Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 104: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

96 The Grand Round-Up. Of course, it was to be a grand affair, and one that carried with it severe labors. Old Sile was master of ceremonies, as he had served in this capacity with signal success on many past occasions. At this time of the year the cattle had become more or less mixed, and numerous well-grown calves made their advent on the scene, needing attention and the mark of their mothers. Cowboys and herders from all around came troop- ing up to Sunset Ranch. There was an exhilaration in the air that reminded Cuthbert very forcibly of the days when the circus came to the little Virginia town where he had spent his earlier years—these gayly bedecked cavaliers of the plains galloping hither and yon, shouting, and whirling rings of tough rope through the air to check some steer that insisted on breaking away from his fellows. How like knights of old they appeared, centaurs of modern times, able to accom- plish such startling teats when mounted that they seemed to be a part of the animal themselves! It was a glorious spectacle, when, on the aus- picious morning, General Old Sile marshaled his forces for the day’s great campaign. He knew where every bunch of cattle was to be found, and, dividing his forces so as to suit the re- quirements of the occasion, sent this little squad whirling off to the north to round up the cattle on the range bordering Cranberry Run, another to the east to look after the drove stretched through the timber where Karl and Cuthbert had weathered the first blizzard, a third almost due south in search of a wandering herd last seen in the region of Timber- man’s Coulee, and with an unusually large number of youngsters among them. So they radiated in parties of from five to ten, like Connicloooks.€©