The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1881-06-22

tam COWBOYS, remarked ben fleyWoous
a Utah cattle dealer, TO q Chronicle re-
porter.
''Why sop inquired the reporter.
because" replied Haywood. there
IA no circumstance under which a cow
hoy will not sleep If not physically mo-
lested. In the midst Of q mountain
storm, when the crashing thunder
ONES simultaneously with the glaring
sheets of lightning. the cowboy sleeps
peacefully; in a dry creek bed. with his
mead down grade. he slumbers sweetly;
IN view of tarantulas. rattlesnakes and
centipedes for bedfellows. he closes his
eyes and dreams of n heaven Of unlim-
ted plug tobacco and unslinted sleep.
iibriel' 8 trumpet would indeed sound
n vain when the time came TO check of
a drove Of cowboys. Last spring / was
Irving 1000 head of cattle over the
Rocky mountains by the South Wyom-
ing Pass. and n 'run'-the terror of cat
ID drivers took place under circum-
tances which showed just how sound is
the sleep of a cowboy. / had fifteen
boys-a boy with the cow prefix
nay mean a ~40-year-old man-with me.
I takes nearly that many TO start a
iroyc of 1000 cattle, though a half
lozcn boys can take care of the drove
after the first week on the road. BY
that time tho cattle know what is ex-
pectcd Of them and give us very little
trouble.
well. we were camped night on
the very summit of the mountains. The
aleeping ground for the stock was in a
little five-acre patch of grass. All
around was sage brush and rocks of
volcanic formation. You understand
that after cattle are quietly settled at
night on good sleeping ground three or
four men slowly ride In q circle round
them. This is done by relays of mon
In Watches the watch being changed
ut midnight. / have many a time seen
n cowboy on a broncho. riding round
and round a drove fast asleep in his sad
die. On the night in question l hap
peDed to be standing the first watch
myself. and had only two boys with me.
The night was overcast and dark. the
few stars which shone between the riffs
of driving clouds just serving to outline
The mass of sleeping cattle. The air
seemed surcharged with electricity, and
though there had been no lightning, it
was Just such a night in which runs al
ways. occur. 1 have heard no end of
scientific and practical explanation of
runs or stampedes-generally by men
who never saw one in their lives. 1t is
we'll enough to say that something
frightens them. If you know nothing
about it and want to explain it; but
that don't explain it, no way.
"They say hat u coyote, or some.
other providing beast, frightens one of q
drove and that one infects the others
with panic and the stampede begins.
| Well, it amt so. II you have a drove
Of 1000 or 10000 the panic affects ev-
nry one of them at exactly the Same
instant. 1t is something harder to ac-
count for than by q providing coyote,
and because a run never occurs except
On such a night as 1 have described. /
leave it to those who know all about
| The atmospheric influences and such, to
Tell just what it is. Any way, / was a lit.
| Ito uneasy that night, for one of the two
boys on watch with mo was only a ten
ierfoot; you understand A man new
10 the business and fresh from the East.
It was nearly II o'clock, and / had Just
| urned my horses head towards camp,
which was about fifty yards in the rear
IF the sleeping ground, TO make up the
relief watch, when the run commenced.
Every one of that drove of 1000 was on
is feet like q flash, and at exactly tho
tame instant. With q rush like o whirl-
wind which levels q forest, they were
of in the darkness, the strong and
heavy ones in the lead, of course. Tho
rattling of horns and the laundering Of
hoofs wa deafening. The effect it has
pn the person who experiences it for the
first time was shown by the action Of
the tcnderfoot.
.He turned his horses tail toward the
stampede. buried his spurs in his bron-
cho's flank, and never stopped until he
was out of hearing. He was crazier
with fright than tho widest steer in the
drove. Well, seeing $50, 900 worth OF
stock running away from me, and hay
ing had thirteen years experience, l
naturally acted different. BY the spec
trail starlight l could see the cattle out
lined as y black. rushing, Gathering.
laundering stream. rushing wildly, and
Mt each instant becoming wilder, over
rocks and a stretch of sage-brush. My
horse was trained in the business and
knew what was the trouble rs well. and
Just as soon, too, as | did. l did not
have TO guide him. ! followed along
by the side of the stampede, and soon
overlook tho leaders. 1t don't do to
try and turn "A run Toe quick. l kept by
the side Of the leaders aud quar,crinS
on them. striking their ilmnks and push
ing gradually against them on the lei.
slowly turned the leaders slightly 10 tho
right. II that can DO done, il is only n
matter of time before the line of cate
will mill itself. ! The leaders only need
be turned, the rest all blindly follow.
BY constantly keeping them turned TO
tho right, the leaders were swung clear
around finally, and overlook the fag-
end of the line.
There they were, running around in
u circle. the center of which soon closed
up aud they were milling; that Is, they
had formed n solid wheel and kept GO
ing round themselves in the same space
of ground. / tell you that cowboy and
myself did some tall riding round that
'milP to keep the outside stock from fly
ing off at q tangent, as they will do
sometimes. Little by little they slowed
down. and rs 500 as we could make
our voices heard we quoted them by
singing and talking to them. There is
nothing which will bring n crazy steer
to his senses as quick as the sound Of a
human voice, and II you can only sing
n little you ear do tho work all the
quicker. The clashing and cracking Of
horns and the pounding Of hoofs grew
less and less deafening; one after AL
other would recognize our voices and
slow down, until finally. almost as sud-