ot, and to
feel quite sure what is going to happen. You whirl your lasso round your
head, and aim it at the horns of a harmless steer in the corral some
yards away. But you look in vain to see the rope curl round your
particular objective. Instead, it flops over your horse's ears, or
smacks you on the side of your own head. Oh, it was so easy on the
ground, too, when you left off!

And your horse is patient still. He even seems to be smiling quietly to
himself. After many more attempts, and with an arm that acheth much, you
succeed in affixing your rope round something, throwing from the saddle.
At last you have managed it.

Later on an opportunity occurs for the display of your prowess. You are
in the corral with a bunch of moving beasts. You single out one as your
particular victim. This time the beast is not standing still, and you
throw your lasso, carefully watching the fall as it whirls through the
air. Poor animal! Instead of roping it by the horns, you nearly jerk its
tail off! There are very many accomplishments that seem easy in the
hands of an expert and which prove most difficult to the uninitiated,
but I think the throwing of the lasso can claim more mysteries than most
others.

When out on an inspection of the ranche, reckoning up the stock, and
seeing that all are able to secure sufficient food, it frequently
happens that some of the cattle will be missing. They get away into all
sorts of places, some almost inaccessible among the hills, and if they
are not found and brought back to the pastures within easy reach of the
corral, they become wild, and then there is mischief to pay. They sneak
down late at night or in the small hours of the morning to the corn and
wheat fields, break the fences, and trample the crops in a way that
spells disaster to many a settler.

Some of the cattle belonging to my friend's ranche had gone astray in
this way, and we were unable to locate them.

I remember we were sitting in our adobe house one evening, three or four
of us together. It was about seven o'clock, and we had been talking over
matters in connection with the decision of the "boss" to drive a bunch
of cattle down to King City, where they would be entrained for 'Frisco.
The "boss" was up at the other ranche. He had gone to ask the old
settler to give us a hand with the cattle next day at the rodeo, or
"round-up."

He hadn't offered to take me with him. I suppose that was Edna's fault.
Anyhow, we had been si