Cutting Out

: ARIZONA NIGHTS
: Arizona Nights

It was somewhere near noon by the time we had bunched and held the herd

of some four or five thousand head in the smooth, wide flat, free from

bushes and dog holes. Each sat at ease on his horse facing the cattle,

watching lazily the clouds of dust and the shifting beasts, but ready

at any instant to turn back the restless or independent individuals

that might break for liberty.



Out of the haze came Home
, the round-up captain, on an easy lope. As

he passed successively the sentries he delivered to each a low command,

but without slacking pace. Some of those spoken to wheeled their

horses and rode away. The others settled themselves in their saddles

and began to roll cigarettes.



"Change horses; get something to eat," said he to me; so I swung after

the file traveling at a canter over the low swells beyond the plain.



The remuda had been driven by its leaders to a corner of the pasture's

wire fence, and there held. As each man arrived he dismounted, threw

off his saddle, and turned his animal loose. Then he flipped a loop in

his rope and disappeared in the eddying herd. The discarded horse,

with many grunts, indulged in a satisfying roll, shook himself

vigorously, and walked slowly away. His labour was over for the day,

and he knew it, and took not the slightest trouble to get out of the

way of the men with the swinging ropes.



Not so the fresh horses, however. They had no intention of being

caught, if they could help it, but dodged and twisted, hid and doubled

behind the moving screen of their friends. The latter, seeming as

usual to know they were not wanted, made no effort to avoid the men,

which probably accounted in great measure for the fact that the herd as

a body remained compact, in spite of the cowboys threading it, and in

spite of the lack of an enclosure.



Our horses caught, we saddled as hastily as possible; and then at the

top speed of our fresh and eager ponies we swept down on the chuck

wagon. There we fell off our saddles and descended on the meat and

bread like ravenous locusts on a cornfield. The ponies stood where we

left them, "tied to the ground", the cattle-country fashion.



As soon as a man had stoked up for the afternoon he rode away. Some

finished before others, so across the plain formed an endless

procession of men returning to the herd, and of those whom they

replaced coming for their turn at the grub.



We found the herd quiet. Some were even lying down, chewing their cuds

as peacefully as any barnyard cows. Most, however, stood ruminative, or

walked slowly to and fro in the confines allotted by the horsemen, so

that the herd looked from a distance like a brown carpet whose pattern

was constantly changing--a dusty brown carpet in the process of being

beaten. I relieved one of the watchers, and settled myself for a wait.



At this close inspection the different sorts of cattle showed more

distinctly their characteristics. The cows and calves generally rested

peacefully enough, the calf often lying down while the mother stood

guard over it. Steers, however, were more restless. They walked

ceaselessly, threading their way in and out among the standing cattle,

pausing in brutish amazement at the edge of the herd, and turning back

immediately to endless journeyings. The bulls, excited by so much

company forced on their accustomed solitary habit, roared defiance at

each other until the air fairly trembled. Occasionally two would clash

foreheads. Then the powerful animals would push and wrestle, trying

for a chance to gore. The decision of supremacy was a question of but

a few minutes, and a bloody topknot the worst damage. The defeated one

side-stepped hastily and clumsily out of reach, and then walked away.



Most of the time all we had to do was to sit our horses and watch these

things, to enjoy the warm bath of the Arizona sun, and to converse with

our next neighbours. Once in a while some enterprising cow, observing

the opening between the men, would start to walk out. Others would

fall in behind her until the movement would become general. Then one

of us would swing his leg off the pommel and jog his pony over to head

them off. They would return peacefully enough.



But one black muley cow, with a calf as black and muley as herself, was

more persistent. Time after time, with infinite patience, she tried it

again the moment my back was turned. I tried driving her far into the

herd. No use; she always returned. Quirtings and stones had no effect

on her mild and steady persistence.



"She's a San Simon cow," drawled my neighbour. "Everybody knows her.

She's at every round-up, just naturally raisin' hell."



