122 HUNTING TRIPS 



we had been close-herding a small bunch of 

 young cattle on a bottom about a mile square, 

 walled in by bluffs, and with, as an inlet, a 

 long, dry creek running back many miles 

 into the Bad Lands, where it branched out 

 into innumerable smaller creeks and coulies. 

 We wished to get the cattle accustomed to 

 the locality, for animals are more apt to 

 stray when first brought on new ground 

 than at any later period ; so each night we 

 " bedded " them on the level bottom that 

 is, gathering them together on the plain, one 

 of us would ride slowly and quietly round 

 and round the herd, heading off and turning 

 back into it all beasts that tried to stray off, 

 but carefully avoiding disturbing them or 

 making any unusual noise; and by degrees 

 they would all lie down, close together. 

 This " bedding down " is always done when 

 travelling with a large herd, when, of course, 

 it needs several cowboys to do it ; and in such 

 cases some of the cowboys keep guard all 

 the time, walking their horses round the 

 herd, and singing and calling to the cattle 



