The word “cowboy” makes one think of danger and the wide open grassland. The following passage gives details about the adventurous life of cowboys. Even though the life of cowboys herding cattle to market has long since become a thing of the past, the spirit of cowboys is still inspiring the people of the United States.

    The cowboys who lived in the United States of America before there were good roads or big modern cities used to live on the huge open spaces of grassland called ranges, because that was where the cows that they looked after could find plenty of grass and water. But when the time came to sell the cows, there were no buyers out on the range — they had to be taken in to market.

    In the early days it was a hard job getting the cows to the markets where they were killed. It was no good killing them on the ranges because there were no lorries or railways to carry the meat. The cattle had to be driven along in a large herd to the towns where they were needed. The places with lots of people who needed meat were often hundreds or thousands of miles away from the ranges. The cattle were rounded up, and those to be sent away were kept together.

    On the trail the leader was the trail boss, who told the men which jobs to do. He decided where they should camp at night.

    Hundreds or maybe thousands of cattle were taken on the trail. The herd was not made to move too quickly — if they rushed along they would get thin and not be worth much at market. Some cowboys rode beside them, some in front and others at the back. Cows which moved too slowly were hurried along. Cows which tried to get away were made to go back to the herd.

    Of course, the chuck waggon went too. “Chuck” was a cowboy name for food, and so the chuck waggon was where the cook did his work and carried his stores of food. The tail board of the waggon made a good shelf. The cook was able to feed the cowboys, but the cattle had to find their own food on the trail. They ate as they moved along.

    It was a long, slow job, and the herd covered only about fifteen or twenty miles each day. This meant that the journey to market took many weeks. All this time the cowboys worked in the saddle and slept on the hard ground. They began work as the sun rose and they were on their horses for many hours day after day.

    Many things could go wrong on the trail. Cows were lost through sickness and accidents; perhaps a rain storm caused a river to flood so that the herd could not cross; Indians sometimes attacked. But the greatest danger was that the herd would stampede. The cows would become so frightened or wild that they would rush away before the men could stop them. A cowboy could be thrown from his horse and trampled to death in stampede. Even if no one was hurt, it might take days to round up the cattle after they had stampeded.

    Because of the danger of stampede, the trail boss and his men did everything they could to keep the cattle quiet. During the day the herd was moved along at a slow, steady pace. At night when most of the men were asleep, a gang of cowboys would ride round and round the herd, singing and whistling softly. This was to let the cows know that everything was all right.

     The cowboys worked very hard and had little time to play. When they were resting on the trail they would play cards, tell stories, sing cowboy songs and mend their equipment.

    When railways were built there was no need to take cattle on the trail. Instead they were put into railway cars and taken quickly to the markets. Today a fast cattle train will take a few hours to do a journey which once took the cowboys and their herds many days or weeks. The cattle will also arrive fresh and fat where they would have become tired and thin.

From Guided Comprehension and summary, Oxford University press, 1982.

Approximately 660 words.