90 



RANCH LIFE AND THE HUNTING-TRAIL 



vigilantes had given notice to quit to two men who had just built a shack 

 at the head of the Little Dry, and whose horses included a suspiciously 

 large number of different brands, most of them blurred. Then our con- 

 versation became more personal, and they asked if I would take some 

 letters to post for them. Of course I said yes, and two letters — evidently 

 the product of severe manual labor — were produced. Each was directed 

 to a girl ; and my companions, now very friendly, told me that they both 

 had sweethearts, and for the next hour I listened to a full account of their 

 charms and virtues. 



But it is not often that plainsmen talk so freely. They are rather 

 reserved, especially to strangers ; and are certain to look with dislike on 

 any man who, when they first meet him, talks a great deal. It is always a 

 good plan, if visiting a strange camp or ranch, to be as silent as possible. 



Another time, at a ranch not far from my own, I found among the cow- 

 boys gathered for the round-up two Bible-reading Methodists. They 

 were as strait-laced as any of their kind, but did not obtrude their 

 opinions on any one else, and were first-class workers, so that they had no 

 trouble with the other men. Associated with them were two or three 

 blear-eyed, slit-mouthed ruffians, who were as loose of tongue as of life. 



Generally some form of stable government is provided for the counties 

 as soon as their population has become at all fixed, the frontiersmen 

 showing their national aptitude for organization. Then lawlessness is put 

 down pretty effectively. For example, as soon as we organized the 

 government of Medora — an excessively unattractive little hamlet, the 

 county seat of our huge, scantily settled county — we elected some good 

 officers, built a log jail, prohibited all shooting in the streets, and 

 enforced the prohibition, etc., etc. 



Up to that time there had been a good deal of lawlessness of one kind 

 or another, only checked by an occasional piece of individual retribution 

 or by a sporadic outburst of vigilance committee work. In such a soci- 

 ety the desperadoes of every grade flourish. Many are merely ordinary 

 rogues and swindlers, who rob and cheat on occasion, but are dangerous 

 only when led by some villain of real intellectual power. The gambler, 

 with hawk eyes and lissome fingers, is scarcely classed as a criminal ; 

 indeed, he may be a very public-spirited citizen. But as his trade is so 

 often plied in saloons, and as even if, as sometimes happens, he does 

 not cheat, many of his opponents are certain to attempt to do so, he 

 is of necessity obliged to be skillful and ready with his weapon, and gam- 

 bling rows are very common. Cowboys lose much of their money to 

 gamblers ; it is with them hard come and light go, for they exchange the 



