WITH UNCLE SAM 37 



herd; the cattle find it impossible to spread out, 

 and handle his mount as he may, the inspector 

 remains constantly in the jam. Besides, it is a 

 very difficult matter to "cut out" a cow or a steer 

 for individual examination under such condi- 

 tions. I had been "up against" just such propo- 

 sitions before this, however, and I made that 

 owner and his little bunch of cow-punchers earn 

 their bread that day. 



For nearly two hours I had them jumping 

 cows into a chute, where I made a thorough 

 inspection at my ease. I had examined probably 

 a couple of hundred head of the herd in this 

 manner without finding a sign of a tick. The 

 owner and the punchers were getting balky ; they 

 began to make remarks about the government's 

 ideas of the cattle industry and about some of 

 the "damphool" inspectors working for the gov- 

 ernment. This "got my goat." I told them that 

 I was there to find ticks on their cows; that I 

 knew there were ticks on them, and that I would 

 have every cow go through the chute. "And 

 then," I said, "if I haven't found any ticks, we 

 will run them all through the chute once more. 

 You guys are nothing but a bunch of bluffers 

 and I know that too. Now get busy, or I go 

 back to town." 



Well, I had them sized up right; not a man 

 peeped, and they rushed the cattle through the 

 chute plenty fast. 



When I had examined all but about twenty or 

 thirty head, they chased in a big red cow; and 

 there the performance stopped. I found a 

 couple of nice, big, fat ticks on the inside of one 



