CHAPTER III 
THE FIRST DAY’S WORK 
Berore starting out from Hillsboro we branded the 
pack burros. They were all ‘‘broncs’’ caught wild 
in the hills and quite unmanageable. The job, in 
consequence, was fraught with a certain amount of 
excitement. Since we were anxious to be on our 
way, every one—including Ewing, who showed up 
bright and early, apparently none the worse for his 
‘day of rest’’—turned in and helped. But it was, 
notwithstanding, a matter of considerable difficulty 
to rope and hog-tie the score of restive jackasses 
and to hold down each one in turn while the pack- 
ers, who wielded the branding irons, seared a large 
“U. S.’? on the neck of the prostrate ‘‘jack’’ or 
66 jinny.’’ 
Wetherby, of us all, took the occasion most seri- 
ously. He approached the conflict with a purpose- 
ful mien worthy of a crusader, and expended a tre- 
mendous amount of energy during the morning; 
though his chief utility lay, after it was all over, in 
having furnished us with a laugh that lingered in 
our minds many aday. He elected in the beginning 
to wield a rope, alleging familiarity with the art, 
but the astute burros eluded his feverish casts with 
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