92 



RAN'CH LIFE AND THE HUNTING-'J'RAIL 



-^R^rTunJ^fDi^ 



PAINTING THE TOWN KED. 



All this is mere horse-play ; it is the cowboy's method of "painting the 

 town red," as an interlude in his harsh, monotonous life. Of course there 

 are plenty of hard characters among cowboys, but no more than among 

 lumbermen and the like ; only the cowboys are so ready with their 

 weapons that a bully in one of their camps is apt to be a murderer instead 

 of merely a bruiser. Often, moreover, on a long trail, or in a far-off camp, 

 where the men are for many months alone, feuds spring up that are in the 

 end sure to be slaked in blood. As a rule, however, cowboys who 

 become desperadoes soon perforce drop their original business, and are no 

 longer employed on ranches, unless in counties or territories where there is 

 very little heed paid to the law, and where, in consequence, a cattle-owner 

 needs a certain number of hired bravos. Until within two or three years 

 this was the case in parts of Arizona and New Mexico, where land claims 

 were "jumped" and cattle stolen all the while, one effect being to insure 



