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Show ROUNDUP TIME ON THE MOUNTAIN Each fall they rode the summer range to gather up the steers And drift the cows and calves to lower land. They always camped at our place, they'd used our spring for years; To bunch the herds-to tally up and brand. One autumn when the boys had drifted in from here and there; Each with a string of ponies and a pack... (A pack of food provisions which were slated as his share,) Stashed 'neath the bed-roll on a horse's back. John Doey was the last one in, and like the year before, His pack was l i g h t - no sign of stuff to eat. O' such a tidy little pack-a bed-roll, nothing more... Let others bring the grub-he'd furnish meat! But every evening as the sun went sinking out of sight, John glanced up at the naked sky, to say- "I'd surely like to butcher but there just ain't time, tonight... I'll have to do it on another day." One evening as we hazed some cattle through the lower gate; A big fat heifer, wearin' Doey's brand, Broke back across the pasture on an easy lopin' gait And John reined back to lend a helpin' hand. Boomed Doey, in a hearty voice, "She'd make a tasty bite. I wish the sun was higher in the sky... If I had time I'd butcher her before the dark of night"- 'Twas then I saw the glint in father's eye! Dad sent a squirt of 'baccer juice a-fly betwixt his teeth, Then swung to earth a-reachin' for his gun. He quickly pulled a 30-30 from the saddle sheath, And cast a sharp eye at the settin' sun... "If you ain't got the time to butcher her, I have!" he said. And then, with just a smidgen of surprise, I saw him jerk his rifle up and shoot that heifer, dead... Right there in front of Doey's startled eyes! 60 Cowboy Poetry From Utah |
