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diff --git a/old/63307-h/63307-h.htm b/old/63307-h/63307-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 2137d4a..0000000 --- a/old/63307-h/63307-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7476 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <title>The Untamed by George Pattullo</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg"/> - <meta name="cover" content="images/cover.jpg" /> - <meta name="DC.Title" content="The Untamed"/> - <meta name="DC.Creator" content="George Pattullo"/> - <meta name="DC.Contributor" content="Charles Livingston Bull (Illustrator)"/> - <meta name="DC.Contributor" content="Charles Marion Russell (Illustrator)"/> - <meta name="DC.Contributor" content="Haydon Jones (Illustrator)"/> - <meta name="DC.Language" content="en"/> - <meta name="DC.Created" content="1908"/> - <meta name="Pubdate" content="1908"/> - <meta name="DC.Subject" content="fiction, Western, short story"/> - <meta name="Tags" content="fiction, Western, short story"/> - <meta name="generator" content="fpgen 4.62b"/> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left:8%;margin-right:10%; } - .it { font-style:italic; } - .sc { font-variant:small-caps; } - p { text-indent:0; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; - text-align: justify; } - div.lgc { } - div.lgc p { text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - div.lgp { - display:inline-block; - text-align: left; - } - - div.lgp p { - text-align:left; - margin-top:0; - margin-bottom:0; - } - - .poetry-container { - text-align:center; - } - - h1 { - text-align:center; - font-weight:normal; - page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.2em; margin:2em auto 1em auto - } - - .sub-head { font-size: smaller; } - hr.tbk100{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% } - hr.tbk101{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% } - hr.tbk102{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% } - hr.tbk103{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% } - hr.pbk { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em } - .figcenter { - text-align:center; - margin:1em auto; - page-break-inside: avoid; - } - - div.blockquote { margin:1em 2em; text-align:justify; } - p.caption { text-align:center; margin:0 auto; width:100%; } - p.credit { text-align:right; margin:0 auto; width: 100%; } - - .nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; } - p.line { text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - div.lgp p.line0 { text-indent:-3em; margin:0 auto 0 3em; } - table { page-break-inside: avoid; } - table.center { margin:0.5em auto; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; } - table.flushleft { margin:0.5em 0em; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; } - table.left { margin:0.5em 1.2em; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; } - .tab1c1 { } - .tab1c2 { } - .tab1c3 { } - .tab1c4 { } - .tab1c5 { } - .tab2c1 { } - .tab2c2 { } - .tab2c3 { } - .tdStyle0 { - padding: 2px 5px; text-align:right; vertical-align:top; - } - .tdStyle1 { - padding: 2px 5px; text-align:left; vertical-align:top;padding-left:29px; text-indent:-24px; - } - .tdStyle2 { - padding: 2px 5px; text-align:center; vertical-align:top; - } - .tdStyle3 { - padding: 2px 5px; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; - } - .pindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:1.5em; } - .noindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:0; } - .hang { padding-left:1.5em; text-indent:-1.5em; } - .literal-container { text-align:center; margin:0 0; } - .literal { display:inline-block; text-align:left; } - </style> - <style type="text/css"> - h1 { font-size: 1.1em; font-weight: bold;} - .sub-head { font-size: 1.3em;font-weight: bold; } - .poetry-container { margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em } - .caption { font-size: smaller; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untamed, by George Pattullo - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Untamed - -Author: George Pattullo - -Illustrator: Charles Bull - Charles Russell - Haydon Jones - -Release Date: September 26, 2020 [EBook #63307] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTAMED *** - - - - -Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed -Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net - - - - - - -</pre> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0000' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/> -</div> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;font-size:2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Untamed</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='front'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“<span class='it'>So much had three days with the wild linked up the slack chain of her blood tie.</span>”--<span class='it'>Shiela</span></p> -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line0' style='margin-bottom:0.5em;font-size:2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Untamed</p> -<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.3em;'>Range Life in the Southwest</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line0'>By</p> -<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.3em;font-weight:bold;'>George Pattullo</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i004.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0002' style='width:17%;height:auto;'/> -</div> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line0'>Toronto</p> -<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.3em;'>McLeod & Allen</p> -<p class='line0'>1911</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line0'>Copyright 1908, 1909, 1910 by <span class='sc'>The Curtis Publishing Company</span></p> -<p class='line0'>Copyright 1910 by <span class='sc'>The S. S. McClure Company</span></p> -<p class='line0'>Copyright 1911 by <span class='sc'>The Phillips Publishing Company</span></p> -<p class='line0'>Copyright 1911 by <span class='sc'>Desmond FitzGerald, Inc.</span></p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line0'>TO</p> -<p class='line0'>FRANK B. MOSON</p> -<p class='line0'>and the boys of the O R, R O, and Turkey Track</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - - - <div class='poetry-container' style=''> - <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' --> -<div class='stanza-outer'> -<div class='stanza-inner'> -<p class='line0'>  My coffee I boil without being ground.</p> -<p class='line0'>  The fire I kindle with chips gathered round.</p> -<p class='line0'>My books are the brooks, my sermons the stones;</p> -<p class='line0'>My parson’s a wolf on pulpit of bones.</p> -<p class='line0'>  The sky is my ceiling; my carpet’s the grass;</p> -<p class='line0'>  My music’s the lowing of herds as they pass.</p> -<p class='line0' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-top:0.5em;font-size:small;'>--<span class='it'>Ballad of The Trail Boss.</span></p> -</div> -</div> -</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>Acknowledgment is made to <span class='it'>The Saturday -Evening Post</span>, <span class='it'>McClure’s Magazine</span>, and <span class='it'>The -American Magazine</span> for permission to republish -these stories.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div><h1 class='nobreak'>CONTENTS</h1></div> - -<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'> -<colgroup> -<col span='1' style='width: 3em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 10em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 10em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 2em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/> -</colgroup> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><span style='font-size:smaller'>PAGE</span></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>I</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Ol’ Sam</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A mule</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chI'>13</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>II</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Marauder</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A coyote</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chII'>51</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>III</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Corazón</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A roping horse</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chIII'>83</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>IV</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Outlaw</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A steer</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chIV'>112</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>V</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Shiela</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A wolfhound</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chV'>142</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>VI</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Molly</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A range cow</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chVI'>173</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>VII</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Baby