more men, as the
case might be, would direct him to ride over a certain section,
indicating the assigned territory by its natural marks of valley or flat
or wash or ridge, and designating the point where the cattle would first
be brought together. The cowboy named would rein his horse aside from
the main company, calling the men of his choice as he did so, and a
moment later with his companions would be lost to sight. A little
farther, and again the foreman would name a rider, and, telling him to
pick his men, would assign to him another section of the district to be
covered, and this cowboy, with his chosen mates, would ride away. These
smaller groups would, in their turn, separate, and thus the entire
company of riders would open out like a huge fan to sweep the
countryside.

It was no mere pleasure canter along smoothly graded bridle paths or
well-kept country highways that these men rode. From roughest
rock-strewn mountain side and tree-clad slope, from boulder-piled
watercourse and tangled brush, they must drive in the scattered cattle.
At reckless speed, as their quarry ran and turned and dodged, they must
hesitate at nothing. Climbing to the tops of the hills, scrambling
catlike to the ragged crests of the ridges, sliding down the bluffs,
jumping deep arroyos, leaping brush and boulders, twisting, dodging
through the timber, they must go as fast as the strength and endurance
of their mounts would permit. And so, gradually, as the sun climbed
higher above the peaks and crags of Old Granite, the great living fan of
men and horses closed, the courses of the widely scattered riders
leading them, with the cattle they had found, to the given point.

And now, the cattle, urged by the active horsemen, came streaming from
the different sections to form the herd, and the quiet of the great
range was broken by the bawling of confused and frightened calves, the
lowing of anxious mothers, the shrill, long-drawn call of the steers,
and the deep bellowing of the bulls, as the animals, so rudely driven
from their peaceful feeding grounds, moved restlessly within the circle
of guarding cowboys, while cows found their calves, and the monarchs of
the range met in fierce combat.

A number of the men--those whose mounts most needed the rest--were now
left to hold the herd, or, perhaps, to move it quietly on to some other
point, while the others were again sent out to cover another section of
the territory included in that day's r