THE ROUND-UP 



55 



round-up time we often count ourselves lucky if we get off with much less 

 than sixteen hours ; but the work is done in the saddle, and the men are 

 spurred on all the time by the desire to outdo one another in feats of daring 

 and skillful horsemanship. There is very little quarreling or fighting; and 

 though the fun often takes the form of rather rough horse-play, yet the prac- 

 tice of carrying dangerous weapons makes cowboys show far more rough 

 courtesy to each other and far less rudeness to strangers than is the case 

 among, for instance. Eastern miners, or even lumbermen. When a quarrel 

 may very probably result fatally, a man thinks twice before going into it: 



IkAlLlNG CATTLE. 



warlike people or classes always treat one another with a certain amount 

 of consideration and politeness. The moral tone of a cow-camp, indeed, 

 is rather high than otherwise. Meanness, cowardice, and dishonesty are 

 not tolerated. There is a high regard for truthfulness and keeping one's 

 word, intense contempt for any kind of hypocrisy, and a hearty dislike for 

 a man who shirks his work. Many of the men gamble and drink, but 

 many do neither; and the conversation is not worse than in most bodies 

 composed wholly of male human beings. A cowboy will not submit tamely 

 to an insult, and is ever ready to avenge his own wrongs ; nor has he an 



