The Evening Before I
Started Mrs. Todd Told Me That She Could Not Go, Frankly Admitting
That She Was Afraid To Go Over The Lonesome Places On The Road With
Only The Driver For A Protector.
It was important that I should see a
dentist, and Mrs. Averill was depending upon me to bring her friend
down from Helena who was expected from the East, so I decided to go
alone.
The quartermaster gave me the privilege of choosing my driver,
and I asked for a civilian, a rather old man who is disliked by
everyone because of his surly, disagreeable manner. Just why I chose
him I cannot tell, except that he is a good driver and I felt that he
could be trusted. The morning we started Faye said to him, "Driver,
you must take good care of Mrs. Rae, for she asked for you to drive on
this trip," which must have had its effect - that, and the nice lunch I
had prepared for him - for he was kind and thoughtful at all times.
It takes two days to go to Helena from here, a ride of forty-five
miles one day and forty the second; and on each long drive there are
stretches of miles and miles over mountains and through canons where
one is far from a ranch or human being, and one naturally thinks of
robbers and other unpleasant things. At such places I rode on top with
the driver, where I could at least see what was going on around us.
Just before we crossed the Bird-Tail divide we came to a wonderful
sight, "a sight worth seeing," the driver said; and more to gratify
him than because I wanted to, we stopped. An enormous corral had been
put up temporarily, and in it were thousands of sheep, so closely
packed that those in the center were constantly jumping over the
others, trying to find a cooler place. In the winter, when the weather
is very cold, sheep will always jump from the outer circle of the band
to the center, where it is warm; they always huddle together in cold
weather, and herders are frequently compelled to remain right with
them, nights at a time, working hard every minute separating them so
they will not smother. One of the men, owner of the sheep, I presume,
met us and said he would show me where to go so I could see everything
that was being done, which proved to be directly back of a man who was
shearing sheep. They told me that he was the very fastest and most
expert shearer in the whole territory. Anyone could see that he was an
expert, for three men were kept busy waiting upon him. At one corner
of the corral was a small, funnel-shaped "drive," the outer opening of
which was just large enough to squeeze a sheep through, and in the
drive stood a man, sheep in hand, ever ready to rush it straight to
the hands of the shearer the instant he was ready for it.
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