DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



35 



The whole herd would be grazing and 

 moving slowly along, seemingly perfectly 

 satisfied, when suddenly one of those 

 leaders would raise his head very high in 

 the air and act as if he saw something 

 very interesting a mile away and would 

 immediately start off in a rapid walk, bel- 

 lowing two o^ three times to notify his 

 followers that he was out for a stroll. 

 Then the whole of his clan would follow 

 him at once. They would not go far un- 

 til the leader would set the pace in a rapid 

 trot. 



But we always had the remedy at 

 hand for these fellows and immediately 

 one of us would mount a horse and 

 taking a dog make a straight run for the 

 leader and begin to give him the "busi- 

 ness "end" of a long, heavy whip, the 

 liorse being trained to this sort of per- 

 formance would keep close to this leader, 

 :allowing us to pour on the whip until he 

 was so completely run down and fagged 

 out generally that he would never aspire 

 to that ofifice again ; in fact, he would lose 

 all interest in cattle politics, not even 

 making a good follower thereafter. But 

 other leaders would spring up and have 

 to be discouraged in the same manner. 



While these clan leaders gave us more 

 or less trouble during the whole of the 

 ■season and made it necessary to exercise 

 vigilance, it did not have in it that source 

 ■ of danger and excitement that we experi- 

 enced in a general stampede. We had 

 two of these durmg this season, one of 

 which turned out rather seriously and 

 furnished enough excitement to have sat- 

 isfied the most reckless boy in our 

 vicinity. It was some time the last of 

 the month of May. We had "rounded 

 up" our cattle in the evening as usual, 

 putting them in the "pound" for the 

 night. Our cabin was near the "pound" 

 and situated on higher ground, so we 

 could overlooTc the entire herd. This 

 "pound" had an area of about ten acres, 

 being enclosed by a very strong wooden 

 fence. It was some time after midnight 

 when we were awakened by the approach 



of a terrific thunderstorm. We knew the 

 danger of a stampede during these 

 storms and immediately got up, dressed 

 ourselves in our rubber clothes, went to 

 the stable a few yards away and saddled 

 our horses. We were then ready for any 

 emergency. When the lightning flashed 

 we could see the cattle walking in a 

 circle round and round the "pound." 

 Soon the rain began to pour down in tor- 

 rents and the storm was on in earnest. 

 It had not been raining long when with 

 a blinding flash the lightning struck a 

 tree just outside the "pound." The shock 

 was so great that it knocked down a 

 number of the cattle, which we saw re- 

 gaining their feet during the next flash of 

 lightning. With one mighty surge the 

 cattle mashed down the entire fence on 

 one side of the "pound" and the stam- 

 pede was on. We had our horses out in 

 a "jiffy" and calling the dogs we started 

 in hot pursuit. All we dared to do was 

 "to follow." There were quite a num- 

 ber of trees in the path they took for 

 about eighty rods from the pound. The 

 almost continuous lightning enabled us to 

 follow the cattle. They were running at 

 full speed and h sounded like distant 

 thunder and fairly shook the earth. They 

 ran about a mile when they came to a 

 small lake, which caused them to separate 

 into two distinct herds. I followed one 

 herd and my companion the other. After 

 running about four miles and through a 

 large farm they finally stopped in some 

 heavy timber. I had not long to wait un- 

 til daylight, and the storm being over I 

 "rounded up" all I could find and started 

 them back toward the herd grounds, ar- 

 riving at the cabin about ii a. m., my 

 companion arriving about the same time. 

 After a hurried meal we went out to look 

 for injured cattle and to make a count. 

 We found two dead ones near the pound, 

 which had evidently lost their lives by 

 running against trees. It was several 

 days before we were able to locate all the 

 stragglers. 



