In the old Robert Duvall/Tommy Lee Jones TV mini-series, "Lonesome Dove," there is a chilling scene where a young Irish lad, fording a muddy and rain-swollen river with the herd, has his horse spooked by Cottonmouths in the water. He is thrown from his horse and badly bitten as numerous snakes swim all around him. He had dreams of returning to Ireland and his family, but died, instead, in his brother's arms. That was the kind of tragic scene that was often commemorated in song in earlier days. It would have made a great cowboy song.