SHEPHERDING IN NAVAJOA.

Golden Bay Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 50, 12 May 1910, Page 2

SHEPHERDING IN NAVAJOA.

, A MEXICAN EXPERIENCE.

I managed to stagger along for an hour more, with the herd well in the lead ; the sun had disappeared behind a deep purple horizon, and the afterglow flooded the desert with a radiant liquid light. All the earth glowed as though lighted from within, the very sands at my feet looked a stained orange, and the few clumps of dry, dusty sage brush fairly burned in the weird light ; while ■far ahead, just over tho margin of a low hill, a great, red, golden cloud of dust told the tale of the fastmoving herd. Twenty minutes of weary anxious plodding brought me to the summit ; the light was growing dim, but I could vaguely see, 'way down the gentle slope, a fringe of cedar clumos, and from beyond them I could hear the faint murmur of the sheep, like distant strains of many bagpipes., I knew they were nearing water ; and I felt so relieved at the thought that it was comparatively near that I lay down in my tracks, and in perfect contentment watched the stars as they appeared one by one in the Mexican sky. I don't know how long it was before I was suddenly conscious of a distant call ; the sound drew nearer, until I recognised the boyish voice of Begay. He had returned to find me, and, as we slowly made our way in the dark, he told me, in his 'own quiet way, the reason of ' his anxiety and hurry : "Sheep no drink for long time—dark come quickafraid for no one find trail to water in deep hole—sheep run and fall on rock—get kill." And, with a long, impressive pause—"Me no want to kill sheep—Savvy ?" I understood, but I understood far better when we cautiously picked our way down one of the most precipitous trails I ever saw. How he managed to get those thousand restless, thirsty sheep dov/n into that canyon, fully two hundred feet deep, unscathed, as they proved to be, is far beyond my imagination. It was incredible !—"Scribner's Magazine."