"Then there are calls, oaths, coarse laughter, bellowings, moans and cries of pain and fright, making wildest discord.
"I pitied the poor little calves most. They are generally caught by the leg, or legs, and jerked rudely over the ground to the branding place. Here two or more other men grab them and hold them down while the cruel deed is done. The little things seem so terribly frightened and helpless. The little while I watched, I saw several of the older animals badly burned on their shoulders and faces. These were mothers who charged in defence of their young; then the hot iron struck one steer in the eye, completely destroying it. The men scarcely notice such a happening, but I could not forget the suffering. I would rather earn my bread far down in the mines than by trafficking in flesh and blood.
"In the spring all the stock is reduced; I may say they are barely alive, but when the rains come and fresh grass springs up they pick up rapidly."
Thus would my master talk until it seemed to me that we were pretty highly favored, but there has never been a winter since but I have thought often about the starving, freezing herds "out West."
[CHAPTER XIV.]
Chet drove Topsy a great deal; "too much for so young a horse," the old stableman said.
One day when he brought her in, her back was a perfect network of welts, raised by his cruel whip.
"Oh, Topsy," I said, "what were you doing?"