and the chuck--chuck
being grub--and one bed wagon to haul bed rolls from camp to camp, and
also to haul wood and water between times. Item: Four mules for the
chuck wagon, and two for the bed wagon. The night wrangler drove the
bed wagon; night wranglers were not supposed to sleep.

Other ranchmen, co-users of the Bar Cross range, sent each a man and
his mount to represent. A man with many cattle might send two or more
men; the 7 T X--next to the Bar Cross the biggest brand on the
Jornada--sent four. Each man or each two men brought tarp and bedding
on a pack horse.

From north, south, east and west came the stray men, each with mount
and bed. Stray men stayed with the outfit as long as it pleased them.
When they were satisfied they cut out from the day herd their own
cattle, together with those of their neighbors, and drove them home.
As a usual thing, three or four would throw in and drive back
together. If by chance some man was homeward bound and alone, the Bar
Cross detailed a man to help him home; a friendly and not imprudent
custom.

To sum up: The Bar Cross paid nine men, and provided good grub for all
comers; in return it had the help of twenty-five to forty men in
working the range; the rodeo, or round-up.

During the weeks or months of that working, wherever some other outfit
gave a round-up--east, west, south or north--there, with mount and
bed, went either a Bar Cross man or one from some other brand of the
Jornada people, bringing back all Jornada cattle.

A word about horses. In the fall, when grass was green and good, a
mount was eight to thirteen head. One must be gentle; he was night
horse; every man stood guard at night two and a half to three hours;
all night in case of storm. For the others, the best were cutting
horses, used afternoons, when the day's drive was worked; the poorest
were circle horses and were ridden in the forenoon, when the round-up
was made. But in the spring it is different. Grass is scant and short;
corn is fed, and four horses go to a mount; the range is worked
lightly.

So much was needful by way of glossary and guide; so partly to avoid
such handicap as we meet in telling a baseball story to an Englishman.

It is a singular thing that with the Bar Cross were found the top
ropers, crack riders, sure shots--not only the slickest cowmen, but
also the wisest cow ponies. Our foremen were "cowmen right," our
wranglers held the horses, our cooks would fry anything once. B