Songs of the Cowboys (1908)/The Tenderfoot

I thought one spring just for fun
I'd see how cow-punching was done
So before the roundup was begun
I tackled a cattle king.

Said he "my boss is down in town
He's at the Palace, his name is Brown;
I think to the ranch he'll take you down."
"That's what I want," says I

We started to the ranch next day
Brown augered me most all the way
Told me cow-punching was just child's play
It was no work at all.

For all you have to do is ride
Its only drifting with the tide
Oh how that old cow puncher lied
He surely had his gall.

He saddled me up an old gray hack
With three set-fasts upon his back
Then padded him up with gunny sacks
And used my bedding all.

Put me in charge of the Caballada
And told me not to work too hard
For all I had to do was ride
And keep the horses near.

​I had one hundred and sixty head
Sometimes I wished that I were dead
Brown's head would often get bright red
If any got away.

Straight to the bushes they would take
Asif they were running for a stake
I've often wished their necks they'd break
But they would never fall.

Sometimes I couldn't head them all
At other times my horse would fall
And I'd roll on like a cannon ball
Till earth got in my way.

When I got on he gave a bound
Sprung in the air and turned around
Just then my head hit on the ground
It was an awful fall.

He picked me up and carried me in
He bathed my head and commenced to grin
Says that's the way they all begin
You're doing very well.

To-morrow morning if you don't croak
I'll give you another horse that's broke
You'll not need a saddle or even a rope
"No, I'll quit right here," says I.