There was a hog-back--as we used to call 'em--a pile of rocks
stickin' up, and I saw the herd was goin' to split round it, or
swing out to the left. An' I wanted 'em to go to the right so
mebbe we'd be able to drive 'em into the pocket. So, with all my
boys except three, I rode hard to turn the herd a little to the
right. We couldn't budge 'em. They went on en' split round the
rocks, en' the most of 'em was turned sharp to the left by a deep
wash we hedn't seen--hed no chance to see.
"The other three boys--Jimmy Vail, Joe Willis, an' thet little
Cairns boy--a nervy kid! they, with Cairns leadin', tried to buck
thet herd round to the pocket. It was a wild, fool idee. I
couldn't do nothin'. The boys got hemmed in between the steers
an' the wash--thet they hedn't no chance to see, either. Vail an'
Willis was run down right before our eyes. An' Cairns, who rode a
fine hoss, he did some ridin'. I never seen equaled, en' would
hev beat the steers if there'd been any room to run in. I was
high up an' could see how the steers kept spillin' by twos an'
threes over into the wash. Cairns put his hoss to a place thet
was too wide fer any hoss, an' broke his neck an' the hoss's too.
We found that out after, an' as fer Vail an' Willis--two thousand
steers ran over the poor boys. There wasn't much left to pack
home fer burying!...An', Miss Withersteen, thet all happened
yesterday, en' I believe, if the white herd didn't run over the
wall of the Pass, it's runnin' yet.
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