Corral

“ At that time I was still an active young fellow, so that I kept up close with the ensign Corral, and we reached some hollows in the rock, along which we continued to advance for some time, but at the imminent risk of our lives, until Corral could proceed no further, and held himself fast by one of the thick trees with prickly thorns which grew in these hollows ”

“ Drawn out, and rolled to the middle of the corral, they dance in delight around it, repeatedly quaffing from their calabash cups, with such an accompaniment of noises that the camp, lately occupied by men and women, might seem to have come into the possession of devils. ”

“ At this point the rim rock comes down to the edge of the waters of the lake, and receding in the form of a half wheel, again approaches the water at a distance of several hundred yards, forming a complete corral. Secreted among the rocks, the Indians awaited until the hapless immigrants were well within the corral, and then poured a shower of arrows and bullets among them. The victims, all unconscious of danger, taken by surprise, and surrounded on all sides, with but the meager shelter of their wagons, were at the mercy of their savage foes. ”

“ The curtains were close-drawn, and except at one point—the entrance between two of the portales—the corridor was completely screened from our view, and consequently all the windows of the house, that opened into the verandah. No human face greeted our searching glances. In looking to the rear—into the great corral, or cattle-yard—we could see numerous peons in their brown leathern dresses, with naked legs and sandalled feet; vaqueros in all their grandeur of velveteens, bell-buttons, and gold or silver lace; with a number of women and young girls in coloured naguas and rebosos. ”

“ A few rods from the dwelling is the corral or cattle-pen, a large oval inclosure, into which, at irregular intervals, he drives his herds for purposes of branding or enumeration; and near the corral two or three impatient horses, shackled with a thong confining the forelegs, are grazing. ”

“ The Crows believed that while the owner slept, his spirit talked to the horse. In that way, the horse would know just what to do when the battle started. Little Eagle was so relieved to know there was still a chance to get a warning back to his own camp, that he could hardly wait to make the attempt.
“There will be other horses in the corral,” he said. “It would be easier to get one of them.”
“If we get a horse from the corral, it might be one that wasn’t much good,” Angry Wolf answered. “The best horses will be tied to the owners’ wrists. I must get one of them.” ”

“ The corral is especially useful for two purposes: it enables the wagoners to yoke up with ease, and it secures them from the prairie traveler’s prime dread—the stampede. The Western savages are perfectly acquainted with the habits of animals, and in their marauding expeditions they instinctively adopt the system of the Bedouins, [77] the Gallas, and the Somal. Providing themselves with rattles and other implements for making startling noises, they ride stealthily up close to the cattle, and then rush by like the whirlwind with a volley of horrid whoops and screams. ”

“ If none were lost the herders drove the animals close to the camp, and by five o'clock horses, oxen, and cattle were rounded up, and the separate emigrants chose their teams and drove them into the corral to be yoked. The corral was a circle about one hundred yards deep, formed by wagons fastened together by ox-chains, making a barrier that could not be broken by any vicious ox or horse, and a fortification in case of an attack by Indians. ”

“ The mules were first driven into a stockade, called a corral, inclosing an acre or more of ground. The Mexicans,—who were all experienced in throwing the lasso,—would go into the corral on horseback, with their lassos attached to the pommels of their saddles. Soldiers detailed as teamsters and black smiths would also enter the corral, the former with ropes to serve as halters, the latter with branding irons and a fire to keep the irons heated. A lasso was then thrown over the neck of a mule, when he would immediately go to the length of his tether, first one end, then the other in the air. ”

“ It is coiled up and carried on the pommel of the saddle. When used for capturing animals or large game, it is whirled several times around the head when the horse is on a dead run and fired at the head of the victim. A professional can place the loop nearly every time.
During the third day of corral life, the steers arrived, and the hard work, mixed with much fun, commenced. A corral is about the shape of an egg, closed by the wagons at one end, and left open to admit the cattle at the other, then closed by chains. ”

“ Finally sheltering himself behind a bunch of thorn trees, his face covered with blood, his banner torn to rags, Corral called out, "Oh, Bernal Diaz, it is impossible to go further. There is place for neither hand nor foot. Keep in the shelter of the rock, and watch that none of these boulders hit you." He then shouted to the soldiers that they should pass on the word to Cortes. Even on the level, where our captain stood, the hurtling rocks had killed two or three soldiers. But from the winding of the hill Cortes had not seen that nearly all of us who started to climb were wounded or dead. ”

“ Sometimes we would spread our blankets on the straw as if we were in bed, and in the morning find several arrows sticking through them.
A favorite way of guarding the corral was to take up a big picket, or post on either side of the bars, and have a man stand in its place.
The Indians’ scheme was to get the bars down in some way, then stampede the horses, and run them off. One night Peter Neece and I were standing guard in this way. He was on one side of the bars and I was on the other. We knew that there were Indians around by the way the horses in the corral acted. ”

“ The first corral he crossed and found it empty of any horses save the pintos and Coaley. The second corral held three horses, one of them the chunky roan he had ridden that afternoon. The third and largest corral was empty, the gate swinging open.
“All right––no horses caught up for night-riding––yet,” he said to himself, and returned to the house, leaving the straighter path to pass close to the bunk house. ”

“ It was a miserable day, with fog concealing the mountains and lying heavily on the sea, but as no one expected rain I sent the kuruma back to Mororan and secured horses. On principle I always go to the corral myself to choose animals, if possible, without sore backs, but the choice is often between one with a mere raw and others which have holes in their backs into which I could put my hand, or altogether uncovered spines. ”

