The dogs had been gone a while. they had left at a dead run as the man on the sorrel horse came onto the well used trail. the ridge was high and sloped down into the valley below. miles ahead he could see home corrals and houses. up ahead he could hear a dog bawling and others baying. the trail he followed had plenty of fresh, deep tracks covered in copius amounts of green , spashey manure. as he approached the spot the dogs should have been he heard cattle running and the dogs baying again. he rode into the clearing surrounded by hackberry trees and all that was left was tore up ground and a little dust hanging in the air. the trail led on down country. he struck a lope following. his cattle were all dog broke. just a bark and they held up. he couldnt figgure why they kept breaking out. at least they were headed toward the house. his pack today consisted of 3 older "made" dogs and a yearling pup. he was surprised the pup hadnt quit. running this far , this hard would play him out quick. up ahead he head the half hound bay treed. they had stopped them again. as the man eased over a small saddle he stopped to look at what was taking place below. 9 brangus cow with calves were held in a tight knot in the center of a bowl that was surrounded by high boulders. the trail out the other side was one animal wide then it hit the open, flat country. in the middle of the knot of cows stood a brindle steer. his head was high looking over the backs of the cows. bloody slobbers drooled from his jaws. he must have weighed at least 1500 pounds. his feet were wore short, his horns in some by gone day had been tipped. he had a wild look from his eye but every where he looked or turned a dog was standing , panting and ready to bite him. the big steer saw the man and moved to the far side of the holdup. there the pup tony was waitting. as the steer stepped out to run tony leaped and caught the steer by the lower lip. bellowing, shaking his head the steer flung tony away and returned to the middle of the hold up. the cattle were hot. the baby calves were give out . the man decided to let everyone settle dow and cool off. he rode the deep hearted sorrel to a mesquite tree, stepped off and loosed the cinchas. the dogs had backed off and laid in the shade of some of the scrub brush. the big steer hooked and shoved the cows , pushing them around but never getting to the edge of the holdup. when ever he got close a dog would raise up from a shadow and stalk forward. ready for him.
After a 30 minute rest the man tightened his cinchas and stepped into the leathe. pullong the rope off the saddle horn he punched a hole in the busness end and holding the loop in his hand that rested on his hip. the dogs were cooled and ready. the big steer was still looking for a place to run to . it was a rough mile from the bowl to the ranch corrals. the man wanted that steer in those corrals, bad. that steer had escaped every year for 6 years and then would disapear for month on end. the man knew he would never get a better chance to catch the renegade than now. easing around to the back side of the hold up he called the dogs to him and let a old brangus cow start ambling out the trail toward the house. that old cow knew when she got to the corrals , sweet alphalfa hay would be in the corral. the other 8 cows and calves started to line out and follow with the big steer in the middle , pushing , shoving and hooking the gentle cows. when the cattle reached the open country the steer made a dash for freedom while the 9 cows lined out for the home corrals now in site. when the brindle threw his head up and turned away to run tony the pup caught the end of the steers tail and set backwhipping around the to fight the steer whipped the pup like a pendulum at the end of the tail. tony held on growling. by then the rest of the dogs had circled the cows and had returned for the steer. seeing the dogs the steer beelined back to the hold up. as he reached the cows he kicked back with one powerful hind leg . the blow upended tony sending him into a bush ,he lay still. the man rode by shaking his head. he would come back and bury him later. he needed that steer in the corral. when within 50 yards of the corral the cows started trotting toward the open gate. but the big steer stalled. he turned to fight. he wasnt going to loose his freedom easily. the man looked for the dogs and saw them all cooling off in the water troughs. he was alone with 1500 pounds of bad attitude. just as the steer dropped his head and charged a black and tan streak came from nowhere and bit into the steers cheek, tony! the man roped the steer around the horns as he rolled by carring the pup whose feet were off the ground as he hung from the steer. when the steer hit the end of the nylon dallied to the saddle horn cinched to that good sorrel horse, his front feet came off the ground and he pivoted on his back feet. before he could set himself the big sorrel was bouncing him through the gate . with the gate closed and chained the man put the steer in a chute and pulled the rope off. looking around he saw tony laying in the water trough with the other dogs cooling off. if he lived another year he would be one hell of a cow dog.
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