Chapter 10

Caleb was the hero of the hour as the crew rode back to the ranch that night after leaving the saloon. It was a beautiful night, and the air was filled with the sound of laughter and singing. Caleb was undoubtedly the soberest one of the bunch, mainly because he never allowed himself to drink too much. It was a habit he developed during the war as one of the things that could help keep him alive; he had kept the habit, and it had served him well.

They had cut across the ranch instead of following the regular trail, and they had reached a deserted part of the range. Suddenly, Caleb called out, "CUT OUT THE NOISE, FELLERS! I HEAR SUMPTHIN' FUNNY! LISTEN FER A MINUTE!" It took a few moments but Caleb's influence was strong enough to get all of the singing and laughter to stop. He listened carefully and tried to identify the strange sound he heard. Then he had it. He recognized the sound as that made by running cattle. Caleb shouted, "STAMPEDE! WATCH YER ASS!"

"Stampede" was the one word that would drive its way through the worst fog in any cattleman's brain. It was enough to sober up almost any cattleman in an instant! None of the men riding with Caleb that night had been so drunk that he did not immediately comprehend the potential danger they all faced. Stampeding cattle were intent on only one thing: following the animal in front. They would not swerve from their course for any reason short of the death of the steer in front. Therefore, any man or horse in front of a stampeding herd was going to die if he couldn't get out of the way.

Why did cattle stampede? There was no way of knowing! Anything from a stroke of lightning to the chirp of a cricket could set off a stampede. At night, cattle were easily spooked, so cowboys working a herd at night would often sing continually so that they would not startle the herd and send it into a blind run to escape whatever it was that had scared them. It wasn't the song that soothed the cattle, it was simply the steady noise that the cattle found soothing. The singing might well also mask some sounds which could upset the cattle, but it didn't really matter, cowboys settled for the truism that singing kept them alive!

The rumbling noise came from behind them and to the left, so they turned in that direction. The only practical way to stop a stampede was to turn it in upon itself, so that the cattle would stop running, in confusion. If they could get the leaders of the herd to turn, then the rest of the herd would follow, but that was very dangerous because it meant getting in front of a lot of blindly charging steers. Nevertheless, that's what the cowboys hoped to do.

The herd was racing toward the ranch house complex, and it had to be turned before disaster hit. If the herd reached the complex, it was almost certain that people and animals would be killed, so the cowboys had to act, and they had to act fast!

The cowboys rode as fast as their horses could take them toward the rumbling noise and soon came within sight of the stampede. Fortunately, the moon was bright that night, and they could see where they were going. On the other hand, it looked like every steer in Texas and most of Mexico had to be in that herd rushing toward them. Even though their instincts fought with their minds to persuade the cowboys to flee what looked like certain death, these men were professionals and knew their duty!

They did not ride as if to crash head on with the leading cattle, that would be doomed to certain failure. Instead, they rode in a flanking maneuver to start a gradual turn which they would eventually guide into a circle. This was not something that would be accomplished in seconds; it could take as much as half an hour to get the cattle turned far enough. It probably would not take longer, simply because the cattle were already tiring and would eventually stop from exhaustion. That exhaustion was the key to ultimate success—the stampede would have to stop when the cattle got tired enough! The cowboys just hoped to live that long!

Things were happening too fast to allow for much planning, so there was only one direction for the cattle to be moved. The problem was that their initial direction would be even more toward the housing complex, so there was no room for half-measures. The herd had to be turned successfully, or not at all, if the lives at the house and environs were to be saved.

The idea, now, was to spook the leaders of the stampede even more, so that they would run in the desired direction. When they got close enough, the cowboys began to whoop and holler, to shoot their guns into the air, and do anything else they could think of to frighten the cattle into running away from them.

Gradually, the cowboy's efforts began to work, and the leading cattle tried to run away from the frightening monsters on their right. This was no time to slack off! The stampede was being turned, but there was still a lot of work to do. The problem was that the horses were tiring, and there was a real danger that a horse could stumble, dumping itself and its rider squarely into the path of the running cattle. This would be a sure, but quick, death, but the cowboys gave no thought to that possibility—they were too caught up in the heat of the moment to worry about trivialities like dying!

The race with disaster and death continued for another 20 minutes until the stampede was finally turned. The leaders stopped running when they met other running cattle. Very quickly, the herd settled into an exhausted walk. They soon forgot why they had been running, indeed, if they ever even knew, and resumed grazing on what grass they could find. Fortunately, cattle don't have a long attention span, so they were quiet and docile in only a few minutes. Except for the steam rising from their overheated bodies, it would be hard to tell that death had roared through here only minutes before! Such was the life of a cowboy!

Caleb made a quick count and saw that all of his companions had survived the stampede, but there was the question of possible injuries back up the trail of the stampede. Caleb said, "Shorty, ya an' Jed better ride up ta see what happened ta the night patrol. Somebody may need help."

"Shore thing, Caleb. Come on, Jed."

Caleb delegated two other riders to stay with the herd until they heard from the ranch. He and the remaining 3 riders rode in to report to Jim Lucy, the foreman, on their little adventure and to arrange for relief of the men still on the range.

When they arrived and woke up the foreman, Caleb could hardly get in a word for all of the praise being heaped upon him by the other men. He was credited with practically single-handedly stopping the stampede and preventing disaster at the ranch house complex. They even described the encounter with the card cheat in town before they would shut up.

These men were sent to bed, and new riders were dispatched to take over guarding the herd. When that was done, Jim said to Caleb, "Ya're a real valuable man ta have around. How'd ya like ta be assistant foreman?"

"That sounds good ta me, but what will Mr. Higgins say 'bout that. Kin I do both jobs, bein' his bodyguard an' yer assistant at the same time?"

"Let me talk ta Higgins 'bout that. I'll git back ta ya on it. Ya better git ta bed, now, since ya're only gonna git a couple of hours sleep, as it is."

The next morning, Caleb showed up for duty on time, but a little the worse for wear. He really needed more than 2 hours sleep to be at his best. Higgins took one look at him and ordered, "You look like hell, Jackson! Go on back to sleep. I'll see you this afternoon."

Caleb gratefully accepted the order and was asleep almost before he lay down. He woke up in time for lunch and was back at work in the afternoon. He walked up to Higgins' office door and knocked. At the order to come in, Caleb entered, closed the door, and sat in his chair, alert for any disturbance.

Higgins said, "Jackson, Jim Lucy told me what happened last night with the stampede. He wants you as his assistant, and I have to agree that too many of your talents are being wasted sitting in that chair all day. So, I'm releasing you from the job as my routine bodyguard and assigning you to be Lucy's assistant. But the first thing I want you to do is to find a replacement for yourself as my bodyguard. Dismissed."