nc'," and foot-races
and wrestling-matches. A round-up always had more than a little of the
character of a county fair. For though the work was hard, and
practically continuous for sixteen hours out of the twenty-four, it
was full of excitement. The cowboys regarded it largely as sport, and
the five weeks they spent at it very much of a holiday.[14]

[Footnote 14: _Roosevelt: Ranch Life and the Hunting
Trail._

"Am inclined to think that this assertion of Mr.
Roosevelt's would be open to criticism on the part of
the real old-time cowpunchers. Much depended upon the
weather, of course, but in a general way most of them
regarded the work as anything but a picnic. Usually, it
came closer to being 'Hell,' before we got through with
it, as was the case on that particular round-up in 1885,
when Mr. Roosevelt was along. Rained much of the time,
and upon one occasion kept at it for a week on end. Tied
the whole outfit up for several days at one point and I
recall we had to wring the water out of our blankets
every night before retiring. The boys liked to work on
general round-ups, hard and all as they were, mainly
because it brought them into contact with the boys from
other ranges, so that they had a chance to renew old
acquaintances. Generally the boys were all inclined to
be a little wild at the start, or until cooled down by a
few days of hard work. After that things got into a
steady groove, eighteen hours per day in the saddle
being nothing unusual.

"At the start, the round-up bore many of the aspects of
a county fair, just as Mr. Roosevelt states, and unless
the trip proved to be unusually hard there was always
more or less horse-play in the air."--_Lincoln Lang._]

Roosevelt reported to the captain of the round-up, a man named
Osterhaut, saying that he expected to be treated as a common cowhand
and wanted to be shown no favors; and the captain took him at his
word. He promptly justified his existence. He did not pretend to be a
good roper, and his poor eyesight forbade any attempt to "cut" the
cattle that bore his brand out of the milling herd; but he "wrest