64 



RANCH LIFE AND THE HUNTING -TRAIL 



a struggle. A less skillful roper catches round the neck, and then, if the 

 calf is a large one, the man who seizes it has his hands full, as the bleat- 

 ing, bucking animal develops astonishing strength, cuts the wildest capers, 



BRANDING A HOKSE. 



and resists frantically and with all its power. If there are seventy or eighty 

 ♦ calves in a corral, the scene is one of the greatest confusion. The ropers, 

 spurring and checking the fierce little horses, drag the calves up so quickly 

 that a dozen men can hardly hold them ; the men with the irons, black- 

 ened with soot, run to and fro ; the calf-wrestlers, grimy with blood, dust, 

 and sweat, work like beavers ; while with the voice of a stentor the tally- 

 man shouts out the number and sex of each calf The dust rises in clouds, 

 and the, shouts, cheers, curses, and laughter of the men unite with the low- 

 ing of the cows and the frantic bleating of the roped calves to make a per- 

 fect babel. Now and then an old cow turns vicious and puts every one 

 out of the corral. Or a 7naverick bull, — that is, an unbranded bull, — a 

 yearling or a two-years-old, is caught, thrown, and branded ; when he is 

 let up there is sure to be a fine scatter, Down goes his head, and he bolts 

 at the nearest man, who makes out of the way at top speed, amidst roars 

 of laughter from all of his companions ; while the men holding down calves 

 swear savagely as they dodge charging mavericks, trampling horses, and 

 taut lariats with frantic, plunging little beasts at the farther ends. 



