sore-necked

Updated: May 13, 2025

Ro-o-o-ll ou-t!" The call went down the line once more. The pistolry of the wagon whips made answer, the drone of the drivers rose as the sore-necked oxen bowed their heads again, with less strength even for the lightened loads. The old man who sat by the gate at Fort Laramie, twisting a curl around his finger, saw the plain clearing now, as the great train swung out and up the river trail.

Emerson Hough - The Covered Wagon

Some of the sore-necked oxen were to be thrown into the loose herd and their places taken for a time by cows no longer offering milk. A new soberness began to sit on all. The wide reaches of desert with which they here were in touch appalled their hearts more than anything they yet had met.

Emerson Hough - The Covered Wagon