I hope that someone finds this,
If we never make it back.
The rain aint stopped for days now,
There's still two rivers on our track

We started just two weeks ago,
Pushing near three hundred head.
There were fifteen cowhands on the drive,
But now eight of them are dead.

Old McNally was the first to go,
He was washed from on his mount,
Dougal chased on in to rescue him,
And neither one of them came out.

Young Stevens and his brother Joe,
On their first real cattle drive.
Neither one was more than seventeen,
Neither one is still alive.

They were pushing hard from at the back,
With their Pa through driving rain.
When the mud bank gave from the ridge above,
None of them were seen again.

A hundred head stampeded,
As the lightning hit a tree.
They just ran on through Jake Hagan's mare,
I watched him die in front of me.

We've lost a quarter of the head we had,
Most of them just washed away.
Wishbone came down with pneumonia,
We buried him just yesterday.

Then this morning as we pushed on through,
The chuck wagon at the rear.
Till the mountain pass just slipped away,
And the wagon disappered.

We heard Dusty shout, as he felt it go,
But we couldn't get on back.
There were a hundred cattle in between,
Then we heard his neck go "crack!"

The river just in front of us,
Is still far too high to cross.
I've told the boys to drop camp here for now,
Thank god they still treat me as boss.

I bet about a hundred years from now,
They'll think a cattle drive was great.
Sleeping underneath the stars at night
And drinking whisky until late.

If they only knew the way it was,
Through the cold and rain and snow.
Loosing good friends when it all goes wrong,
But I guess they'll never know.

Hell I hope that I can make it back,
To my wife and little girl.
To the barn I worked so hard to build,
And my humble house as well.

To the church and parson Jacob,
General store and old man Hace
To hear the congregation once again,
Singing out "Amazing Grace".

I'd better try to get some sleep now,
There's no shelter from this rain.
Well I guess that I aint going too,
'cos my bedroll's wet again.

I'll take one more walk around the camp,
Check the horses are ok.
See if all the boys are sleeping,
And await another day.