“ It was at this point, when unyoking our oxen [Pg 61] at evening that a large band sneaked over the bluffs for the purpose, as we supposed, of stampeding our cattle. They did not take us unawares, however, for we never turned cattle from corral until the assistant wagon boss surveyed the locality in every direction with a field glass, for the tricky redskin might be over the next sand hill.
INDIANS ATTACKING CORRAL
Fifty good men could whip five times their number, especially when fortified by those immense white covered prairie schooners in corral formation. ”

“ Again she made the cast, while the aroused cattle milled around the four sides of the corral in a plunging mass. This throw was fair; the white cow came to earth again; and before it could rise Santa had made the lasso fast around a post of the corral with a swift and simple knot, and had leaped upon the cow again with the rawhide hobbles. ”

“ In the corral were twenty or thirty wild cattle, who had been kicking and plunging about till they had filled the place with mud knee-deep. Several men with lassos were trying to secure them, by throwing the loops over their horns. The cattle used all their endeavours109 to avoid being caught, by shaking their heads and throwing the cords off before they could be pulled tight. Each man kept his attention directed to one animal, following it about to every part of the corral. ”

“ I moved on under fire one mile to water, when, forming a corral of the wagons, and holding the adjacent hills and the brush on the stream by pickets, I made my arrangements to defend my position and fight the Indians. Our position in a low, open basin some five hundred or six hundred yards across was good, and with the aid of our corral we could defend ourselves against a vastly superior force of the enemy. ”

“ He must enjoy the life of a hermit. The corral was a field of ten acres containing three thousand to four thousand head of mules and horses, all much pulled down for want of feed. It was sundown before we turned them over. Had three miles of bad road to camp. Walked it through the dark, lost our track several times. Found a good supper of fried beef and biscuit awaiting us. Spent evening in Griff's tent listening to music of flute and vocal as discoursed by Byness, Parker, etc. ”

“ The men who are to participate in this sport take their positions and a bullock is permitted to pass through the line encircling the herd. It is immediately charged by two of the waiting party, one following and urging it on, the other riding by its side, forcing the beast as closely as possible to the corral fence. When they have traversed the distance of the corral enclosure the person riding by the animal’s side rushes to its head, and by a clever move turns it suddenly around. ”

“ By riding in this manner we could corral quicker. What is meant by corralling is that each man has his string of horses as we have before stated, and when attacked each man rides to the center, and the horses are a great protection to the men in time of battle. We traveled some four or five miles without seeing an Indian, but all this time we were on open ground.
Finally we came to a little stream, a tributary to the Madison river, and when crossing this we were again attacked by the Indians, who were secreted in the brush. ”

“ It closes with a handsomely constructed corral, into which a company of horsemen are driving a herd of cattle. One of the younger fry, not having learned the futility of all attempts to escape, breaks away from the herd and scampers adown the field. ”

“ The disrobed trees looked black, like funeral mutes mourning the death of summer, and wept cold drops upon our faces. As we wound our slippery way we perceived moving figures in the distance of the dim vista, and soon came up to a comfortless man and woman, a poor couple, huddling over a small smouldering fire of twigs and leaves. They told us that Corrall and his wife had taken down their shed and moved three weeks before, and were gone to live in some of the new buildings in White-conduit fields. ”

“ In the evening, before mingling the new bands with the herd already held, the few cattle of wrong sex or age that remained amongst the steers were cut out and driven off. As soon as the "round up" was completed, the herd was taken down to the hacienda where the branding was to take place.
The following was a gala week at Corralitos. Every man or boy who could beg, borrow, or steal a rope presented himself to take part in the proceedings. ”

“ Never since the world began had man or beast fallen into that bog and come out again alive. But this giant had saved his horse and himself. Plainly a giant endued with the mastery of the elements, lord of earth and water and air and fire, a magician to be worshipped like the storm-cloud. Fearing doom for himself and all the little people, came Corb. ”

“ In the next moment a mass of cavalry came thundering down the ravine. They had broken off from their march, through the accident of rousing a straggling lion, and followed him in the giddy ardor of the chase. But the sight now before them was enough to appal the boldest intrepidity. The valley was filled with the vast herd; retreat was impossible, for the troopers came still pouring in by the only pass, and from the sudden descent of the glen, horse and man were rolled head foremost among the lions; neither man nor monster could retreat. ”

“ Is it not the very place for a richly carved surs (corbel) ?”
“Ay, that is it, that is it! A corbel which should spring from the pillar, and follow the line of the arch. We must reflect on this, Master Gervase, and they shall be of finest cutting, and each varying from the other. But we may not think of this yet awhile, for truly there is enough on hand to call for all thy skill and industry. How fair it looks, with the winter sunshine striking on the fair stonework! ”

“ You descend along the river for about half a mile, till you arrive at the Corra Lin, so called from an old castle and estate upon the opposite bank. The old castle of Corra, overhanging a high rock that overlooks the fall, with Corra house, and the rocky and woody banks of the Clyde, form of themselves a beautiful and grand coup d'oeil: But nothing can equal the striking and stupendous appearance of the fall itself, which, when viewed from any of the different seats placed here and there along the walks, must fill every unaccustomed beholder with awe and astonishment. ”

“ I flung open the gate, and led the way to the circumvallation. The sentinels, occupied with looking on the pomp, suffered us to approach unperceived; we mounted the wall, overthrew everything before us, and plunged down upon the cavalry, entangled in the ravine. It was a complete surprise.
The bravery of the legions was not proof against the fury of our attack. Even our wild faces and half-naked forms, by the uncertain glare of the torches, looked scarcely human. Horse and man rolled down the declivity. The arrival of fresh troops only increased the confusion ”