AND OTHEK HUNTING ADVENTURES. 307 



Many a cowboy of to-day was, in his childhood 

 or youth, the street gamin, the newsboy, the 

 "hard nut" at school; the dare-devil of the rural 

 districts; the hero of daring exploits; the boy who 

 did not fear to climb to the top of the highest 

 tree to punch a squirrel out of his hole; who led the 

 raid on an orchard or watermelon patch on a dark 

 night; who at college was at the head of all wild, 

 reckless frolics, and was also well up in his classes; 

 who led the village marshal or the city policeman 

 many a wild-goose chase and caused them many a 

 sleepless night by his innocent though mischievous 

 pranks. He is the boy who w r as always ready for 

 a lark of any kind that could produce excitement, 

 fun, or adventure without bringing serious harm to 

 anyone. He was not the vicious, thieving, lying, 

 sneaking boy, but the irrepressible, uncontrollable, 

 wild, harum-scarum chap who led the gang; the 

 champion of the weak; the boy who would fight 

 " at the drop of the hat" in defense of a friend of 

 his own sex or of even a stranger of the opposite 

 sex. These are the boys of ten, twenty, or thirty 

 years ago whom to-day you may find riding wild 

 cayuses on the cattle ranges of the boundless 

 plains. 



As a class, they have been shamefully maligned. 

 That there are bad, vicious characters amongst them 

 can not be denied, but that many of the murders, 

 thefts, arsons, and other depredations which are 

 committed in the frontier towns and charged to 

 cowboys, are really committed by Indians, bummers, 

 superannuated buifalo hunters, and other hangers 

 on, who never do an honest day' s work of any kind, 