When the last man had returned from chuck, Homer made the dispositions

for the cut. There were present probably thirty men from the home

ranches round about, and twenty representing owners at a distance, here

to pick up the strays inevitable to the season's drift. The round-up

captain appointed two men to hold the cow-and-calf cut, and two more to

hold the steer cut. Several of us rode into the herd, while the

remainder retained their positions as sentinels to hold the main body

of cattle in shape.



Little G and I rode slowly among the cattle looking everywhere. The

animals moved sluggishly aside to give us passage, and closed in as

sluggishly behind us, so that we were always closely hemmed in wherever

we went. Over the shifting sleek backs, through the eddying clouds of

dust, I could make out the figures of my companions moving slowly,

apparently aimlessly, here and there.



Our task for the moment was to search out the unbranded J H calves.

Since in ranks so closely crowded it would be physically impossible

actually to see an animal's branded flank, we depended entirely on the

ear-marks.



Did you ever notice how any animal, tame or wild, always points his

ears inquiringly in the direction of whatever interests or alarms him?

Those ears are for the moment his most prominent feature. So when a

brand is quite indistinguishable because, as now, of press of numbers,

or, as in winter, from extreme length of hair, the cropped ears tell

plainly the tale of ownership. As every animal is so marked when

branded, it follows that an uncut pair of ears means that its owner has

never felt the iron.



So, now we had to look first of all for calves with uncut ears. After

discovering one, we had to ascertain his ownership by examining the

ear-marks of his mother, by whose side he was sure, in this alarming

multitude, to be clinging faithfully.



Calves were numerous, and J H cows everywhere to be seen, so in

somewhat less than ten seconds I had my eye on a mother and son.

Immediately I turned Little G in their direction. At the slap of my

quirt against the stirrup, all the cows immediately about me shrank

suspiciously aside. Little G stepped forward daintily, his nostrils

expanding, his ears working back and forth, trying to the best of his

ability to understand which animals I had selected. The cow and her

calf turned in toward the centre of the herd. A touch of the reins

guided the pony. At once he comprehended. From that time on he needed

no further directions.



Cautiously, patiently, with great skill, he forced the cow through the

press toward the edge of the herd. It had to be done very quietly, at

a foot pace, so as to alarm neither the objects of pursuit nor those

surrounding them. When the cow turned back, Little G somehow happened

always in her way. Before she knew it she was at the outer edge of the

herd. There she found herself, with a group of three or four

companions, facing the open plain. Instinctively she sought shelter.

I felt Little G's muscles tighten beneath me. The moment for action

had come. Before the cow had a chance to dodge among her companions

the pony was upon her like a thunderbolt. She broke in alarm, trying

desperately to avoid the rush. There ensued an exciting contest of

dodgings, turnings, and doublings. Wherever she turned Little G was

before her. Some of his evolutions were marvellous. All I had to do

was to sit my saddle, and apply just that final touch of judgment

denied even the wisest of the lower animals. Time and again the turn

was so quick that the stirrup swept the ground. At last the cow,

convinced of the uselessness of further effort to return, broke away on

a long lumbering run to the open plain. She was stopped and held by

the men detailed, and so formed the nucleus of the new cut-herd.

Immediately Little G, his ears working in conscious virtue, jog-trotted

back into the herd, ready for another.



After a dozen cows had been sent across to the cut-herd, the work

simplified. Once a cow caught sight of this new band, she generally

made directly for it, head and tail up. After the first short struggle

to force her from the herd, all I had to do was to start her in the

proper direction and keep her at it until her decision was fixed. If

she was too soon left to her own devices, however, she was likely to

return. An old cowman knows to a second just the proper moment to

abandon her.



Sometimes, in spite of our best efforts a cow succeeded in circling us

and plunging into the main herd. The temptation was then strong to

plunge in also, and to drive her out by main force; but the temptation

had to be resisted. A dash into the thick of it might break the whole

band. At once, of his own accord, Little G dropped to his fast,

shuffling walk, and again we addressed ourselves to the task of pushing

her gently to the edge.



