numerable voices....

But the light of the sun has hardly crept down the hill to touch the
tree-tops, still ringing with the morning song, before the hurried
standing breakfast at the camp is over and each man has been appointed
to his work by the captain of the "round-up." Three or four are named to
guard the herd already gathered; some will have special care of the
horses; all others, except the men in charge of wagons, are appointed to
go "out on circle." Then follows a general saddling of horses, and,
while the shadows still lie long across the plain, knots of horsemen,
three or four abreast, strike out across the prairie on lines radiating
in all directions from the camp. They will ride out on their courses for
about five miles, except where the space is limited on the west by the
river, and then, turning back, will drive in towards the centre, or, as
they say, will "circle in," or "round up," all the cattle found in that
district, a space with a diameter of ten miles. It is this operation
carried on day after day over many thousand square miles of country
which gives the name "round-up" to the annual gathering of the cattle on
the Plains....

The long, hot morning wastes away, unvaried by any event but the
changing phases of the mirage and the gathering of cloud-puffs over the
mountains. But when the sun has climbed within an hour or two of the
meridian, some one less drowsy than the rest shouts, "They're coming!"
Across the prairie where he points there is no living thing in sight,
but beyond the most distant ridge a great dust-column seems to touch the
sky and stand motionless. Then on the opposite horizon we catch sight of
another cloud of dust, then another, and another appears, till the
circle of approaching herds is complete. Presently the leaders of a
procession mount the ridge. The long line of cattle comes steadily on.
Half are lost to sight in the hollows of the prairie, half are seen on
the crests of the swelling ground. Up and down the line gallop the
horsemen, urging and guiding the cattle. When the first sound from the
herd reaches the ear, it is like a long trumpet-blast. Among the
multitudes that are approaching there is not one but utters some sound
of protest at this sudden infringement of the liberties of his wild
life. The bellowing of the bulls, the lowing of the cows, the bleating
of the calves, all are blended into a musical murmur in which no single
voice can be distinguished.

With the