We held another property about a mile from the Collins Cap mill. It was an abandoned farm which father had acquired years before. A disused house was still standing, and there were a few acres cleared and used as pasture land. It was well fenced and Father kept a herd of cattle grazing there. When weaned, calves were taken there to graze and when grown up, they would be taken to the sale yards at Bridgewater, some twelve or more miles away. On odd occasions Gordon and I would be required to catch one of these cows or bulls and take it to the sale, usually with someone else who had cattle to sell. These animals were wild and nervous, with serious objections to being disturbed, let alone caught and roped. One day before we had the mill, we walked the miles up to the Cap farm to bring down one of the heifers. We found the small herd down at the bottom of the farm hill, (all farms are on hillsides in this mountainous country) and drove them into a corner up near the gate.
We were hoping to get close enough to throw a rope on the heifer we wanted. Just as we moved in cautiously, the herd would burst out of the corner and charge down the hillside to the bottom of the farm and hide in the bushes. Down we would follow, search them out again, and return them to a possible catching corner. This took quite a time, perhaps an hour, and it was exhausting work, keeping up with the cattle. Coming gently closer, anxious not to excite them, we would try again; but as we were about to rope one, they would dash off again down the paddock. They repeated this so many times during the day that we became exasperated and frustrated, for it was coming on evening. We felt finished, and thought to try just one more time. For the last effort we brought them into the corner by the gate. We had been doing this all day and now it would soon be dark. With the cattle in the corner we two boys prayed, asking the Lord to help us, and keep the cows standing still. Then we went over and quietly put the rope over the head of the heifer. Our simple prayer of faith was answered, for we knew that some power had controlled the fears of these cows at the point of our extremity. We were so thankful. We lads shared a new surge of faith with this response to our prayer, and we happily dragged the heifer home at the end of the rope.
