322 CRUISINGS IN THE CASCADES 



and dropped quickly over the bronco' s head, notwith- 

 standing the toss he had made. The instant it fell, 

 the pursuing bronco rushed and headed off the other,, 

 winding the rope about his legs; then suddenly sit- 

 ting back upon his haunches he waited, with ears 

 back, for the shock. It came with a rush, and the 

 little horse at the other end of the rope, as was the 

 intention, went headlong onto the field, the cowboy' s 

 bronco holding him down by the continual strain 

 that he kept up. The moment the horse went down 

 the cowboy vaulted from the saddle, untying a rope 

 from his waist as he ran, and was soon over the 

 prostrate animal, lashing the hoofs with dextrous 

 fingers, so that it could have been branded then and 

 there. This accomplished, up went his hands as a 

 signal to the judges, who now came galloping over 

 the field, a roar of cheers and yells greeting the 

 Apache County man, who had done the entire work 

 in twelve minutes, thereby securing the prize of 

 sundry dollars." 



These men use large, heavy, strongly-built saddles, 

 and by setting the cinch up tight and taking a turn 

 or two of the rope around the saddle horn they will 

 snake a large animal, either dead or alive, any 

 desired distance. I once got one of them to drag a. 

 large bear that we had killed out of a thicket into 

 an open space, so that we could photograph him. 



Few men take more chances or endure more hard- 

 ships than cowboys. In addition to the dangers 

 they have to contend with from riding vicious horses 

 and from riding into stampeding herds of wild cattle, 

 in both of which lines of duty many of them are 

 crippled and some killed outright, it is frequently 



