Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-10-10
sTAMPEpEp ON THE PLAINS.
A wild Race In the Darkness with = Herd
of LOO Erenx;ed Cattle.

had gotten together 1900 head Of the
finest steers to be found on the hanks of
the muddy Pecos, in New Mexico. Two
days later the "boss" rode into camp,
consulted with his foreman, and eight
men, including the writer, were chosen
to drive the snorting, believing herd to
Springer, N. NJ, a distance of $50
miles.
The evening Of the sixth day was
cloudy and cool, and indications Of On
approaching storm were visible.
Have ter watch 'em putty close to-
night, boys," said our foreman. Looks
like we're goin' ter have some rain"
The writer was on first guard. The
cattle were restless, showing decided
disposition to run, and instead of walk
ing our horses around the herd we were
compelled to travel at sharp trot.
Daylight faded out and pitchy darkness
succeeded. The cattle were indistin-
guishable at a dozen PAGES, and FREE
quently we were compelled to pull up
short to avoid colliding with steer
or with each other. This continued
until the arrival Of the second guard,
when the increased forces succeeded in
quieting them somewhat, and the writer
and his mate started for camp guided
by the light of the camp fire, which
shone like star on a little elevation
about mile away.
We had scarcely turned into our
blankets, fully dressed as usual, with
the exception of our boots, when the
rain commenced to fall, in drops at first,
but steadily increasing to downpour.
Blankets were drawn over heads and
grunts of displeasure were heard on
every side, when rumbling and shak-
ing of the ground was heard, mingled
with hoarse shouts.
"The're runding, by-!" yelled the
foreman, jumping from his blankets:
Mount! mount every one of you,'
running to his horse as he spoke, which
was picketed short distance away.
Not waiting to don boots, the writer
sprang to his horse, vaulted into the
saddle and tore of after the foreman,
the Pickering light of the camp fire,
fast being extinguished by the rain, re-
vealing the remaining men hurriedly
preparing to follow.
Guided by the thunder of hoofs the
herd was soon overtaken, and, in obedi-
ence to the foreman's yells, l strove to
"get in front of 'em." I could family
discern in the darkness a line of below
ing, snorting beasts, and, urging "Nig-
ger Baby" to his utmost. reached the
end of the line and there found two OF
the boys galloping in the lead, shouting
and waving their oil coats or sslickers"
and trying to stop the headlong fight.
The confusion of the scene was indie
scribable. The terrified shorts of the
cattle were almost drowned by the clash
ing of horns, thunder of the hoofs, and
shouts of the men. Ny oilcoat was
strapped to my saddle, not having hal
time to unfasten it. tore at the leather
straps, succeeded in loosening them
and turning in my saddle, shook it be-
fore the leaders, adding my shouts t.
the din around me.
As we'll to try to stop the torrent o
Niagara. The wild race was unslack
ened, and from traditions, l knew tina
misstep of my horse sufficient to throw
me, or his fall meant that would b.
cut to pieces by the sharp hoofs of tn
cattle.
| Then an unexpected event occurred
Of which I was the sole leader of, whil'
the otLe- portion galloped off at RICH
! angles, lei by my two companions. Fo
few mint cs could hear their shouts
then they glev fainter and fainter, ant
were finally loss in The gallop of hoof
around me.
On we Numbered. My throat wa
raw and swollen fro., shouting, and my
"slicker" had fallen fl, m my hand. Thu
rain had ceased, but Mas wet to the
skin and numbed by the cool air. ]
thought the sound of hoofs was not &c
deafening, and as the clouds blew away
SO that I could see few yards in front
of me, I found that / was leading about
dozen steers that had become separ.
ated from the herd. I had just made
this discovery when they slackened
speed and finally stopped, painting and
quivering, all the run knocked ont OF
them. OF what use was handful oil
steers out of 100? Riding off few
yards I listened, but could hear nc
sound of my companions. Becoming
conscious of severe pain in my LET,
foot I reached down aud found that /
was literally pincushioned with the
sharp needles Of a cactus, having ridden
through bed of the pricky stuff, my
foot unprotected by boots.
In the excitement of the run I had not
felt it, but now the pain was intense.
-plucked such as could and then de-
liberated what was best to do. My lone
dozen steers had wandered away and
made no effort to overtake them, know
ing the uselessness of the undertaking.
Here was a predicament. In the
middle of the prairie, shoeless and
shivering with cold, not knowing in
what direction to go to reach camp and
my horse blown with his fearful run.
Knowing the instinct of horses I dropped
the bridal reins and suffered him to GO
where he would.
He promptly wheeled around and
started off on slow trot, which he kept
up for about fifteen minutes. I knew
We were camped on the bank of the
river, and supposed that he would &C
in that direction, but wishing to test
his instinct, I turned him from his
chosen course, and to my dismay he
complied and started off in the new
direction just as willingly. I tested