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Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads

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WINDY BILL (p. 381) Windy Bill was a Texas man,— Well, he could rope, you bet. He swore the steer he couldn't tie,— Well, he hadn't found him yet. But the boys they knew of an old black steer, A sort of an old outlaw That ran down in the malpais At the foot of a rocky draw. This old black steer had stood his ground With punchers from everywhere; So they bet old Bill at two to one That he couldn't quite get there. Then Bill brought out his old gray hoss, His withers and back were raw, And prepared to tackle the big black brute That ran down in the draw. With his brazen bit and his Sam Stack tree His chaps and taps to boot, And his old maguey tied hard and fast, Bill swore he'd get the brute. Now, first Bill sort of sauntered round Old Blackie began to paw, Then threw his tail straight in the air And went driftin' down the draw. The (p. 382) old gray plug flew after him, For he'd been eatin' corn; And Bill, he piled his old maguey Right round old Blackie's horns. The old gray hoss he stopped right still; The cinches broke like straw, And the old maguey and the Sam Stack tree Went driftin' down the draw. Bill, he lit in a flint rock pile, His face and hands were scratched. He said he thought he could rope a snake But he guessed he'd met his match. He paid his bets like a little man Without a bit of jaw, And lowed old Blackie was the boss Of anything in the draw. There's a moral to my story, boys, And that you all must see. Whenever you go to tie a snake,[10] Don't tie it to your tree; But take your dolly welters[11] 'Cordin' to California law, And you'll never see your old rim-fire[12] Go drifting down the draw. <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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