
for it would take good long spear
to get within reach of an Australian
scrnbber.
All round us were troops of wild
mares and foals, in much the same state
as the cattle, in companies of twenty or
thirty together, each constituting the
harem OF some old horse, that would
allow them to approach within two hun
dred yards of lis, and then dancing in
between, with his long name and tail
flying in the wind, would round them
mp and drive them before him like a
flock OF sheep, stopping every now and
then to trot little nearer to us, and
snort, and strike the ground in defiance
of our steeds.
And now away in the distance we see
the dim shadowy line of the head-sta-
tion creek-trees, raised by the mirage
above the line of the true horizon, and