AND OTHER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 309 



Neither do I wish to defend the "fresh" young 

 man from the East who goes West to "paralyze" 

 the natives, who gets a job on the ranch, makes 

 a break for "loud togs," arms, and knives, large 

 nickel-plated spurs, raises a crop of long hair and 

 " catches on " to all the bad language of the country, 

 fills up on bad whisky at every opportunity and 

 then asserts that "he's a wolf, it's his night to 

 howl." 



Nor do I wish to defend the swarthy, loud-oathed, 

 heavily-armed "greaser" of Mexico and the Texan 

 ranges, who accounts himself a ' ' cowboy ' ' par excel- 

 lence, but who much prefers the filthy atmosphere 

 of the gambling den, or the variety dive of frontier 

 towns, to the pure air of the prairies. These are the 

 exceptions, and fortunately are in a "distinguished 

 minority," and it is but just that all such swaggering 

 humbugs should be loaded with the obloquy they 

 deserve, and should be appropriately branded, even 

 as their master's beasts are branded, that all the 

 world might know them, wherever found, for the 

 infamous humbugs that they are. My purpose 

 here is to champion the frank, honest, energetic, 

 industrious young fellows who engage in this calling 

 from pure motives, most of whom have fair educa- 

 tions, and some of whom are graduates of Eastern 

 colleges who are brimful of pure horse-sense, and 

 who are ambitious to earn an honest living, and to 

 make themselves useful to their employers in every 

 possible way, aside from their ability to snare a 

 bullock. Many of these are Nature's noblemen, 

 and their good qualities shine through their rough 

 garb, as the sunlight of heaven shines through a 



