The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 14, 1902, Page 13

OUND-UP™ 1s what they call it in t is a “mustering stockwhip; in place of & gun fist. As the test of a co 's dexterity and of the stockwhip. This whip has a inch stock of wood with a lash of br rawhide that is sometimes ten, sometimes fifteen feet long. When not In use the whip Is looped quite after the fashion of the Westerner's lariat, but instead of hanging from the saddle horn, it is fas- tened to the rider's belt. But it 1s when the horseman, riding like the wind after an unruly bullock, takes the whip from his belt and with one swift motion sends the long lash circling through the air, acking like a pistol shot—it is then he proves himself, Long before daylight things are astir in an Australian cattle camp when there is a big da “‘mustering for fats.” All morning the main cattle camp is de- serted. But as the sun rises to the zenith, out of the timber comes the sound of a whip crack, and then straggl along, singly, in pairs, in small bunc the cattle. Tame enough it seem but within an hour the herd grow: head or more, a surging mas: shatters the heavens with tinuous roaring. Since morning a a_n twelve miles has been cl tle. The younger riders hold the of cattle together as they r: slowly In a choking the scattering crowd cutters-out ride main body, to the nuc of the drafted mob. Then comes the final act. The camp-horse among makes his choice. The horse understands. up, but there is never a mild gait as he dogs the turn to the edge of the Gradu the victim be to feel his turned, wheels, a pruer. a final dash for the herd. Late in the day s the flerce battle Jocks the camp horse’s e through the herd his_wake. Final dash, he crushe from which hemust be Then it is war. The ma only to keep his seat in_the saddle, but that is not easy. At a furious pace the horse and bullock make the circuit of the camp, the bullock charging, W ing, tearing first this way and that in a determined effort to regain the herd; the horse turning with him, always on the inside and crowding the bullock farther le widens, the speed increases st it begins to tell on the bul- Jock. The stockman notes the change and gathers the horse in for the last stroke. Then the stock whip is uncoiled, the beast crowded off in a wider curve, and as the three face the drafted mob the horse is drawn away, the whip cracks and burns into the bullock’s hide, once, twice and again, leaving each time 2 mark of blood, and the bullock trots away to the corner, conquered.