Argosy, Vol. 119, No. 2 — page 95: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

are hhad heard. of it. When the herd began to move the fol- ‘lowing morning, Blackburn sent them over the mesa for several miles, and then began to: head them down a gradual slope, leav- ing the mesa behind. ‘here was a faint, trail, narrow, over which in other days cat- tle had been driven. For the grass had. been: trampled and cut to pieces; and in some places there were still prints of hoofs in the baked soil. The slope grew sharper, narrowing as it descended, and the cattle moved down it in . a sinuous, living line, until the leaders were eut of sight far around a bend at least a mile distant. Blackburn was at the head of the herd with three men, riding some little distance in front of the cattle, inspecting the trail. Lawler and the others, were holding the stragglers. at the top of the mesa, endeavor- ing to prevent the crowding and confusion which always results when massed cattle are being held at an outlet. It was like a crowd. of eager humans at- tempting to move through an open: docrway at the same instant. The cattle were plung- ing, jostling. The concerted impulse brought the imevitable confusion—a jam that threatened frenzy. : At Lawler’s orders the men drew off, and the cattle, relieved of thé*inenace which. al- ways drives them to panic in such a situa- tion, began to filter through and to follow their leaders down the narrow trail. Down, always down, the trail led, grow- ing narrower gradually, until at last cattle and mem were moving slowly on a rocky floor with the sheer wall of the mesa on one side and a craggy, towering butte on the other. The clatter of hoofs, the clashing of horns, the bellowing, the rumble of the wagons over the rocks and: the ring of iron- shed hoofs, created a bedlam of sound, which echoed and reechoed from the tower- ing walls until the uproar was. deafening. Shorty, the tawny-haired giant, was rid- ing close to: Lawler. _ He had never ridden the trail, though he shouted to Lawler: | ‘“* Kinney’s Canon, ain’t it?” Lawler nodded. He leaned over and. 245 “Well,” shouted Shorty; “it’s a lulu, ain’t it?” For a short time the trail led Acneeieixd: Then there came a level stretch, smooth, damp. The day was hours old, and the sun was directly overhead. But down in the depths of the cafien it was cool; and a steady wind blew into the faces of the men. The herd was perhaps an hour passing through the cation; and when Lawler and Shorty, riding side by side, emerged from the cool gloom, they saw the cattle descend- ing a\shallow gorge, going toward a wide slope which dipped into a basin of mam- moth size. : 7 Lawler knew the place; he had ridden this trail many times in the years before the coming of the railroad; and when he reached the crest of the slope and looked out into the hazy, slumbering distance, he was not surprised, though his eyes quick- ened with appreciation for its beauty. Thirty miles of virgin land lay before him, basking im the white sunlight—-a green- brown bowl through which flowed a river that shimmered like silver. The dark bases of mountains loomed. above the basin at the eastern ridge—a serrated range with lofty peaks that glowed white in the blue of the sky. South and north were other moun- tains—somber, purple giants with pine-clad slopes and gleaming peehnt eS im- mutable. Looking down from where ie sat on Red King, Lawler could see the head of the herd far down the ever-broadening trail. The, leaders were so far away that they seemed to be mere dots—black dots moving _it an enverald lake. The cattle, too, had glimpsed the alluring ~ green that spread before them; and at a little distance from Lawler and several of the other men they were running, eager for the descent. ‘“She’s a whopper, ain’t ’ she?” Shorty’s voice at Lawler’s side. a heap of this man’s country, but never nothin’ like that. I reckon if the Lord had: spread her out a little mite further she’d have took in mighty near the whole earth. It’s mighty plain He wasn’t skimpin’ things none, anyway, when Fie made this here little holler, es said ‘““ T’ve seen cComichbooks (E(o) im