This was all comparatively simple--almost any pony is fast enough for

the calf cut--but now Homer gave orders for the steer cut to begin, and

steers are rapid and resourceful and full of natural cussedness.

Little G and I were relieved by Windy Bill, and betook ourselves to the

outside of the herd.



Here we had leisure to observe the effects that up to this moment we

had ourselves been producing. The herd, restless by reason of the

horsemen threading it, shifted, gave ground, expanded, and contracted,

so that its shape and size were always changing in the constant area

guarded by the sentinel cowboys. Dust arose from these movements,

clouds of it, to eddy and swirl, thicken and dissipate in the currents

of air. Now it concealed all but the nearest dimly-outlined animals;

again it parted in rifts through which mistily we discerned the riders

moving in and out of the fog; again it lifted high and thin, so that we

saw in clarity the whole herd and the outriders and the mesas far away.

As the afternoon waned, long shafts of sun slanted through this dust.

It played on men and beasts magically, expanding them to the dimensions

of strange genii, appearing and effacing themselves in the billows of

vapour from some enchanted bottle.



We on the outside found our sinecure of hot noon-tide filched from us

by the cooler hours. The cattle, wearied of standing, and perhaps

somewhat hungry and thirsty, grew more and more impatient. We rode

continually back and forth, turning the slow movement in on itself.

Occasionally some particularly enterprising cow would conclude that one

or another of the cut-herds would suit her better than this mill of

turmoil. She would start confidently out, head and tail up, find

herself chased back, get stubborn on the question, and lead her pursuer

a long, hard run before she would return to her companions. Once in a

while one would even have to be roped and dragged back. For know,

before something happens to you, that you can chase a cow safely only

until she gets hot and winded. Then she stands her ground and gets

emphatically "on the peck."



I remember very well when I first discovered this. It was after I had

had considerable cow work, too. I thought of cows as I had always seen

them--afraid of a horseman, easy to turn with the pony, and willing to

be chased as far as necessary to the work. Nobody told me anything

different. One day we were making a drive in an exceedingly broken

country. I was bringing in a small bunch I had discovered in a pocket

of the hills, but was excessively annoyed by one old cow that insisted

on breaking back. In the wisdom of further experience, I now conclude

that she probably had a calf in the brush. Finally she got away

entirely. After starting the bunch well ahead, I went after her.



Well, the cow and I ran nearly side by side for as much as half a mile

at top speed. She declined to be headed. Finally she fell down and

was so entirely winded that she could not get up.



"Now, old girl, I've got you!" said I, and set myself to urging her to

her feet.



The pony acted somewhat astonished, and suspicious of the job. Therein

he knew a lot more than I did. But I insisted, and, like a good pony,

he obeyed. I yelled at the cow, and slapped my bat, and used my quirt.

When she had quite recovered her wind, she got slowly to her feet--and

charged me in a most determined manner.



Now, a bull, or a steer, is not difficult to dodge. He lowers his

head, shuts his eyes, and comes in on one straight rush. But a cow

looks to see what she is doing; her eyes are open every minute, and it

overjoys her to take a side hook at you even when you succeed in

eluding her direct charge.



The pony I was riding did his best, but even then could not avoid a

sharp prod that would have ripped him up had not my leather bastos

intervened. Then we retired to a distance in order to plan further;

but we did not succeed in inducing that cow to revise her ideas, so at

last we left her. When, in some chagrin, I mentioned to the round-up

captain the fact that I had skipped one animal, he merely laughed.



"Why, kid," said he, "you can't do nothin' with a cow that gets on the

prod that away 'thout you ropes her; and what could you do with her out

there if you DID rope her?"



So I learned one thing more about cows.



After the steer cut had been finished, the men representing the

neighbouring ranges looked through the herd for strays of their brands.

