Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1908-03-26
CHAPTER IL

N WAY on the other side of the
N hero two cowboys had been
p 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. II 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
"We'll get 'em mlllin' 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 q little ahead,
pointed
LOOK yonder!" he shouted.
"My God" said the other. Right in
their direction. She's goner if'-
"Fasterw 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 q 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 latel" 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 herr he
cried as he saw the girl caught on the
periphery Of the whirlins mass.
We'll git her outr' cried the other.
IF she hives long enough to give us
q chance"
When stampeded cattle get to mill
Ing they turn In upon themselves.
either Involuntary or because Of pres
sure put upon them by cowboys seek
ing to control them. They sweep
around In concentric circles In q great
spiral. The pressure on the outside
tends to construct the circles more and
more until the cattle are damned into
q whirling vertiginous mass. Of which
nothing can be seen but uplifted heads
and uptossed horns. This mass, fran-
dc with fear and fury, sways and
whirls over the ground Ike a tornado.
with motion Of rotation and transla.
don at the same time. Above the dust
Of its trampiing comes tho clicking OF
the dew claws and the cleft boots as
the feet are lifted sharply from the
ground. These. with the rafting OF
horns and the believing OF those 90
the outer edge. make the animal whirl.
pool perfect Inferno Of noise and
ciamor.
The mill sweeps around and around.
and the only way 10 brsak h n to nm.
wind it-that n. b cut into the bunch
and start the outsr edge on on q tan
gait, 20 that the whole unwfnds itssaf
mechanically By reversing ths process
Which brought Il togethss. This IL an
operation Of much dtnculty, attended
with great danger. Ths man who
breaks In must do Il backward, a. Il
we're He must follow the movement
d the perimeter Of the great circle,
heading ~ the cattle DO. and By skfiI
and dexterfty force out first one and
then another until he gets the circum-
tersncs BROKEN. In the end the break
> spt 70 come quickly. and the awful
uaeistrom Of maddened animals dis
solves into peaceable herd almost d
quickly ~ II wound itself into q fran
t1c mob.
10 b. caught inside such q mill II
esath. Fortunately Harriet Renwyck
Was on the outskirts The situation
Was sufficiently terrifying as It was.
however. Above the dust she could
- . tossing. quivering expanse Of
horned heads. She was riding q mans
saddle and "a man fashion. The pres
SURE upon her horse was 90 tremen-
lous that In order to keep from being