and the Puma</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>Mountain lion</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chVII'>202</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>VIII</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Mankiller</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A jack</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chVIII'>230</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'> </td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>IX</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Neutria</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>A mountain cowhorse</td><td class='tab1c4 tdStyle2'><a href='#chIX'>257</a></td><td class='tab1c5 tdStyle2'></td></tr> -</table> - -<div><h1>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h1></div> - -<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'> -<colgroup> -<col span='1' style='width: 17.5em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 7em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 0em;'/> -</colgroup> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'>“So much had three days with the wild linked up the slack chain of her blood tie”</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#front'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='it'>Frontispiece</span></span></a></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='it'>Facing Page</span></span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'>“What you mean by running off this a-way?”</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#run'>48</a></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'>“The wolf drove away a couple of buzzards and fell upon this savagely”</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#buzz'>60</a></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'>“Leaping, with legs stiff, straight off the ground”</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#leap'>100</a></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'>“On his hind legs, his worn fangs gleaming, he received her”</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#legs'>170</a></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'>“The lonely hut was untenanted”</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#hut'>240</a></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle3'></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div><h1><a id='chI'></a>I<br/> <span class='sub-head'>OL’ SAM</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>“Git your nose out’n that pot. Hi, -you flop-eared--I swan, that ol’ -mule makes me mad sometimes. -He’d jist as leave snake your whole batch right -from under your nose as look at you. Git, -you long-legged rascal! Whoopee!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook dashed at the offender, swinging -a bit of firewood. It struck the hybrid upon -the hindquarter and he countered instantaneously -by lashing out with his heels. Then he -turned to smell of the projectile, but finding -it unfit for consumption, trotted off up a -neighboring rise and presently disappeared -from view.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Certain coarse men of the Lazy L outfit -called him Hell-on-Wheels, among other -things, but his real name was Sam, and he -made one of the four-mule team that hauled -the chuck-wagon during round-up. Between -him and Dave was a personal feud; they were -most loving enemies. In the beginning the -cook had pampered him by feeding bread to -the big creature, taking no heed, and now this -artificial appetite he had created made of -Dave’s waking hours a perpetual vigil and -conjured up nightmares in place of refreshing -sleep.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For whenever Sam wasn’t doing the major -share of hauling some four thousand odd -pounds of wagon, bedding and provisions -from one round-up ground to another, he was -loafing on the confines of camp, awaiting a -favorable opportunity to go in surreptitiously -and nose among the pots or at the back of the -wagon for the buns Dave made so cunningly. -What time he lost this way from grazing he -made up easily by his pillage; bread is very -fattening, and then, of course, the chuck-wagon -team received regular rations of corn.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Yet Dave was a watchful scoundrel, and -day by day it was being borne in upon Sam -that in these attempts at pilfering he received -blows and abuse more often than huns. But -at night, when the punchers lay asleep on the -ground and he could hear the cook slumbering -stertorously beneath the wagon-fly, it was different: -then Sam would wander into camp -and make his way on soundless feet to the -dead fire. Beside its ashes he knew there -would be scraps of bread, perhaps some of -them sweetened with molasses, and for these -his whole being craved. On one such excursion, -as he munched happily on a wet crust, he inadvertently -put his foot into Dave’s face, and, -because Hell-on-Wheels weighed about thirteen -hundred pounds, the cook awoke very -peevish.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If it wasn’t,” he remarked next morning -as he hitched up--“if it wasn’t that you could -haul more’n them other three put together, I’d -skin you alive. Oh, you needn’t go for to pretend -you didn’t do it a-purpose. You seen me -there, all right. Look at that lip! Don’t it -look as if I’d fell off’n a mountain?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook always knew what to expect of -Sam. When putting the mules in the wagon -he was cognizant of the precise moment that -Sam would kick, and could judge to a hair’s -breadth at what angle the smashing blow -would be delivered. On his part, Sam knew -that the cook was prepared; otherwise it is -doubtful whether he would have let go some of -the vicious side-sweeps of his left leg that he -did. On occasions when the attacks were especially -wicked, or when Dave calculated the -margin of safety with too fine nicety, he would -possess himself of a stout club and hammer -Hell-on-Wheels until he was weak. In this -way were bred mutual respect and a thorough -understanding.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was when the wagon was miring down, -or when they were climbing a rocky trail in the -mountains, that Sam and the cook gloried one -in the other. Once Dave’s judgment went -wrong by three inches in fording a stream--he -may have been careless with a splendid contempt, -as was his habit--and one hind wheel -sank oozily into quicksand. The cook stood -up and whirled his long whip and adjured -his team by all that was holy to pull, pull, -pull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now, you, Hell-on-Wheels! Good ol’ -boy! You, Sam! You!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He lashed three of the team with stinging -force, but Sam he did not touch. The great -mule laid his shoulders into the collar and -heaved,--heaved again--and with a wrench and -a sucking sound they floundered out to hard -sand, to safety. Whenever Sam came to a -realization that the job required something -extra, and stretched himself out accordingly, -either the wagon followed where he wanted to -go or the mule went through his harness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The wagon boss esteemed Sam and valued -him at his worth, but it cannot be said that he -was fond of the beast. There was much in -his personality Uncle Henry did not like. -Nor did the horse-wrangler. Had anybody -requested Maclovio for a frank opinion of -Sam, the Mexican would have spat with contempt -and exhausted the resources of his patois. -That nerveless limb of the devil? -Don’t try to tell him the mule stampeded the -staked horses by accident; Maclovio knew better; -Sam had planned the whole turmoil from -the start of the round-up. The wrangler had -to herd the mules with the remuda, and the -uncanny sagacity the drag-mule displayed in -following out his own plans of grazing and -enjoyment filled the Mexican with superstitious -dread.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ropers hated him with an active, abiding -hatred they made no effort to conceal. He -was the only member of the wagon team that -would not submit to be caught without roping. -The other mules would trot in with the horses -from pasture and walk quietly to the -wagon to be bridled, under the lure of grain; -but not so with the big fellow. Sam never -crowded away among the horses in foolish -panic when a roper walked through the remuda -toward him: that was the way the cow-ponies -did, struggling blindly to get beyond -range, and so the noose fell about their -necks with ridiculous ease. That was not -Sam’s method, he being temperamentally opposed -to panic. He waited until the roper -approached, waited until the coil sped toward -him; and then only did he dodge. As a result, -he eluded the noose time after time. In -fact, it always took longer to rope Sam than -any five of the hundred horses.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One day the hawk-eyed autocrat of the -Lazy L range spurred into camp in hot haste -while the outfit was partaking of dinner. -Heatedly he urged: “Watch your horses -Uncle Henry.” Then he went to the fire, -filled a tin plate with beef and beans, and a -cup with coffee, and speared a bun.