THE SPIRIT OF THE HERD 129 



tails, and heads thrown round from side to side 

 as if every one of them were watching us. We 

 were not near enough to see their eyes, but the 

 rider, far across the desert, saw the movement 

 and came cutting through the sage, shouting and 

 waving his arms to stop us. We had pushed the 

 driving too hard. Mutiny was spreading among 

 the cattle, already manifest in a sullen, ugly temper 

 that would have brought the herd charging us in 

 another minute, had not the cowboy galloped 

 in between us just as he did — so untamed, un- 

 afraid, and instinctively savage is the spirit of 

 the herd. 



It is this herd-spirit that the cowboy on his 

 long cross-desert drives to the railroads most 

 fears. The herd is like a crowd, easily led, easily 

 excited, easily stampeded, — when it becomes a 

 mob of frenzied beasts, past all control, like the 

 spirit of the city " gang " at riot in the streets. 



If one would know how thin is the coat of do- 

 mestication worn by the tamest of animals, let 

 him ride with the cattle across the rim-rock coun- 

 try of southeastern Oregon. No better chance to 

 study the spirit of the herd could possibly be 

 had. And in contrast to the herd, how intelligent, 



