232 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



bare, or handkerchief tied around it, and with pantaloons 

 suspenderless and a red sash girt around his loins, he marched 

 about, gun in hand, shooting his enemies, the blackbirds, 

 which in countless numbers lit on his new-sown grain 

 and tore it up. He was extremely passionate, and at times, 

 when stalking around with his gun and wildly shouting, was 

 fearful to behold. 



It was here that John Galdie and I began ranch life in the 

 Golden State, January 4th. The only man X. had hired 

 before our coming was an Irishman, named Richard Dobbin, 

 and guided by his feeble directions and the oath-filled broken 

 English of the father and the less bearable interference of the 

 son, who for fear of offending the old man, of whom he was 

 in dread, merely repeated or translated his words, we began 

 operations by breaking up the prairie sod which, unencum- 

 bered by bush or tree, spread in abrupt billows all around us. 



For drawing our three Yankee plows we had to choose our 

 teams from eleven head of horses, all of which, with one ex- 

 ception, were of mixed native breed. This exception was 

 Old Tom, a bob-tail gray, brought from the States, and which 

 was our main stand-by. He once had a mate, which had 

 departed this life previous to our arrival, poisoned by a dis- 

 charged hand, so our suspicion-filled master said, but which 

 was more probably killed by overwork. So the whole blunt 

 came on Tom. As far as my experience went, the native 

 horses had but little endurance, and those which were manage- 

 able were continually giving out in the team. Some were 

 valueless to plow or wagon, and were only available when 

 spanned with a wooden saddle and bridled with the cruel 

 Spanish bit, and were ridden galloping over the prairie. A 

 few were docile, but these were soon broken down with hard 

 work, so that our plow teams were reduced to one, the centre- 

 piece of which was the faithful Tom. A part of the tract was 

 a deep shale loam and was easy plowing, but a large portion 



