West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1906-11-29

ing. though he was old for this kind
OF work. lie condemned the sheepmen
with foul mouthed d-enunclations, seor-
ell at their range rights. said the sheep
question should be dealt with in tho
buslnesslike n I'm which the In
dian question had been settled.
lie was nm advocate OF Violence-in
short. u staggering. bombastic wind
bag. He talked much OF his OUTFIT"
and his men" what was good
enough for them was good enough for
him." he would at meal
time. In n ~sniyeling tone. when the
food happened TO be particularly bad.
He split the temporary OUTFIT, brought
together for the purpose Of handling
the beef herd. into factions. lie put
the INK I'm worse repute than IL al
ready enjoyed-he was, in fact, the
dlscordant spirit Of the expedition. The
mon attended to their work sullenly.
Dlscord was rife. The one thought
they shared In common was that OF the
wages that would come TO them at the
end OF the drive: OF tho feverIsh 10y Of
blowing In" In n single night; per-
chance OF forgetting In one long riotous
evening the monotony. the hardship,
the lack OF comradery that made this
particular drive one long to be remem
bered In the mind OF every man who
had taken part In II.
Meanwhile the herd traIled It's half
mile length to the slaughterlng pens
day after day. all unconscious of it's
power. When the steers had traIled
for about a fortnight the question Of
n1tnO aNtNlnloWk $50. - - =
gan to be n serious n The preceding
winter had been unusually mild, the
snowfall on the mountains averaging
less than In the recollection OF the old
Est plainsman. Summer had begun
early and waxed hot and dry. The
earth began to wrinkle and cracked
Into trenches, like gaping mouths,
thirsty for the water that came not.
Such streams as had not dried shrank
and crawled among the willows like
Shiny things. that the herd, thirsty
though IL was from the long drives,
had to DO coaxed to drink from.
Discomfort grew. The acting fore
man, who was a XXX man and n
comparative stranger to that part Of
the country, refused 20 consult with
the W-squaro men In the outfit, who
knew every inch Of the ground. The
acting foreman thought the Wetmore
men looked down on him. put on dog"
and. to 1aunt his authority, he ordered
the herd driven due west instead Of
skirting to the north by the longer
route, where they would have had the
advantage of drinking at several creeks
before crossing Green river. More
over. the acting foreman was drinking
hard and he insisted upon his order In
spite of h Wetmore mems protesta-
tons.
The character OF the country began
TO change: the soil took on the color OF
blood; even the omnipresent sagebrush
began to fall the landscape; sun bleach
ed bones glistened on the red soil,
white as ulcers; all the animal trails
led back from the country into which
they were proceeding: the sky, a vivid,
cloudless blue, paled as IL dipped earth
ward; there was no sign of life In all
the land; even the grasshoppers had
left 1t to the sun, the silence and the
desolation. Above the angry below OF
the thirsty herd the men strained their
ears again and again for this familiar
oun OF life, but there was nothing
but b believing of the cattle, the
trampling OF their hoofs and sometimes
the long, squeallng whlnny OF n horse
as he threw back his head I'm seeming
demand to know the justice Of this
thing.