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shore. But what for special? They’re -doing well and we ain’t lost one,” replied the -wagon boss, making room for his chief on the -shady spot where he squatted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then you’re in luck. That band of mustangs -has roamed down here from the Flying -W. They passed within two miles of the -ranch yesterday and, by Jupiter, if ol’ Pete -didn’t join ’em. The ol’ fool! Eleven years -that horse has been a cowhorse and now he runs -off from the home pasture with a bunch of -wild ones.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where’re they heading?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You know as much as I do. I reckon the -pasture is poor on the Flying W, don’t you? -They ain’t had much rain and probably this -bunch’ll make for the mountains. Better -watch out,” the manager admonished.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dave toiled with his team next afternoon -through a waste of sand and mesquite. It -was very hot--had there been such a thing as -a thermometer on the wagon it would have -registered better than 112--and he sat hunched -on the seat, occasionally throwing an encouraging -word to the straining mules. Behind -came Al with the hoodlum wagon, which, being -much lighter, made easy work for a pair -of stout horses, so that Al dozed with his hat -well down over his eyes and dreamed of a dress-maker -in Doghole. It was growing towards -sunset and they would pitch camp in the foothills -and have supper ready for the boys before -darkness fell.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Without warning the mule team stopped and -stood at gaze, rousing Dave abruptly. A -dense cloud of dust was bearing down on them -from the right and out of that swirl came the -muffled pounding of many hoofs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The remuda’s stompeded,” yelled Al.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, they ain’t. No, they ain’t. It’s them -wild horses. Git your gun, Al, quick!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>By the time Al had reached behind him -with one hand to fumble for the rifle, the band -had swept by and was disappearing. Probably -there were thirty horses in it, but that was -only a guess, because Dave obtained nothing -more than a glimpse of streaming manes and -tails. They ran compactly, a noble buckskin -in the lead, and tailing the band was a white -horse; it was evident that he held the furious -pace only by a supreme effort.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There goes ol’ Pete. Blast him, if he ain’t -hitting only the high spots,” Dave bawled.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At this moment his attention was called to -Sam. The mule’s head was thrown high, the -usually slouching ears were rigid and pricked -forward, and he was sniffing the air restlessly. -Once he made an abrupt lurch sideways as -though to follow the free rovers, but the bit -sawed his mouth, the collar and traces bound -him and he could only champ impatiently. If -a mule really knows how to tremble, Sam was -trembling then--it was more a twitching of -the muscles. The band was lost to sight and -sound. Dave called a raucous command and -once more they settled to work. Again Sam -became listless and applied himself lethargically -to pulling.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A cool breeze whipped among the scrub-cedar -of the foothills and went whining down -the valley. Above the black rim of El Toro -rose a rich, golden disc. Its pale light softened -the outlines of the forms asleep upon the -ground; in that kindly radiance the chuck-wagon -and the unsightly confusion of camp -merged into blurs that harmonized with the -giant shadow of the mountain. The night -was full of murmurings, tense with the suggestion -of strange other worlds. Surely the -plaintive wailing the breeze bore to Sam from -El Toro’s pines was a message.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He stood with his nose up wind and drew in -the scents of the wilds. His forelegs were -hobbled, the rope twisted about them so tightly -that he could barely shuffle when he grazed, -and near at hand twelve horses were staked -out. One of them, hopelessly entangled in his -rope, was fighting it in terror; already he was -on his knees unable to do aught but cut himself. -In a draw a half-mile away the remuda -cropped the grass under the eyes of a triple -guard, for Uncle Henry was mindful of the -manager’s warning, and upon Dave’s report he -took no chances.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Out from the shadow cast by a mesquite -bush a coyote skulked, and Sam snorted and -shook his head in anger. The beast’s scent -offended him, but he was not afraid. Somewhere -in the dark a wildcat cried and the mule -cocked his ears to listen. Next moment he -jumped awkwardly aside as a polecat scurried -by on a hunt for food.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The mule was growing restive. It was not -nervousness--a mule is rarely nervous or -frightened. When he runs away or pitches -or balks, it is seldom because something -has put fear into him; it is refined cussedness. -Anyone who ever succeeded in owning -a mule longer than a month will tell you that.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Of a sudden Sam sank his head and his powerful -teeth met and rasped on the rope that -chafed his legs. One of the strands parted -and he strained to break the hobble, but too -impatient to direct his gnawing to one spot, -he was unsuccessful and finally desisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Was that the call of a horse? It did not -come from the direction in which the remuda -had been driven off, and his ears tingled for a -repetition of the sound. Twice he humped -himself and struck out with his heels in the -fury of impotence, and paused breathlessly -with his eyes fixed on the yellow ball above El -Toro’s summit. He took one step forward and -became immovable as his glance fell to the wide -lane of light it cast.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Down this silver-shimmering path a horse -came proudly. None but a free rover ever -trod earth as he did. Sam could see the fiery -eyes flashing suspicion, the regal head thrown -back, the nostrils a-quiver to divine danger. -He came like a phantom, lightly as one, silently -as one, and a dozen yards away he -halted, and there in the light of the moon surveyed -the camp, the staked mounts, the sleeping -men. It was the king of the wild horses. -Far back of him a blotch on a hillside shifted -with gleam of color.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A madness was come upon Sam. From out -the night countless voices called to him appealingly; -away out there in the illusive sheen -must be liberty and delight. His sluggish -blood was racing wildly, his body and limbs -were a-quake with eagerness to respond to that -appeal, to be gone into that alluring gloom. -One of the staked animals whinnied and -tugged fiercely on his rope.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At once the buckskin stallion blared a challenge, -and he was away. The shadows swallowed -him up. From over the hill came a rolling -thunder, the noise of scores of flying hoofs, -and Sam got the hobble between his teeth a -second time, gave one ferocious upward rend, -and the strands parted and dropped from him. -He was free, and the wilderness was calling, -calling.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ol’ Hell-on-Wheels has done gone,” observed -Dave.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Done gone?” the wagon boss echoed. -“Gone where? He must be round somewheres. -He cain’t git through the day without -bread, Sam cain’t.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He done run off with them mustangs!” -In Dave’s tone was depressed conviction. -“You hearn ’em last night the same as me. -Nobody seen him go, but look here. I jist -found his hobble all bit in two.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And we’ve got to move camp this morning,” -the wagon boss raved.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“P’raps he’ll come back. I shouldn’t think -they’d want Sam with ’em, Uncle Henery. -He’d smash ’em all up, that bunch, he -would!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He shore would.” Uncle Henry could not -suppress a snigger of satisfaction.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He dispatched two of the boys to scour the -country for the fugitive, and Dave hitched a -two-mule team, falling a prey to melancholy -as he moved about them in absolute security. -How he missed that ol’ son-of-a-gun with his -sly nibbles and his kicking and sublime obstinacy. -These creatures pull? The cook grew -hot with disdain and had two men told off to -help haul the wagon with ropes in bad spots. -In the days that followed he would often stop -in his work and wonder what sense there was in -going through life, anyway.