These were thrown into the stray-herd, which had been brought up from

the bottom lands to receive the new accessions. Work was pushed

rapidly, as the afternoon was nearly gone.



In fact, so absorbed were we that until it was almost upon us we did

not notice a heavy thunder-shower that arose in the region of the

Dragoon Mountains, and swept rapidly across the zenith. Before we knew

it the rain had begun. In ten seconds it had increased to a deluge,

and in twenty we were all to leeward of the herd striving desperately

to stop the drift of the cattle down wind.



We did everything in our power to stop them, but in vain. Slickers

waved, quirts slapped against leather, six-shooters flashed, but still

the cattle, heads lowered, advanced with slow and sullen persistence

that would not be stemmed. If we held our ground, they divided around

us. Step by step we were forced to give way--the thin line of

nervously plunging horses sprayed before the dense mass of the cattle.



"No, they won't stampede," shouted Charley to my question. "There's

cows and calves in them. If they was just steers or grown critters,

they might."



The sensations of those few moments were very vivid--the blinding beat

of the storm in my face, the unbroken front of horned heads bearing

down on me, resistless as fate, the long slant of rain with the sun

shining in the distance beyond it.



Abruptly the downpour ceased. We shook our hats free of water, and

drove the herd back to the cutting grounds again.



But now the surface of the ground was slippery, and the rapid

manoeuvring of horses had become a matter precarious in the extreme.

Time and again the ponies fairly sat on their haunches and slid when

negotiating a sudden stop, while quick turns meant the rapid

scramblings that only a cow-horse could accomplish. Nevertheless the

work went forward unchecked. The men of the other outfits cut their

cattle into the stray-herd. The latter was by now of considerable

size, for this was the third week of the round-up.



Finally everyone expressed himself as satisfied. The largely

diminished main herd was now started forward by means of shrill cowboy

cries and beating of quirts. The cattle were only too eager to go.

From my position on a little rise above the stray-herd I could see the

leaders breaking into a run, their heads thrown forward as they snuffed

their freedom. On the mesa side the sentinel riders quietly withdrew.

From the rear and flanks the horsemen closed in. The cattle poured out

in a steady stream through the opening thus left on the mesa side. The

fringe of cowboys followed, urging them on. Abruptly the cavalcade

turned and came loping back. The cattle continued ahead on a trot,

gradually spreading abroad over the landscape, losing their integrity

as a herd. Some of the slower or hungrier dropped out and began to

graze. Certain of the more wary disappeared to right or left.



Now, after the day's work was practically over, we had our first

accident. The horse ridden by a young fellow from Dos Cabesas slipped,

fell, and rolled quite over his rider. At once the animal lunged to

his feet, only to be immediately seized by the nearest rider. But the

Dos Cabesas man lay still, his arms and legs spread abroad, his head

doubled sideways in a horribly suggestive manner. We hopped off. Two

men straightened him out, while two more looked carefully over the

indications on the ground.



"All right," sang out one of them, "the horn didn't catch him."



He pointed to the indentation left by the pommel. Indeed five minutes

brought the man to his senses. He complained of a very twisted back.

Homer set one of the men in after the bed-wagon, by means of which the

sufferer was shortly transported to camp. By the end of the week he

was again in the saddle. How men escape from this common accident with

injuries so slight has always puzzled me. The horse rolls completely

over his rider, and yet it seems to be the rarest thing in the world

for the latter to be either killed or permanently injured.



Now each man had the privilege of looking through the J H cuts to see

if by chance steers of his own had been included in them. When all had

expressed themselves as satisfied, the various bands were started to

the corrals.



From a slight eminence where I had paused to enjoy the evening I looked

down on the scene. The three herds, separated by generous distance one

from the other, crawled leisurely along; the riders, their hats thrust

back, lolled in their saddles, shouting conversation to each other,

relaxing after the day's work; through the clouds strong shafts of

light belittled the living creatures, threw into proportion the

vastness of the desert.



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