Upon Ol' Capitan

By Bronco T
It’s hard to still remember, been so long ago,
I think it was late twenties, give or take a year or so.

High on the Capitan, on land just newly bought,
We came to gather cattle, least that was what we thought.

Mountains steep and brushy, cattle old long horned and wild,
We thought that we was cowboys, not slickers meek and mild.

We found that we could catch ‘em, but on horseflesh and man was rough,
Always had good horses, just never had enough.

Lost ropes and busted riggins, although we caught a few,
Tie ‘em to a scrubby pine, let ‘em set a day or two.

And when we went to lead ‘em, off that mountain named Capitan,
Starvin’ hadn’t slowed ‘em down none, they wrecked us to a man.

Feelin’ low but so much wiser, the boss says, “Cut ‘em loose,
I hate to admit defeat boys, but for devil’s cattle I’ve no use.”

We gathered at the Prather camp, to lick our wounds and heal,
And look upon that lonely mountain, with our failure each to deal.

When ridin’ into camp there came, upon a little grass fed mare,
An old and grizzled Mescalero, with long and braided hair.

He spoke in broken English, but mostly he talked in sign,
We was all a little curious to what he had in mind.

He’d heard about our troubles, upon El Capitan,
And for bringin’ off them cattle, he said he had a plan.

Well we all grinned and laughed a bit, for we thought he was a fool,
We was a lickin’ wounds ya see, to his words we all was cool.

But the boss he says, “Just listen, let him say his piece,
They’s five hundred head of mossy horns, upon that mountain lease.”

“If you can get them cattle, off of that mountain spread,
I will pay you well old man, but you’ll likely end up dead.”

The old man gave a toothless smile, and says, “You do what I say,
Me no bring ‘em cattle, you no gotta pay.”

The boss says, “It’s a deal old man, I’ll go along for sport,
What is it I need to do, for cowboys I’m not short.”

“First you catch’m burros, catch’m burros many,
Then you drive ‘em here to me, ‘cause burros I aint got any.”

We thought the boss would balk at that, but you see he gave his word,
and getting’ him to break it, why that would be….absurd.

He bought up every burro, that we could find for miles,
And I tell ya folks was laughin’, well…..maybe they’s just smiles.

We gathered ‘bout a hundred, and brought ‘em ta our place,
While that Mescalero Apache, was whittlin’ at quite a pace.

He began ta buildin’ ox yokes, least that’s what they looked ta me,
Carvin’ with knife and hatchet, the pinewood beams upon his knee.

While we went ta feedin’ burros, the best of hay and grain,
Why if we was fattenin’ yearlins, they wouldn’t have made the gain.

Them burros was just rollin’, the best they’d ever ‘et,
While the boss he just scratched his head, and over feed bills he did fret.

After ‘bout two weeks of this, the Indian says, “We go,
You move ‘em up mountain, me catch’m wagon go too slow.”

The Mescalero fills the wagon, with the yokes that he had made,
He follows behind the burros we is pushin’, and fellers what a sad parade.

We throwed ‘em in a brush corral, almost near the top of Capitan,
To watch this Indians miracle, the man with the wild cattle plan.

The Mescalero says, “You catch‘m cattle, catch‘m all you can,
Then me fix’m burros, burros lead’m off El Capitan.

To say that I was skeptical, is to put it mild I’d say,
Burros leadin’ wild cattle, now that’ll be the day.

We went ta catchin’ cattle, that part we did real swell,
And set back ta watch the rodeo, when things went clear ta hell.

The Indian took the burro, and hooked ‘im to the yoke,
Then latched ta that wild steers neck, snubbed ta a pine there in a choke.

We took off all the ropes and ties, and when that steer was free, He lit out fer parts unknown, but that burro did not agree.

Fer on his mind was vittles, the best he’d ever saw,
So after flyin’ around fer a while, down that mountain he’d begin ta claw.

That steer would fight and beller, for all that he was worth,
But soon that little burro, down the hill he’d sally forth.

It was surely an amazement, as all were hitched an’ then were freed,
And then we watched them little burros, teach them bovine how ta lead.

In this story lie a lesson, one that I did learn,
Don’t be too hard on burros, and simple wisdom never spurn.