Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-07-31

Lnc scene BECOMES interesting. SIuC1lcS
are tightened carefully, for a tumble in
the midst of the herd means death, and
then the boss and his men force their
| way into the uneasy mass OF hide and
horns. The well-trained horses move
| at slow walk, and the vaquero's eyes
| closely scan every animal that comes
| within their range OF vision. Their
masters brand is detected on the hip,
flank or shoulder, or an ear-mark or
dew-lap is seen that seems familiar.
Two men range themselves on either
| side of the wearer, and the animal is
gently worked out of the drove and into
The open. The men who are keeping
the mass intact open small passage,
| and the animal breaks for the plains
and breakfast. If the owner is simply
branding the additions to his stock, and
the parted OUT animal is bull, or
steer, or caltless COW. be. she, or it. as
the case may be-, will be allowed to 90
| as instinct dictates, and return to the
favorite haunts from which it was
gathered the previous day. If the
owner is selling cattle tit for the mar
ket the animal, if meeting the require
ments of the purchaser as previously
| expressed to the ma or-domc, is picked
| up by one of the waiting vaqueros and
| run off to a distance of from half to
| three-quarters of a mile, and there
guarded, with subsequent additions, I'M
til the parting-Out process Is completed.
If a COW with calf, two men take them
in tow and drive them to where tae
camp fire has been famed into a fierce
blaze. The COW is separated from her
offspring, the little creature ehdeavors
TO re, ON her beng rudcly checked by a
cast of the RATA, and in a moment the
men at the fire have the young unfor-
tuna.o secured by the weight of their
bodies. In a moment the red-hot iron
imprints the letter or device known as
the owners brand deep into the ten
der hide, the equally sharp knife has
inflicted ''cross crop" 4" half-moon,"
upper Bit in the young ears. or Pc
cullarly constructed "dewlap'' in the
thick skin of the throat, and the singed,
mutilated little wretch joins its mother
Perhaps II the mother catches sight OF
the damage that has been done her
darling she does not wait to be Joined,
but proceeds to do the act herself; then
if she manifests desire to create IN
pleasant trouble about the fire, the
RATA of the hOrseman must be brought
into play. A cast over one of her hind
legs, a turn around the horn of the sad
die. and the COW does not live who is
capable of inllicting any serious injury
upon any one. especially when the raw
hide rope is manipulated by an expert
on n horse trained to his business.
The parting out is accomplished with
marvellous quickness, considering the
difficult nature of the work, and if
branding is all that is desired the i'm
mense herd is soon distributed over the
plains again. If the owners, or any ct
them, have lsales made, their stock is
kept in hand by their men and taken
care of in the vicinity of good grass and
water until the rodeos are completed.
The next day another tract of land is
covered, and so on until every owner
has gone over the ground or ranges of
his stock. These were the general ro-
deos, and We're held annually. Other
rOdeOs were being made constantly by
owners who have sold out their brands
or bought others, or who desire to make
drive to the market, but they were
small affairs compared with the general
round-ups. While these were going on
there was little time for sport, but when
the drove was completed and the line of
march taken up for the market the cow
boys began to enjoy themselves. The
commonest and widest sport was coy
ote-hunting, INDUCED n something after
the manner of pool-fishing. Oltentimes
the stakes were one dollar a
corner, the understanding being
that on sighting one of these scavengers
OF the plains every man who could
leave the herd should take after him.
and continue the chase until the disrep-
utable beast should be brought down
by RATA or revolver, or irretrievably es-
capped. The coyote is not pet with
p,ainsmen. on account of an irrepres-
sib'e tendency to steal and chew up ev-
erything about camp, from a saddle
to choice haun III of beef 'Conse-
quently, when one of the lean. hungry
beasts crops ND. and begins to make
himself like long, skeletonic brown
streak on the grass, half the vaqueros
are in immediate pursuit, their yells, the
merry crack Of their revolvers, and the
swish of their lassoes form a scene for a
border drama that could not be well
be put upon the stage. The coyote is q
powerfully swift brute, but stands little
chance against the hardy mustangs used
in stock-hunting. and some lucky spur
wearer is tolerably sure to bring him
down in a two or three mile chase. If
he does it with his RATA, the unfortun-
ate scavenger is dragged down, and, if
time is not pressing. the branding-iron
is heated, and, in a spirit of facetious-
ness. his ears are cropped off and the
brand of the-owner of the stock is APP
piled to his hide. If a pistol-bullet does
the work, his scalp is lifted; but in either
event the captor collects one dollar from
each of his confreres in the chase.
Other sports are DELAYED until Sun
day morning. when the stock is allowed
to rest Then all sorts of feats of horse
manship are INDUCED in for small
stakes. A favorite pastime is to saddle
half-brOken mustang, and, after in
serting a half dollar in each stirrup,
some expert rider will mount and back
himself to keep the coins there for five
or ten minutes, the horse being melted
meanwhile to do his worst by way OF
rearing, backing and jumping. Feats
with the RATA, or lasso. are also anus
ing. The skill of these nOmads with
the rawhide rope is wonderful. At a
distance of forty feet an expert is un-
erring in getting his rope over the neck
of any animal, and many of them will
reach sixty feet. At half that distance
the rope will single out any leg of
steer running at full speed and throw
him down in trice. The rope once
fast, the work of the horse comes into
play. With the Tightening of the