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile, Sam flourished like unto the -green bay tree. When the band sped away -into the hills the night of his temptation and -fall, the mule summoned up unguessed reserves -of speed and trailed behind. The tumultuous -joy of liberty fired him; his muscles -responded to this new throbbing life like steel -springs, so that Sam not only caught up with -the mustangs, but ran well within himself in -holding with them. The renegade Pete galloped -in rear and, knowing Sam these many -years, nickered him breathless welcome.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A recruit to the ranks was not a novelty, -and though Sam was a mule, they accepted him -readily enough, and for several days they -roamed the cañons of El Toro. Rains had -been frequent in this region and they obtained -their fill of grass. As is the way of horses, -the band paid scant attention to the mule; he -grazed with them, and when any alarm or -mere exuberance of spirits prompted a run, -he could show his heels to all but the buckskin -leader and a bay mare which seemed to carry -wings on her feet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And on the fifth day occasion arose for him -to prove his prowess. In the band were a -dozen mares, seven colts of various ages and -fifteen horses, all under the leadership of the -buckskin. Now, Sam was a mule of considerable -common-sense; he never disputed the -sovereignty of the stallion, but at the same time -he was fully sensible of his own strength and -fighting ability, having had occasion to test -the same frequently, and he had not the remotest -intention of allowing any horse on the -range or other quadruped, to take undue liberties.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As they came up from watering at a mountain -spring at high noon, the mustangs were -compelled to thread a narrow defile, and much -crowding resulted. A colt ricochetted from -the mule and lost his feet, whereupon the -mother made at Sam with her teeth. This -attack he ignored dexterously by bursting -through the press and imposing the bodies of -several horses between him and the indignant -mare; but when a youthful black took it into -his head that Sam was a recreant and could be -bullied with impunity, various things happened. -By now, they were out in the open. -Trumpeting defiance, the black ran at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The combat did not last three minutes. It -is probable that the mule would have killed -his assailant when he lay prone after the third -onslaught, had not the leader trotted up in -royal wrath to quell the disorder in his following. -Should he go for him too, and reduce -him to pulp? Sam’s eyes were glittering -evilly, and the mulish, enduring rage was alive, -but his habitual discretion cooled the impulse -and he gave ground, his ears laid back, his retreat -reluctant. The stallion wisely let him -go.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Soon he attained to a species of leadership, -a vice-royalty under the reigning buckskin. -For one thing, his caution was tempered by -almost human powers of discrimination; for another, -he was never subject to the nervous tremors -to which even the stallion fell victim and -which were the inspiration of many stampedes. -Sam could sense peril as far as any and was -dubious, in a calm way, of everything he saw -until he had investigated; but sudden noises, -or a strange scent brought abruptly to his nostrils, -did not send him flying over the country, -shrilling warnings. He made reasonably sure -of the possibility of danger before giving the -alarm. Of his old masters, he was peculiarly -wary, and twice at night, when they passed -within a mile of the round-up camp, the mule’s -nose acquainted him of its proximity, and he -led them far to the west.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When the outfit had almost completed the -round-up, Sam wandered off from the band on -a morning’s jaunt and came unexpectedly upon -the remuda in a draw. The wrangler espied -that unmistakable gait from afar and spurred -desperately to catch him, but the mule was fleet -as a greyhound and could not be headed. Two -of the horses followed the fallen one. They -knew Sam and respected him, and what was -good enough for him would suit them admirably. -Maclovio did not see their departure; -madly scurrying from point to point to herd -the restless horses, he failed to perceive the -flight toward the gap, and it was only when -the roping began after dinner that the loss was -discovered. The Mexican prayed inwardly -that Sam would break a leg and die by inches; -if he would only break his neck, he would buy -a dozen candles for the altar at Tucalari.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Old Pete McVey, the manager, sat on the -stoop of the bunkhouse at headquarters and -made a solemn vow to the skies.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll hunt down every last one of that bunch -and hang Sam’s hide to the saddle-shed. -We’ve had two breakdowns with the wagon -since he left--that ol’ mule we got from Doghole -ain’t no good, Mit--and now two horses -have run off.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I done told Uncle Henery and Dave that -I felt shore it was Sam or some of them mustangs -that stompeded those steers last week.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When I get him, the ol’ fool!” burst out -the manager.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He organized a hunt, and with three men -and four staghounds set out cheerily to wipe -the wild horses from the face of the earth. -The band winded them two miles away and -carried the hunt to another range, but at last -they crept within striking distance, and the -chase was on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sam knew the dogs and had seen them run in -sport about headquarters. Therefore, he let -himself out and led the band beside the buckskin -stallion, and for mile after mile they -raced. A laggard was pulled down, the ancient -sinner Pete--a hound leaped for his nose -and Pete turned a somersault. McVey himself -shot the injured animal, and they camped -in the neighborhood and took up the pursuit -next morning.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a famous hunt. The dogs brought -down four animals, and the Lazy L men, tiring -in the chase, fired after the fugitives, killing -three; but Sam remained ever in the van, -unhurt. McVey led his men back, satisfied -that the mustangs would seek new haunts, -swearing vengefully at Sam and rejoicing in -his heart that the giant mule had won to -safety.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The band wintered in the mountains, and -more than once during those terrible months -the emaciated Hell-on-Wheels had to paw -down through three inches of snow to get at -the grass, and he obtained little more than -enough to sustain life. Several of the colts -succumbed to a three-days’ storm, and when -spring was ushered in, with a soft wind that -whispered tender promises to a stricken land, -at least a dozen of the horses and mares were -sickly. As for Sam, he was only hungry. A -mule seems immune from disease, and hunger -and thirst cannot wreak the havoc on his iron -constitution that they create among the more -sensitive horses. The mustangs ranged widely -in a quest for good pasture and at last worked -down to the Lazy L.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dave had put in the cold months in dispirited -fashion, there being little to do. He -moped around headquarters, and whenever the -wagon boss ventured to consult him on preparations -for the spring round-up, the cook -maintained a glum silence. It would be a bad -year, he was sure of that; they needn’t expect -much of the calf crop. Far be it from him to -discourage any man, least of all McVey and -Uncle Henery, but he felt in his bones that ill -luck would attend them. What could be expected -of a wagon team that would let him -mire down in Coyote Creek? The round-up -would be a farce.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Them mustangs is back,” Reb announced, -riding in from a winter camp. “I seen ’em -topping a mesa over near Lone Pine Spring.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll give twenty dollars a head for ’em,” declared -the manager, slowly removing the pipe -from his lips.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nearly a score of punchers equipped themselves -to earn the reward. Some failed even -to get trace of the band; others trailed them -for days, but never came in sight; Dick, Bob -Saunders and Maclovio got within half a mile -and with relays of horses applied themselves -to capture in a scientific way. They would -run those mustangs off their legs. In four -days they were back, with their mounts used up -and McVey to welcome them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That ol’ mule kin smell us a mile,” Dick -reported. “He always gives the alarm first. -And run? Jim-in-ee, the way that rascal kin -run!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dave listened and gloomed and finally took -a great resolution. He might just as well be -honest with himself--the round-up would -never be the same without Sam. The cook had -been a cowhand in his time and he hadn’t -trailed cattle up through the Panhandle for -nothing. Therefore he would not match his -speed against the wild horses.