“We just rounded them up. They’re milling, and that’s bad. The vaqueros are hard drivers. They beat us all hollow, and we drove some, too.” He was wet with sweat, black with dust, and out of breath. “I’m off now. Flo, my sister will have enough of this in about two minutes. Take her back to the wagon. I’ll tell Bill you’re here, and run in whenever I get a minute.”
The bawling and bellowing, the crackling of horns and pounding of hoofs, the dusty whirl of cattle, and the flying cowboys disconcerted Madeline and frightened her a little; but she was intensely interested and meant to stay there until she saw for herself what that strife of sound and action meant. When she tried to take in the whole scene she did not make out anything clearly and she determined to see it little by little.
“Will you stay longer?” asked Florence; and, receiving an affirmative reply, she warned Madeline: “If a runaway steer or angry cow comes this way let your horse go. He’ll get out of the way.”
That lent the situation excitement, and Madeline became absorbed. The great mass of cattle seemed to be eddying like a whirlpool, and from that Madeline understood the significance of the range word “milling.” But when Madeline looked at one end of the herd she saw cattle standing still, facing outward, and calves cringing close in fear. The motion of the cattle slowed from the inside of the herd to the outside and gradually ceased. The roar and tramp of hoofs and crack of horns and thump of heads also ceased in degree, but the bawling and bellowing continued. While she watched, the herd spread, grew less dense, and stragglers appeared to be about to bolt through the line of mounted cowboys.
From that moment so many things happened, and so swiftly, that Madeline could not see a tenth of what was going on within eyesight. It seemed horsemen darted into the herd and drove out cattle. Madeline pinned her gaze on one cowboy who rode a white horse and was chasing a steer. He whirled a lasso around his head and threw it; the rope streaked out and the loop caught the leg of the steer. The white horse stopped with wonderful suddenness, and the steer slid in the dust. Quick as a flash the cowboy was out of the saddle, and, grasping the legs of the steer before it could rise, he tied them with a rope. It had all been done almost as quickly as thought. Another man came with what Madeline divined was a branding-iron. He applied it to the flank of the steer. Then it seemed the steer was up with a jump, wildly looking for some way to run, and the cowboy was circling his lasso. Madeline saw fires in the background, with a man in charge, evidently heating the irons. Then this same cowboy roped a heifer which bawled lustily when the hot iron seared its hide. Madeline saw the smoke rising from the touch of the iron, and the sight made her shrink and want to turn away, but she resolutely fought her sensitiveness. She had never been able to bear the sight of any animal suffering. The rough work in men’s lives was as a sealed book to her; and now, for some reason beyond her knowledge, she wanted to see and hear and learn some of the every-day duties that made up those lives.
“Look, Miss Hammond, there’s Don Carlos!” said Florence. “Look at that black horse!”
Madeleine saw a dark-faced Mexican riding by. He was too far away for her to distinguish his features, but he reminded her of an Italian brigand. He bestrode a magnificent horse.
Stillwell rode up to the girls then and greeted them in his big voice.
“Right in the thick of it, hey? Wal, thet’s sure fine. I’m glad to see, Miss Majesty, thet you ain’t afraid of a little dust or smell of burnin’ hide an’ hair.”
“Couldn’t you brand the calves without hurting them?” asked Madeline.