94 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



leading a sober and temperate life for perhaps two 

 months they will ride into the nearest town, and 

 proceed to paint it a beautiful blood-red. As long 

 as the money lasts, all comers are invited to drink. 

 When the last cent is spent the cowboy mounts his 

 bronco and returns to the ranch, where, you may 

 be sure, no indiscreet questions are asked. In the 

 '80's, when southern California was still a pastoral 

 country, these roysterers were anathema maranatha 

 to the townsmen, despite the money they put into 

 active circulation. You may see tliem to-day jog- 

 ging into town, astride their wiry, fiddle-headed geld- 

 ings (your true vaquero never rides a mare), clad 

 in chappareros (long, loose leggins made of stout 

 leather, designed to protect the legs in riding 

 through the tough manzanita and chaparral), and 

 wearing big stiff sombreros tied under the chin by 

 a piece of black ribbon. The dandies are distin- 

 guished by a fine silk neckerchief, loosely knotted, 

 by the high-heeled boots (the high heels prevent 

 the foot from slipping through the large wooden 

 stirrups), by the silver mountings of the Mexican 

 bit, by the rawhide bridle and cuerda, by the long 

 buck-skin gloves. Those who wear canvas overalls 

 instead of " chaps " will be careful to turn up the 

 ends of them, so as to display the black trouser 

 beneath, and when they dismount and lounge 

 through the streets, you will mark an easy swagger, 

 the cachet of the caballero. 



Drunk, they are dangerous ; sober, most capital 

 fellows, — cheery, kindly, without fear, hard as nails, 

 and generous to a fault. From such men Eoose- 

 velt recruited his famous Eough Riders, and they 



