Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1904-04-11
DEL|lAH Of THE WEST.

60 o those whose knowledge Of eat
tle-driving Is founded upon the.
Bible and kindred lore. 1t may
seem mild aud patrlarchal kind Of
pursuit. old as the Cha ldeal,s. made re-
spectacle by Abraham himself But
ask concerning II of some California
rancher of the early days, whose vast
domains-Iarge as the independent
principality Of older and less prOdigal
lands-ay naked and unfenced The
description will he rather picturesque
than biblical
Now. the cattle driver was 4 placid
man. 1t was In the character Of his
life. He rode all day and many time
all night going rarely above the slow
est walk, sleeping In his saddle. en-
velOpetl in a cloud of acrd dust thrown
up from beneath the hoOfs Of his herd.
In the midst of Nature spread out for
ever and beyond. the sky above him.
the valleys and hills around hour after
hour he saw only vaguely the moving
mass ahead. and drew in through his
nostrils the breath of llfe to he sure
hut it was the life OF the hundreds of
creatures ahead and 1t was hardly
sweet-nOr was his existence itself.
He was an interlOper. even in that land
where order and law had not. as yet.
prevailed. The hand of every ranch
man was against him, and his hand
was against all ranchmen.
The characteristic Of the small boy.
who had rather play upon the poor
grass than upon the nicely graveled
walk--not because the grass is espp-
cially desirable but because the sign
says keep off, il strong in children
Of larger growth.
1t was strong in Clifton. He called
IT the struggle for existence. and ex-
planned to conscience trained In an
other and more lawabiding school that
cattle had to eat to live. and had to
live to be brought to their market,
wherever that might be; and that there
was not to be found by the edge Of the
road, in days slow journey. enough
grazing to keep fifty. let alone many
times a hundred head 1t was surely
not browsing steer which cOud
know at what tuft of grass to stop. 1t
was equally good to him whether it
was upon ranch or upon unclaimed
ground. SO long as there was TAO
barbed wire against which to run his
tender nose, he kept straying from the
path Of righteousness. and from the
states highway, cropping to the very
roots the grass OF the fertile soil. On
viOusly 1t was this which it was the
duty Of his driver to prevent. But the
driver not only did not prevent it--he
was very much inclined to consider any
trouble resulting therefrom Il good deal
in the light Of lark. and prevention
Of that mOnOtOny which otherwise
might have been unbrOken and unei-
durable. For he was wont to curse his
existence as like the road. forever
stretching ahead. unprofitablc, stale
aud fiat.
Clifton lOunged with one leg over his
saddle, his body rather upon his COW
pOny's side than back. lOnged for n
breath Of decent air, and watched the
spreading out over territory where it
had no right to be. TO whom the ter
ritOry might happen to belong was
neither here nor there The steers had
got to Craze Clifton was placid. even
for a cattle-drlver.
Therefore, when he heard the sound
of gallOping hoOfs behind him coming
along the road. he merely slid back
into his saddle to an agile Of somewhat
safer balance. and waited to see what
would emerge from out the all-enveI-
Oping thickness Of dust
When it proved to be a man of his
own race. but Of disposition more ex-
citab,e, his equanimity was in nOwise
disturbed. He responded to cha cter-
izatiOns of himself and his calling by
nothing more forcible than a gaze only
a tritie less bovine than that of one Of
his own steers. But behind it was
. curious scrutiny of a quality peculiarly
eXasperatlng. Having explained to Clit-
ton. with figures of speech, that his
herd was straying where 1t did not be-