If you have ever been in the West, you probably have seen a mounted cowboy carrying one of these thin but strong ropes coiled at the horn of his saddle, or dragging on the ground behind him to take the kinks out of it.
"Rawhide's purty good," suggested Shorty Palmer.
"Yes, but braided linen for me," Buck declared.

"It's got any other kind o' rope beat a mile for strength." "Ever get stretched with one ?" Jim Walker asked, with interest.
"Nope," Buck replied, "but I seen other fellers that did." "G'wan, spill your yarn about it," said Shorty.

"We don't care whether it's true or not." Buck was inclined to be offended.

"Say, you all never heard me tell nothin' but th' truth," he snorted.
"Sure, we didn't," said Jim.

"Leastways, your yarns is told about places so far away that we has t' take 'em as true, not knowin' any one to call on for t' verify 'em." "Well, if they're made up, you c'n make up just as good ones yourselves," said Buck, and he lapsed into silence.
"Your tale interests me strangely," said Bill.