iding. As the hours passed, and
the great fan of horsemen opened and closed, sweeping the cattle
scattered over the range into the steadily growing herd, the rodeo moved
gradually toward some chosen open flat or valley that afforded a space
large enough for the operations that followed the work of gathering. At
this "rodeo ground" a man would be waiting with fresh mounts for the
riders, and, sometimes, with lunch. Quickly, those whose names were
called by the foreman would change their saddles from dripping,
exhausted horses to fresh animals from their individual strings, snatch
a hasty lunch--often to be eaten in the saddle--and then, in their turn,
would hold the cattle while their companions followed their example.

Then came the fast, hot work of "parting" the cattle. The
representatives from one of the ranches interested would ride in among
the cattle held by the circle of cowboys, and, following their
instructions, would select such animals bearing their employer's brand
as were wanted, cutting them out and passing them through the line of
guarding riders, to be held in a separate group. When the
representatives of one owner had finished, they were followed by the men
who rode for some other outfit; and so on, until the task of "parting"
was finished.

As the afternoon sun moved steadily toward the skyline of the western
hills, the tireless activity of men and horses continued. The cattle,
as the mounted men moved among them, drifted about, crowding and
jostling, in uneasy discontent, with sometimes an indignant protest, and
many attempts at escape by the more restless and venturesome. When an
animal was singled out, the parting horses, chosen and prized for their
quickness, dashed here and there through the herd with fierce leaps and
furious rushes, stopping short in a terrific sprint to whirl, flashlike,
and charge in another direction, as the quarry dodged and doubled. And
now and then an animal would succeed for the moment in passing the guard
line, only to be brought back after a short, sharp chase by the nearest
cowboy. From the rodeo ground, where for long years the grass had been
trampled out, the dust, lifted by the trampling thousands of hoofs in a
dense, choking cloud, and heavy with the pungent odor of warm cattle and
the smell of sweating horses, rising high into the clear air, could be
seen from miles away, while the mingled voices of the bellowing, bawling
herd, with now and then the shrill, pierci