de.

Well, the cuss stayed around for two or three weeks, till at last he
was ready to go;
And that cuss out yonder bein' too poor to move, he gimme,--the cuss
had no dough.
Well, at first the darn brute was as wild as a deer, an' would snort
when he came to the branch,
An' it took two cow punchers, on good horses, too, to handle him here
at the ranch.

Well, the winter came on an' the range it got hard, an' my mustang
commenced to get thin,
So I fed him some an' rode him around, an' found out old Freckles was
game.
For that was what the other cuss called him,--just Freckles, no more
or no less,--
His color,--couldn't describe it,--something like a paint shop in
distress.

Them was Indian times, young feller, that I am telling about;
An' oft's the time I've seen the red man fight an' put the boys to rout.
A good horse in them days, young feller, would save your life,--
One that in any race could hold the pace when the red-skin bands were
rife.

* * * * *

WHOSE OLD COW?

'Twas the end of round-up, the last day of June,
Or maybe July, I don't remember,
Or it might have been August, 'twas some time ago,
Or perhaps 'twas the first of September.

Anyhow, 'twas the round-up we had at Mayou
On the Lightning Rod's range, near Cayo;
There were some twenty wagons, more or less, camped about
On the temporal in the canon.

First night we'd no cattle, so we only stood guard
On the horses, somewhere near two hundred head;
So we side-lined and hoppled, we belled and we staked,
Loosed our hot-rolls and fell into bed.

Next morning 'bout day break we started our work,
Our horses, like 'possums, felt fine.
Each one "tendin' knittin'," none tryin' to shirk!
So the round-up got on in good time.

Well, we worked for a week till the country was clean
And the bosses said, "Now, boys, we'll stay here.
We'll carve and we'll trim 'em and start out a herd
Up the east trail from old Abilene."

Next morning all on herd, and but two with the cut,
And the boss on Piute, carving fine,
Till he rode down his horse and had to pull out,
And a new man went in to clean up.

Well, after each outfit had worked on the band
There was only three head of them left;
When Nig Add from L F D outfit rode in,--
A dictionary on earmarks and brands.

He cut the two head