asking for no quarter. His wife had left him a little daughter, Alice, and she was very dear to him. In his country quarters during the summer his daughter was with him-still very young, for the father, too, was young-and his domestic tastes were even then evidenced in his love of home and homely life. And yet "America for the Americans" was his creed, and even then he was perhaps as good a specimen of the American, pure and simple, as the country has called forth. The various Anglicized fads that were springing up in the country found little sympathy with him-only the sports of all countries, the manly feats of field and saddle, were of interest to him as developing brain and muscle so much needed in an age when office and counting-house draw away too much good red blood in the effort to accumulate the yellow fever called gold. In 1884 his term in the Assembly came to an end and he retired, for the time being, to private life. His library and his literary pursuits called him, and, a good friend to himself, his home and healthful enjoyments were a Mecca after the fever of the three years at Albany. The year after he left college he published his "Naval War of 1812," and now he set about writing the "Life of Thomas H. Benton," which was issued in 1886, the year when he married a second time. CHAPTER III. in the West-Ranch Life-Horse Hunting-A Roundup-Enjoyment of the Freedom of Outdoor Life-Activity on the Ranch-Stampede of CattleWriter on the Plains-Terrible Cold-Arduous Duties of the RanchmanLine Riding-"Hamlet" in the Ranch-house-Winter of 1886-87-Fine Descriptive Powers-News from the East-Out of Public Life, but Studying the Questions of the Day. Τ HE "impetuous" Theodore Roosevelt, as many called him, the man who was bound to "ruin" his chances by his irritable displays of annoyance when dishonest politics thrust themselves into view, when he was no longer in the Assembly wrote his books and found time to ranch in the far West, to hunt big game in the Rocky Mountains and on the plains. He took in a stock of sturdy health before he again made an appearance in public life. His home ranch lay on both sides of the Little Missouri, N. D., where deer and other game abounded. There was horse hunting as well, and the New Yorker entered into the rude life around him with the same enthusiasm with which he entered every phase of life the years. brought him. He lived in the open air, a ranchman on the Western plains, making friendships with the rude men in the vicinity, taking long rides, assisting in round ups of vicious cattle, and whatever offered. In his book Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail, he speaks of a round up. The plain where a round up is taking place is on a level bottom of the bend of the river which here and there made an almost semi-circular sweep. The wagons were camped among the cotton wood trees fringing the river. The horses were grazing on the outskirts. In the great corral toward one end the men were branding calves, while the whole middle of the bottom was occupied by lowing cattle and shouting, galloping cow-boys. "As soon as, or even before, the last circle riders have come in and have snatched a few hasty mouthfuls to serve as their midday meal, we begin to work the herd-or herds, if the one herd should be of too unwieldly size. The animals are held in a compact bunch, most of the riders forming a ring outside, while a couple from each ranch successively look the herds through and cut out those marked with their own brand. * To do good work in cutting out In from a herd, not only should the rider be a good horseman, but he should also have a skillful, thoroughly trained horse. cutting out a cow and a calf two men have to work together. As the animals of a brand are cut out they are received and held apart by some rider detailed for the purpose, who is said to be 'holding the cut.' All this time the men holding the herd have their hands full, for some animal is continually trying to break out, when the nearest man flies at it at once and soon brings it back to its fellows. As soon as all the cows, calves, and whatever else is being gathered have been cut out the rest are driven clear off the ground and turned loose, being headed in the direction contrary to that in which we travel in the following day. Then the riders surround the next herd, the men holding cuts move them up nearer, and the work is begun anew, As soon as the brands of cattle are worked and the animals that are to be driven along are put in the day herd, attention is turned to the cows and calves which are already gathered in different bands, consisting each of all the cows of a certain brand and all the cows that are following them. If there is a corral each band is in turn driven into it; if there is none a ring of riders does duty in its place. A fire is built, the irons heated, and a dozen men dismount to, as it is called, 'wrestle' the calves. The best two ropers go in on their horses to catch the latter; one man keeps tally, a couple put on the brands, and the others seize, throw and hold the little unfortunates. ** * * If there are seventy or eighty calves in a corral the scene |