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, Mister McVey, I want to git a month -off.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where’re you going now? This isn’t another -trip to Doghole?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hoped you’d done forgot that,” Dave answered -severely. “No, sir, I want to go and -git Hell-on-Wheels.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How could you catch him? I’ve tried; all -the boys have tried. And you haven’t ridden -in ten years.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You let me try and you’ll see.” Dave tried -to draw in his waist and appear athletic as the -manager ran his eye over his two hundred and -fourteen pounds.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You couldn’t get that mule in a thousand -years. Unless”--as an afterthought--“you -spread breadpans all over the range and set -traps.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There’s where you’re wrong, Mister McVey, -sir. I ain’t rode much since I took to -cookin’, but I’m pretty active. You gimme -that month and you’ll see.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go ahead. I’d just as soon pay the reward -to you as to anybody else--sooner.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sam was the first of the band to sight the -enemy trudging through the sand of the plain -toward them. Far behind a burro followed, -led by another man on foot. This truly was -interesting. The mule advanced for a closer -inspection and the others awaited his verdict, -having implicit confidence in him as a sentinel. -Thus it happened that Dave gained to within -three hundred yards before Sam flagged his -tail and departed. The horses massed swiftly -into a compact body and followed, but they -did not run as they would have run from -mounted men. Instinctively they knew that -this thing on two legs could not catch them, so -it was at a swinging trot that they breasted -a hill.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On its crest the mustangs slowed down; -they dropped to a walk and turned to look -back at what pursued. There plodded old -Dave, apparently paying them no special attention, -but nevertheless coming in their direction. -Once more Sam waited until the cook -came within shouting distance, then, the buckskin -raising the alarm, they cantered off.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So it went all the afternoon. Dave made -no attempt to get close up with them; he did -not conceal his approach; he did not stalk them; -and he was especially cautious not to alarm -to an extent that would send them fleeing -for miles. Instead, he was satisfied merely to -keep them in sight. Sometimes he paused to -wipe the sweat from his face and neck, but he -betrayed no impatience. Far behind a burro -followed, led by another man on foot, and -when the cook changed his course so did the -burro, still maintaining its distance.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sam was sorely puzzled. That stout figure -possessed a peculiar attraction for him. When -he had put a considerable tract between himself -and it, he could not forbear to stop and watch -what it would do. Still it came on--yet it was -not threatening. The mule’s sense of danger -was lulled. And he was not the only perplexed -member of the band: curiosity had the -stallion in its grip, too. There was not a horse -among the free rovers but would slacken gait -to ascertain where the foolish pursuer walked -now.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>By the time the sun died behind a fringe -of hills, Sam and the others were horribly -thirsty. They swung around in a wide semicircle -and struck for a lake six miles distant. -Dave followed. Hardly had they drunk half -their fill, standing waist-deep in the cooling -water, when the expectant mule warned them -of the approach of that shadowing figure. -They waded out and made off reluctantly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook arrived two minutes later and -stretched out on his back on the edge of the -lake and thought with sweet sorrow of the days -when he weighed one hundred and sixty. -Presently the man with the burro joined him, -and they took down their bedding, staked out -the tireless pack-animal, built a fire of dried -broomweed, and ate.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They won’t go far from here to-night. It -jist happens there ain’t any water nearer than -twenty miles. No-oo, I reckon they’ll hang -round somewheres near,” Dave observed, rolling -a cigarette.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He divined correctly. Sam and his companions -discovered that they were hungry, very -hungry. While they did not realize it, they -had eaten little that afternoon, for no sooner -would they shake off the pursuer and fall to -nibbling nervously at the dried grass than he -would reappear, persistent as their own shadows, -and they would continue their flight. -Now he followed no more, and they must eat. -Eat they did to some extent, but a burning -curiosity and a vague uneasiness had seized -upon them. They felt irresistibly attracted by -the campfire that sparkled in the darkness -down by the water they craved; time after -time they would near it fearfully. Without -turning his head Dave knew that dozens of -wondering eyes surveyed him from the outer -rim of dark fifty yards away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Before dawn the cook and his assistant had -made fast the burro’s burden with the “diamond -hitch,” and hard upon the coming of -light Dave started out alone. In an hour he -was in sight of the mustangs. Sam shook his -head in irritation and the band moved off -slowly. Dave followed. Far behind came a -burro, led by a man on foot.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He camped at noon in a stretch of alkali, and -because there was no water near they partook -sparingly of some the cook carried in tins slung -over the burro’s load. As for the beast, he -must wait till nightfall, which did not worry -the burro in the least. Well Dave knew that -the mustangs must make for water.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A dozen times in a day the cook would be -out of view of the fugitives and a dozen times -he would catch up with them, disturbing their -intermittent grazing. It is doubtful if he -averaged more than twenty miles in twenty-four -hours; it is certain that the wild horses -covered nearly three times that distance in -their outbursts of panic and their doublings -back on the pursuer. The chase led in a triangle -that took in all the water-holes within a -radius of ninety miles, and almost always Dave -contrived to arrive before the band had got -quite their fill.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sam had lost at least a hundred pounds by -the end of a week and was become gaunt and -savage. Several of the colts, only a few -months old, gave up the flight and their mothers -forsook the band in safety, the pursuers -ignoring them. The others kept on. Sam’s -contempt for the slow crawling thing behind -them was changing to a haunting dread, and -he became subject to petty fits of irritation. -Why couldn’t the enemy come on boldly? -Why couldn’t he match his speed with theirs -in one grand rush? But no, there he was, patiently -legging it through the sand, through -grass, over foothills, up mountain trails, -through gorges, down into valleys. A horrible -fascination took possession of the mule. -Had Dave turned about to retrace his steps, -it is probable that Sam would have followed -out of curiosity to see where he was going; but -Dave still came on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>About this time, too, they got a taste of real -summer. From an empty sky the sun smote -the land, browning the hills, crisping the grass -in the valleys until it crackled into dust. First -one mountain stream ceased to run, then another; -a creek that used to sweep down in a -torrent after the spring rains now dribbled -among scorching boulders. Thus came about -the beginning of the end.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They cain’t stand more’n another week of -this, Charlie,” Dave remarked, as they camped -beside a hatful of water in the foothills.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I reckon not. Did you notice some of -them mares? They’s all in. You got within -fifty yards of ’em once to-day, Dave. The -burro here has kep’ up well. Ain’t you, you -greedy devil? She’s looking fine. I’m giving -her corn.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Never did the mustangs get enough to eat. -Another sort of madness than the madness for -liberty was laying hold of Sam. His days -consisted of timid attempts at grazing, from -which he would start at the lightest sound; of -enforced pilgrimages from one pasture to another; -and it must have been four hundred -hours since he had had his fill of water. More -than once, in a frenzy of revolt, he put five -miles between him and his clinging disturber; -but after two hours of uneasy nibbling he would -be interrupted once again--and again must -move on. What food he got failed to nourish -as it should, and the rest he snatched was not -rest. In the night, when he might have lost -his foe, the mule knew well that he was near, -for there in the blackness his fire sent up its -sparks and it drew him and his companions like -a magnet. No matter where they roamed, the -cook managed to spend the dark hours near -water, and the band could not tear themselves -from the vicinity.