34 



HUNTING TRIPS 



part of a cowboy's existence. His food is 

 good, though coarse, and his sleep is sound 

 indeed ; while the work is very exciting, and 

 is done in company, under the stress of an 

 intense rivalry between all the men, both as 

 to their own skill, and as to the speed and 

 training of their horses. Clumsiness, and 

 still more the slightest approach to timidity, 

 expose a man to the roughest and most 

 merciless raillery; and the unfit are weeded 

 out by a very rapid process of natural selec- 

 tion. When the work is over for the day 

 the men gather round the fire for an hour or 

 two to sing songs, talk, smoke, and tell sto- 

 ries ; and he who has a good voice, or, better 

 still, can play a fiddle or banjo, is sure to re- 

 ceive his meed of most sincere homage. 



Though the ranchman is busiest during 

 the round-up, yet he is far from idle at other 

 times. He rides round among the cattle to 

 see if any are sick, visits any outlying camp 

 of his men, hunts up any band of ponies 

 which may stray and they are always 

 straying, superintends the haying, and, in 



