The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1885-01-27

out from the drove, and started then
up the valley; but l hope that l may
be pardoned for the strength Of my
simile in saying that it was like try
ing TO drive so many streaks of light
ming! L never saw such active,
mercurial. declusive little beggars al
those calves-some of them not yet q
month old! They were as spry as
squarrels, as light legged as deer, and
as slippery as cells.
They would gallop awkwardly on
ahead of us for a few yards, till one
would get the idea into his little pate
that he was too far from bis beloved
mamma, when he would wheel as il on
a pivot, and with a plaintive
"ya-a-a-a-p~ scud back like rabbit.
Then away the rest would 60, zig
tagging and twisting here and there,
worse than jack-snipe on a windy
day. If you were ahead of there and
tried to cut them of, they would bolt
and dodge like a hare before the
hounds. But if you were behind, or
at the side, and rode at them to turn
them, they wouldn't turn a bit, but
keep straight on. A steer would sheer
off if you come laundering down on his
flank and he sees that there is danger
of a collision bnt these little racers
would scud right along, head and tail
up, and if you didn't hold up, you'd
catch a somersault over them.
The Judge, MT suspecting the ex-
istence of such idiotic perversity,
fairly rode down the first one he at
tempted to overhaul, and calf, horse
and rider tumbled together in the
dirt. The calf was up and a hum
dred yards away before the judge re-
gained his seat, and it cost him 8
scamper of a mile before he could
turn it.
At last, however, after infinite
trouble, We succeeded in penning
three of the calves, and left them to
be hunted up by their mothers. These
latter We found when We got up the
next morning, vainly trying to reach
their imprisoned offspring through the
corral fence.
The next thing was to catch and
milk the anxious COWS. The trees in
the locality we're so close together
that we could not use a lssso, and the
COWS, as if suspecting trap, would
not be driven into that part of the
corral which we had left for them.
Finally, my brother John took lar
at, and climbing tree, lay out on a
limb about twenty feet from the
ground. The rest of us on horseback,
then tried to drive the COWS under
the limb. Two soon took fright and
broke away through the woods, but a
third. beautiful black heifer, would
not leave her calf.
She was a very handsome animal,
Is slender as a deer, and her horns, a
yard from tip to tip, curved up and
,ut like Turkish scimitars. tapering
10 points as fine as a bayonet's.
She lodged us here and there like
4 will-o-the-wisp, now and then max
ing quick dash ut one of us, and
necessitating some abrupt movements
On our part, till, in one of her rushes,
The passed under the limb where John
,ay, and the lasso dropped deity from
above, brought her up plunging and
Getting a rope around one of her
mind feet, We stretched" her between
;wo trees, so that she was compare
lively helpless; and then John with
. camp-kettle, proceeded to do the
"Soh, boss sob !" he remarked to
1er soothingly, but "boss" wouldn't
'soh :" a mighty plunge, a writhe of
The body, "exterous fore-haHded
Kick from the free hind leg, and down
the came with a thump upon her side ;
while the camp-kettle few from Johns
hands and he dashed wildly around on
,ne leg, nursing the barked ankle of
The other. But in a minute she was
On her feet, and the same perform
snce, minus the barked ankle, was
gone through with again. Finally,
both legs of the cow were tied fast 1t
vas found, however, that even then
,he possessed the power to 'hold up"
her milk. We could get very little
from her. About pint was at last
procured.
Then another lariat was passed
around her horns. and with John at
one lariat. myself at the other, and
the judge acting as a drag behind, We
started to the corral, that the calf
might have its breakfast. We intend
ed to imprison her there for another
trial.