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There came a day when Sam’s ribs showed -pitifully through his rough coat and he shuffled -along in desperate dejection, his ears flopping. -A heavy fatigue numbed his limbs, made cruel -weights of them, and he was thirsty, deliriously -thirsty; but if his plight was bad, that of the -mustangs was worse. They stumbled coughing -through the dust, too tired to lift their -feet. Occasionally one broke into a half-hearted -trot which survived only a few steps. -The race was run.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Within six hours the band began to break -up. First the mares and colts dropped out, -careless of what might befall. The mothers -went weakly to feeding on the burnt grass, -their offspring hovering near in the last stages -of exhaustion; but to these Dave paid no attention. -He was after Hell-on-Wheels, and -he did not intend to inject new life into the -jaded survivors by the slaughter of their beaten -companions. By his orders Charlie, too, ignored -them, though his fingers itched as his -mind dwelt on the reward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Four of the horses lagged, staggered forward -a few paces and fell behind, spent, swaying -dizzily as they moved aside to let Dave -pass. They were oblivious to everything now, -insensible to peril, scarcely able to discern objects -through their glazed eyes; but Sam and -the stallion and some few kept on. Dave -followed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hot rebellion surged up in the mule more -than once, sapping his last ounce of spirit. Up -would go his head in defiance and he would increase -his lead; but the strength was ebbing -from the wonderful muscles of him; he was sick -at heart and wanted to lie down. Ahead, perhaps -an hour’s walk, he knew there was water. -He must reach that. Would this thing that -hung to their rear never give them respite?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dave trudged now only twenty yards back. -He was footsore, a fearful weariness was upon -him and the heat was awful. Yet no thought -of giving up occurred to his mind; his patience -was unfailing. Not once did he do a hurried -thing to alarm the quarry.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='run'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i049.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0003' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“<span class='it'>What you mean by running off this a-way?</span>”</p> -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>It was the twenty-fourth day. All around -them stretched a desert of alkali broken by -patches of tree-cactus and clumps of bear-grass, -and through the white, chalky dust Sam -toiled dispiritedly a dozen yards in front of -the stallion. Behind the faltering buckskin -limped five skeletons of horses, and ten yards -behind the hindermost walked Dave. There -was no need that Charlie remain far in rear. -The mustangs did not notice him, and he followed -close with the burro.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The rovers had drunk deep that morning at -a spring on the edge of the desert--this being -as Dave would have it--and now all vigor of -body and spirit had departed. Sam’s head -swung low to the ground, his knees were shaking -and he saw nothing of what he passed. -To his bloodshot eyes these scorched wastes -were a wavering mist, and he knew only that -he must go on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Suddenly, as though by telepathic agreement, -the weird procession halted. Sam -turned. He faced the cook as he came up -without hesitation, rope in hand. Dave slipped -the noose about his neck and rubbed the dusty -muzzle sunk against his hip.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ol’ fool, you!” he mouthed at him. -“What you mean by running off this a-way? -Didn’t you know that team weren’t no good -without you? What did you reckon I was going -to do, you pore ol’ son-of-a-gun?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He ran his eye over the emaciated body; then -his glance fell to his own shrunken outline.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I reckon we’re both some thinner, Sam. -And my feet’s awful sore. What you need is -corn. Here, Charlie, gimme that ‘morale’!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Staked out with the nosebag over his head, -the mule munched dully on the life-giving -grain, while Dave prepared dinner and Charlie -moved from point to point on the plain with -a rifle, earning half a month’s pay every time -he got near a horse. Charlie began to figure -he would be a rich cowman some day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Two hours later the men were smoking in -the peace and content of hard work well done, -when Sam walked stiffly to the end of his rope. -By straining on it he could just reach the -edge of the campfire. Dave rose up on his -elbow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hi, there! Git your nose out’n that pan, -you rascal! I swan, he’s hunting for bread.”</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chII'></a>II<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE MARAUDER</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>Six frowsy buzzards sat on a tree and -made mock of his hunger. With his -bushy tail drooping dismally between his -legs, he zigzagged his way up the wide, dry -bed of Red River, flitting from cover to cover -like an uneasy ghost. Up one steep bank he -sidled, to squat on his haunches, whence he surveyed -the camp hungrily.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There’s a big ol’ ki-yote,” said the hoodlum -driver. “Git your gun, Dave.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cook abandoned the washpan with alacrity -and ransacked the chuck-wagon for his -weapon. When he rejoined Mac the coyote -was still in view, but he seemed farther away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He done moved. I cain’t hit him from -here,” said the cook.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I been watching him and he ain’t budged. -Yes, he has, too. I’ll swan, I never seen him -do it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The prairie wolf now sat a good three hundred -yards away, his back to the camp, as -though indifferent and contemptuous of it. -Dave knelt on one heel, took slow, careful aim, -and fired. A spurt of sand five yards short of -the coyote was the result. The animal half -turned his head, the sensitive upper lip quivered -and curled over the wicked fangs, for all -the world like a sneer, and then he resumed his -placid scrutiny of nothing. Mac forcibly removed -the rifle from Dave’s grasp, deaf to his -picturesque explanation of the miss, adjusted -the sight and lay down.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You had it sighted for a hunderd yards,” -he rebuked. “I put her up a few notches.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Whee-ee-ee,” whined a snub-nosed leaden -pellet. A spurt of sand five yards beyond the -coyote was the result. It aroused the animal -to instant activity. If he was not beyond -range, then the wagon had a better gun than -he had ever met with, so he glided away like a -shadow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There goes two dollars bounty,” sighed the -cook regretfully. “That’s just what I done -lost to Jack, shootin’ craps last night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where’s that nester’s ol’ dog that was -smelling round the pots this morning?” Mac -demanded. “There he goes now. Hi-yi, ol’ -feller! Go git him, boy! Go to him!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A yellow mongrel, half shepherd and a mixture -of other breeds, abandoned his slinking -tour of the camp and became at once a respectable, -alert dog, with a job. He sighted -the fleeing coyote, and, giving tongue, followed -after.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He won’t never catch him. Those lil’ ol’ -ki-yotes kin outrun a streak of lightning, and -stop to sleep a-doing it,” said Mac.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was evident that the pursuit did not worry -the fugitive greatly. He loped along easily, -with the dog gaining at every frantic leap until -a scant yard separated them, when, still maintaining -his careless gait, the coyote veered to -the south; and yet the distance between them -did not diminish. The dog was blowing and -puffing throaty threats, while the wolf watched -him out of the corner of one eye. With a -mad burst of speed the cur gained a yard, -whereupon something happened. Without -appearing to strain himself at all, the coyote -simply disappeared from view over the next -rise. The dog had seen a pepper-and-salt, -gray streak flash over the crest, but that was -all. He stopped in a dazed sort of way to -figure the matter out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>While he was figuring, a foxlike head poked -itself over a clump of bear-grass and the coyote -yawned in his face. Once more the chase was -on, with redoubled fury.