Then warily spake the Texas man: "A petition and no complaint
We here present, if the Law allows and the Marster He thinks it fit;
We-all agree to the things that be, but we're longing for things that
ain't,
So we took a vote and we made a plan and here is the plan we writ:--

"_'Give us a range and our horses and ropes, open the Pearly Gate,
And turn us loose in the unfenced blue riding the sunset rounds,
Hunting each stray in the Milky Way and running the Rancho straight;
Not crowding the dogie stars too much on their way to the
bedding-grounds._

"_'Maverick comets that's running wild, we'll rope 'em and brand 'em
fair,
So they'll quit stampeding the starry herd and scaring the folks
below,
And we'll save 'em prime for the round-up time, and we riders'll all
be there,
Ready and willing to do our work as we did in the long ago._

"_'We've studied the Ancient Landmarks, Sir; Taurus, the Bear, and
Mars,
And Venus a-smiling across the west as bright as a burning coal,
Plain to guide as we punchers ride night-herding the little stars,
With Saturn's rings for our home corral and the Dipper our water
hole._

"_'Here, we have nothing to do but yarn of the days that have long
gone by,
And our singing it doesn't fit in up here though we tried it for old
time's sake;
Our hands are itching to swing a rope and our legs are stiff; that's
why
We ask you, Marster, to turn us loose--just give us an even break!'_"

Then the Lord He spake to the Cherubim, and this was His kindly word:
"He that keepeth the threefold keys shall open and let them go;
Turn these men to their work again to ride with the starry herd;
My glory sings in the toil they crave; 'tis their right. I would have
it so."

Have you heard in the starlit dusk of eve when the lone coyotes roam,
The _Yip! Yip! Yip!_ of a hunting cry and the echo that shrilled
afar,
As you listened still on a desert hill and gazed at the twinkling
dome,
And a viewless rider swept the sky on the trail of a shooting star?
_Henry Herbert Knibbs._

LASCA

I WANT free life, and I want fresh air;
And I sigh for the canter after the cattle,
The crack of the whips like shots in battle,
The medley of hoofs and horns and h