on working is right. We had to keep on working," I
explained. "We couldn't very well work six days gathering cattle and
then turn them all loose again on the seventh day--could we now?"

The lady frowned. The lady sniffed. She was not one to be turned aside
by subterfuge. She leaned forward to strike, and flattened her brows
in scorn. She looked uncommonly like a rattlesnake. She said:

"I suppose you couldn't put them in the barn-yards?"

And I learned about readers from her.

* * * * *

Cattle were once grazed to the nearest railroad--say, a thousand
miles--yes, and beyond that railroad to Wyoming grass; or Montana. No
one who saw those great herds forgot them or ever quite refrained from
speech of those stirring days, to children or grandchildren. That is
why so many think--not unnaturally--that range cattle were always held
under herd. But it is a mistaken impression. Cattle do not thrive
under herd.

Cattle on the free range--everybody's cattle--were turned loose and
mixed together. There were no fences except as deep rivers counted for
such; the Panama Canal was yet undug. Twice a year, in spring and
fall, everybody gets together to work the cattle at the rodeo, or
round-up. They brand the calves; they take into the day herd all
strays, all steers or cows to be shipped, and nothing more. From
cattle gathered each day steers and strays are cut out and thrown into
the day herd; all the others, the range cattle, are turned loose with
a vigorous shove in that direction most remote from to-morrow's
round-up.

Again, your ranch was that land to which you had either title or
claim; its purpose was to give a water right on stream or lake or to
hold spring, well or tank. But your range was either Texas land or
Uncle Sam's land as far as your cattle would range from your various
water rights--say, twenty-five miles in each direction. Your range was
that country where you were reasonably sure your cattle would not be
stolen by strangers.

Here was the way of the Bar Cross round-up; with slight variations it
was the way of any round-up. The Bar Cross Company, running the
biggest brand on the Jornada range, supplied one foreman, one straw
boss, three top hands and the captain of the day herd; one horse
wrangler, who herded the saddle horses by day; one night wrangler, who
herded them by night; and mounts for these eight. The Bar Cross also
furnished one red-headed cook; one chuck wagon