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This was an old game to Scartoe. He had -raced all sorts of dogs, from collie to fox terrier, -and only once, when a greyhound ran -him, had he stood in danger. Greatly to his -chagrin and alarm on that occasion, he had -been forced to switch the lithe pursuer unexpectedly -into a barb-wire division-fence, to save -his hide. As he ran now he was studying this -loud-voiced antagonist of the yellow hair. -Whatever he saw, the result was wholly surprising. -He increased his lead by ten yards, -then whirled about and sat down, at which the -dog plowed up the ground for five feet in -a panic-stricken effort to put on the brakes, -and promptly changed his course. Still -growling, he trotted away toward a cactus far -to the left, as though suddenly made aware of -something extremely interesting to be found -there.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The coyote’s lip flickered, and he walked to -the sandy sides of a ravine. With a final look -back from its top, he descended leisurely; then, -once in the creek bed, glided at top speed in -an opposite direction. He was bound homeward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>All of which goes to show the delicacy of -coyote judgment and the depths of his knowledge -of human and canine nature. For there -are dogs which will close on a coyote and kill -him at the first opportunity and with no hesitation. -Pluck does not run exclusively in -breeds, and individual dogs of all kinds have -been known to go for the prairie thief at sight, -and even for the redoubtable lobo; but others -there are which will shirk a tussle with this -scorned of the wolf tribe, this scavenger and -outcast of the wild. And a coyote, being lowest -in the ranks of those obsessed of fear, is the -readiest to detect cowardice in others; moreover, -he has the cunning to profit by it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Enjoyable as this little breather had been, it -had not provided the meal for which he was -searching. Rather it had whetted the gnawing -demand for it and the prospect of obtaining -anything seemed more remote than ever, -because he had builded some hopes on scraps -from the camp. Scartoe eased to a walk--not -the brisk, firm patter of the dog, but a sneaking, -apologetic, tortuous gait, that was yet -swift and wonderfully noiseless.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Prairie dogs there were none, though he -scour the length and breadth of six hundred -square miles. Poison had done its work thoroughly -and only the empty holes remained, -half grown over with grass and weeds, a constant -menace to horsemen. Of ground squirrel -there were a few, and at certain seasons the -sage grouse furnished him succulent meals; -but these were trifles, after all, and it took -infinite patience and stealth to secure them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Scartoe crept slantwise up a ridge and took -a look around. The sun beat down on a land -it had desolated. Where creeks had been were -now gorges of baked clay; a long stretch of -sage-grass was white with dust and crackling; -large fissures dumbly voiced the parched -ground’s protests; the bear-grass and cactus -showed scrawny and dried; and above this -scorched land rose a canopy of jumbled white -clouds, magnificent, matchless. A score or -two of lean cattle were browsing on the slopes, -nibbling the long, yellow bean pods from mesquite -trees, but of other signs of life there were -none, save the scurrying green and blue and -golden-brown lizards, which darted from stone -to stone at amazing speed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And this had been the style of his hunting -for weeks, so that he was gaunt and desperate. -Nothing in all the world in the shape of meat, -except creatures so large and strong he dare -not attack. Nothing--his restless eyes became -riveted on a bush not fifty yards to his -right. Surely something had stirred there. -His nose was thrust forward to give his extraordinarily -strong sense of smell a chance, -and it told him what his eyes were unable -wholly to define. There was a calf behind that -bush.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His famished stomach drove him forward, -while his natural cowardice whispered caution. -It was plain to him that the calf was very -young. Otherwise he would have wanted the -assistance of a brother marauder. Even now, -however, those cattle grazing on the slopes -haunted him, but a fleeting glance over the immediate -vicinity assured him the prey was unguarded. -So he stole forward. His advance -was a miracle of furtive effort, and such was -the beast’s inherited cunning that, quite unconsciously, -he took advantage of spots where his -color blended so harmoniously with the rough -ground that wolf and rock and shrub were indistinguishable.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The gods of little calves must have been -wide-awake that day; else what could have -prompted the youngster to stir and lift his -head? He had heard no sound; no scent had -reached his nostrils. The coyote was too old -a hand at stalking for that. A pair of round, -fear-distended eyes were turned toward the -terrible thing that shot through space straight -for his neck, and a plaintive bawl was cut short -in the middle. That was because the calf got -into action--action quicker than any in his life -of three weeks. He lurched upward and departed, -minus the left ear. The beast snarled -and turned to pursue, but a noise diverted him. -Like a man waking from a dream, the coyote -caught, too late, the rush of hoofs. He shrank -aside, but not far enough. The mother’s horns -caught him above the shoulder and ripped him -to the flank, tossing him five feet into the air. -When he came down he tarried not, but, -bloody, torn and mad with fear, sought the -safety of his cañon retreat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His wife and five babies were awaiting him. -He had been out all night on his prowl for -food, and it was now three hours after sunup, -the hour when, ordinarily, he would be stretched -out on a sunny knoll, taking a nap in the content -of a full stomach. A score of yards from -the den his nose told him that the family had -fed, so he came trotting down the rocky creek-bed, -stiffly expectant. The tiny, furry, broad-headed -pups were snarling and tugging at the -remnants of a meal and, hungry though he -was, he paused to watch them with a certain -fatherly pride. Then, at a growl from his -mate, he slunk forth again on his quest. His -wound smarted, but did not cripple him, and -hunger was a spur.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='buzz'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i062.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0004' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“<span class='it'>The wolf drove away a couple of buzzards and fell upon this savagely</span>”</p> -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>He found what his wife had said he would -find, the remains of the offal of a heifer which -the outfit had killed the previous day for food. -Luckier in her search, the mother coyote had -come upon the abandoned camp late the previous -night, though it was ten miles from home -and she disliked such distant hunting; and, -having fed, she had carried a huge strip of the -entrails to her babies. The wolf drove away a -couple of buzzards and fell upon this savagely; -and, having gorged, sat down to lick his cut. -In a few minutes he moved painfully on the -back trail, for his hurts were stiffening.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The family home was a simple affair, such as -the original families of human kind might have -begun life with. Anything provided with an -olfactor could ascertain its propinquity at a distance -of forty yards, for it gave off the stinging, -musty odor of the wolf tribe. There -were also numerous faint trails hard by, some -of them blind trails, contrived cunningly to -draw the stupid hunter astray. The genuine -paths led into a broader, clearly-defined -one which ended in a hole about two feet square -in the wall of an arroyo, and this entrance was -concealed from the casual observer by a scrub-cedar -that clung to a precarious foothold and -subsisted on nothing. No water had come -down this channel in generations and they felt -safe on that score.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The hallway of the home was little more -than a yard long. It led into a den whereto -no light penetrated--a hollowed space perhaps -two and a half feet high, and large -enough for the head of the house to turn -around in. There were also some ramifications -to it, four smaller cells dug out in the -same fashion, and out of one of these another -passage led upward. It came out on top of -the embankment, twenty feet away; for Scartoe -was a cautious rascal and had no intention -of letting his domicile become a trap. He desired -it to be a haven and, therefore, he had -selected a residence with a back door, though -most of his tribe contented themselves with -an entrance.