The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1908-04-09

WAY on the other side of the
| ~ hero two cowboys had been
| lazily lying on the grass in the
| shade cast by the motionless
bodies of their ponies. They had been
keeping such Indifferent watch that
neither Of them had seen Miss Rem
wyck. 1t was the noon hour. The
morning shift had gone back to camp,
and the afternoon gang had not yet ar
rived, so there were only these men
watching the herd. The quiet had
made them relax their usual vigilance.
The instant they heard the first "bark''
from the steers they leaped to their
feet and sprang to saddle.
They're OFF, cried the taller of the
two as he drove his spurs into his
pony and took straight cut across the
prairie so as to head them off.
well get 'em millin' under the hills
all right!' shouted his companion as
they raced along.
A quarter of mile, however,
brought them in sight Of the woman.
The first man. who was little ahead,
pointed
| "Look yonder! he shouted.
"My God" said the other. Fright in
their direction. She's goner if-
| "Faster" cried his companion.
| He saw that unless the onrush of the
cattle were diverted the girl would be
overwhelmed and trampled to death in
the stampede. Try as he might, he
could not reach her in time, yet he had
the fastest pony on the range and rode
like a centaur. He fairly lifted the
broncho through the air in his mad
impetuosity. A woman was a quicken
ing sight on the range, and all the
chivalry in the souls of the men re-
sponded to the appeal of her peril;
but. try as they might, they realized
they could do nothing.
"We'll be too later cried the leading
man.
yep" answered his companion la
conically, driving his spurs home again.
NO." cried the first man as the cattle
swerved; "she's kept her head. That
woman knows her business. They'll be
milling in minute"
"She'd ought to be gittin' out'n it
now. though"
'Yes. God. they've got herv' he
cried as he saw the girl caught on the
periphery Of the whirling mass
well git her OUT" cried the other
IF she lives long enough to give Us
a chance"
When stampeded cattle get to mill.
ing they turn in upon themselves
either involuntarily or because of pres
sure put upon them by cowboys seek
ing to control them. They sweep
around in concentric circles in a great
spiral. The pressure on the outside
tends to construct the circles more and
more, until the cattle are damned into
a whirling vertiginous mass. of which
nothing can be seen but uplifted heads
and uptossed horns. This mass, fran
tic with fear and fury. sways and
whirls over the ground like a tornado,
with motion Of rotation and transla-
ton at the same time Above the dust
of its trampling comes the clicking OF
the dew claws and the cleft hoofs as
the feet are lifted sharply from the
ground. These. with the rafting of
horns and the believing of those on
the outer edge, make the animal whirl-
pool a perfect Inferno of noise and
clamor.
The mill sweeps around and around,
and the only way to break it is to un.
wind it-that is, to cut into the bunch
and start the outer edge off on a tan
gent, so that the whole unwinds itself
mechanically by reversing the process
which brought it together. This is an
operation of much difficulty, attended
with great danger. The man who
breaks in must do it backward, as it
were. He must follow the movement
of the perimeter of the great circle.
heading as the cattle do, and by skill
and dexterity force out first one and
then another until he gets the circum-
ference broken. In the end the break
is apt to come quickly. and the awful
maelstrom of maddened animals dis
solves into peaceable herd almost as
quickly as it wound itself into fran
tic mob.
To be caught inside such a mill is
death. Fortunately Harriet Renwyck
was on the outskirts The situation
was sufficiently terrifying as it was.
however. Above the dust she could
see tossing, quivering expanse of
horned heads. She was riding a mans
saddle and in man fashion. The pres
sure upon her horse was so tremen-
dous that In order to keep from being