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14.

Cowboy stories.

Wild cattle became a thing of the past. Then my man said to me, this is J.W. Medlin, your are as good a hand as I have ever had. Tec. he said to me the wild cattle are a ting of the past. Ther is no more of hen don't you ever brand them now until they sucked his cow, if you do, I don't want you to work for me, you are as good a hand as he had ever had. That was the first time I ever knew that it was wrong to catch any man's yearlings as I had practiced it for ten years and was handy at the business. That was the time when the wild cattle went off the range as everbody had caught and marked all of that kind that there was to mark and only the yearlings of each year were left. From that time on I never bothered anybody's yearlings, but the man I was with and then only when I was sure that they were the right man's cattle. After the camp was over in the winter then we went out on a hunt and had the general round-up fot that time of the year. We would start out in the early spring and go out in February for a hundred miles away and go to some point and wouldn't get back to June. On these trips we would have the time of our lives and would oftentimes meet the men of the many other camps. He would get tha cattle from the other ranges and one man with his horses and outfit and then work it for all the cattle he could and then get to the range for the other round-up. The big-round-up would take place in the timber and then the first hindred and the big round-up would take place. We would work for two months in throwing cattle out of the timbers and the mountains onto the prairies. And then would come the big round-up and the fun of the year. After these wagons would all get in from the timbers then the big round-up for the season of the year would commence.