arged down on the defiant herdsman, whom they nearly beat to death
with his own ramrod, stampeded his cattle, and ran off two hundred of
them into the woods.

It is a wild, rough set of men that camp around the herds after they
have been driven through the Nation and are resting on the grassy plains
of Kansas. Clad in the soiled and dusty jeans of the trail, for weeks in
succession no water has touched their hands or faces, and, unshaven and
unshorn, they give free rein to their exuberant spirits, taking some
quiet Kansas village by storm, setting the tame local laws at defiance,
and compelling the authorities to acknowledge the sovereignty of their
native State.

The wages earned by these cow-boys are twenty-five dollars a month
while they are herding on Texan ranges; but, as the toil and hardship
encountered on the trail are so great, they are paid thirty-five dollars
a month during the drive, and each man furnished with eight ponies to
ride. Some of them return home by rail, visiting the cities of St. Louis
and New Orleans, and managing to be despoiled of all their hard-earned
money during their brief sojourn in "God's country;" but the greater
number straddle their wiry little ponies and ride back through the
Nation to Texas.

Not every one that started out to go up the trail lives to get back, and
the nameless mounds that dot the sides of that broad path bear mute but
powerful testimony to the danger that every hour surrounds the cow-boy.
Whether they fall by a shot from some hostile savage lurking in a
ravine near by, or are dropped by a six-shooter in the hands of a
fellow-herder, they are hastily buried and soon forgotten. Entirely
free from the restraining power of the law, men give free rein to
their passions, and the six-shooter or Winchester rifle--the inseparable
companions of the stock-drivers--is freely resorted to to settle
disputed questions. It is very common for two bosses having charge of
different herds to jump down from their horses and proceed to crack away
at each other until one has bitten the dust.

[Illustration: A KANSAS CYCLONE
FROM THE ONLY SUCCESSFUL PHOTOGRAPH EVER TAKEN]

When a violent storm, accompanied by thunder and lightning, stampedes
the cattle, they will probably get mixed up with two or three other
herds, and much labor and confusion results, and a considerable amount
of tall swearing and fighting takes place before they can be separated
and each herd gotten to itself. E