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This caution was habitual with him and was -the child of experience. Experience had -taught him some bitter lessons and had given -him his name. For, in the spring of the year -when he reached his full height and was filled -with conceit of his strength, a famine threatened. -The wolf ranged far and got nothing. -Hitherto suspicious of the haunts of men, he -overcame his fears at last and raided the ranch -headquarters and came away with a lusty young -rooster. Next night he attempted to repeat -this feat, and while nosing the skeleton of a -cow lying close to the home pasture fence, -something snapped over his foot. A numbing -pain shot through him. When he bounded -high and backward to clear, he was jerked to -the ground.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Clasped like a vise about his toes was a steel -trap, a mercilessly powerful contraption of -chains, weighted with two hundred pounds. -It had him, but fortunately his leg was not -caught. In his frenzy of terror, freedom -was worth any sacrifice or pain. He sank his -teeth into his own flesh and gnawed his toes -off, and holding the bleeding stump up in -front of him, fled on three legs. Not a sound -did he make during his agony. It was not -pluck, but a stoicism begot of fear. Had he -whined, a charge of buckshot would have ended -his days; for the cook dozed fitfully behind a -woodpile fifty yards away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When the foot grew well he was a trifle short -in the left foreleg; but it made scarcely any -difference in his gait. The only difference -was in the trail he made, and from that he was -known as Scartoe.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The hurt the cow gave him healed with astonishing -rapidity, for sunlight and dry air are -Nature’s magicians. While taking a siesta in -front of his den next afternoon and tenderly -licking the ragged wound, he was witness of -a strange encounter. His pups were frisking -about, tumbling and growling and snapping in -youthful enjoyment of life, while the mother -lay beside him, encouraging these evidences of -prospective adult ferocity.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At the foot of the knoll whereon they reposed, -something rose, wavering, with a fear-thrilling -rattle, and the pups scattered. At -the same moment a sharp hiss answered this -first challenge. With eyes glowing and ears -cocked, husband and wife waited for the battle -between these enemies.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A dark green reptile with cream-colored -bands, about forty inches in length, was circling -a rattler. The latter lay coiled, ready to -strike, his folds curling and uncurling in long -ripples as his head turned to follow the movements -of his enemy. Fully six feet in length -he was and of a prodigious thickness; but fear -had already entered the heart of him. The -king-snake sped around him with the speed of -light; once, twice, thrice the rattler launched -a blow, but there was no foe there. Then -the malignant killer was on him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A king-snake is immune from the rattler’s -poison and wages constant warfare on all reptiles. -Such is the steel-wire strength of his -coils that the size of an adversary never daunts -him for an instant. He will tackle a snake -twice his size and weight, and he will kill him, -too. It was all over in a few minutes. Round -and round his victim he folded himself; each -second the pressure increased. There was -some desperate flaying of the ground as the -combatants struggled, for the enemy of all -brute creation was fighting for his life. When -he lay dead, the king-snake let go and tried to -swallow him. He did, in fact, get him half -down, but the practical difficulty in the way -of surrounding an object larger than one’s -self triumphed over his appetite. So he gave -up the attempt and the reptile.</p> - -<hr class='tbk100'/> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bow-wow! Ki-yi, yeow-eow-eow-eow-eow.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Scartoe stood on a butte, with his nose pointing -to the moon, his tail between his legs, and -weirdly gave vent to his feelings in song. It -began with two short barks and trailed into a -succession of piercing, reverberating yelps, -that melted into one another and rolled and -echoed, as by the ventriloquist’s art, until the -night grew hideous with the clamor. One -would have sworn that a hundred coyotes held -the hill, and were indulging in some funereal -close-harmony.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This was his evensong. It came welling from -his throat in a flood, in spite of him, and the coyote -could no more control the impulse, the inheritance -of ages, than a man can choke back -the hiccoughs. His stomach would retch and -his neck muscles work in the throes of it -until the song was released. Once again, in -the course of twenty-four hours, did the impulse -seize him. Just before the sun crept -over the edge of the world his nose would be -tilted toward the gray vault of heaven.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bow-wow! Ki-yi, yeow-eow-eow-eow-eow!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He desisted at last and, considerably uplifted, -departed on his hunt for food. A score -of his fellows he met in his prowling, some hunting -in couples; but Scartoe was a family man -and a lone marauder, and would have none of -them. In the half million acres composing -the ranch were fully four hundred of his brethren. -This in spite of a once vigorous warfare, -in which poison and trap and gun and dog had -been the weapons. In the last three years the -campaign against the coyotes had waned, -though each head would bring the taker a -bounty at the county-seat and another at headquarters.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It is not to be wondered at that the thieves -became arrogant and venturesome. They reveled -in their depredations and pitted their -keen wits against man’s intelligence with increasing -boldness. What if twenty thousand -of their brethren had been killed in the previous -twelvemonth, in the national forest preserves -alone? Many times twenty thousand -survived in the cattle country; and official estimate -gives it that each coyote does damage to -stock to the amount of one hundred dollars annually. -Scartoe must have passed, on the -silent trails in his night hunt, the destroyers of -ten thousand dollars’ worth of stock in a year.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Once he paused in a patch of broomweed -to send his doleful cry to the stars. It gurgled -from his throat like water from a bottle. -He gave tongue no more that night. From -the mouth of a cañon, far to his right, sounded -a long-drawn howl, plaintive, threatening. -Hardly had it ceased than a piercing scream -broke from a hackberry tree within a hundred -yards of where Scartoe crouched. Truly the -lords of the wilds were abroad to-night; but it -was not the panther’s cry which drove Scartoe -from the trail. What he was giving right-of-way -to was the lobo.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The coyote drew off a short distance and -sank humbly to earth as a loafer wolf came -running out of the shadows. He was a huge -fellow, almost red along the back, gray as to -his underbody, and he loped purposefully, bent -on slaughter. Scartoe sank lower and groveled. -In imagination he was fawning upon -this mighty creature that inspired him with -dread and respect; for, though of the same -race, they were far apart as the poles. He -knew the magnificent courage of the loafer -and, when the King hunted, to him belonged -the trail.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He watched him go by, and once more -wended his devious way across country. A -nice little scheme had hatched in his brain as -he lay there, born of a long-time feud. Forty -turkeys, eighty chickens and nineteen cocks -were now to his credit; to the credit of the -ranch-house cook stood the toes of his left foreleg. -One turkey-gobbler remained--that he -knew with accuracy, and Scartoe speculated -pleasurably thereon.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Had he been a human being, he would have -laughed as he slid under the outer barb-wire -fence at headquarters. Ten paces away he -had scented the handiwork of man. Sprinkle -and smooth the sand as he might, set bait and -lay trap ever so cunningly, the cook could not -foil that marvelous instinct. There were but -two holes by which Scartoe could enter the -pen; before he started he was well aware that -a trap lay in each. Approaching one, three -feet from it, he scratched loose stones and -earth behind him in a shower on a spot which -looked too smooth and inviting to his eye and -where his nose told him a man had fussed with -his hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At last he was rewarded. A stick he rolled -over touched the spring, and the steel jaws -leaped together with a clash. He proceeded -to dig all around the trap until it was wholly -exposed, after which he gave a disdainful sniff -and jumped over it. Thirty seconds later he -emerged from the pen bearing a fine, fat gobbler, -and away he went, careless of the trail of -feathers his dragging prey made.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You-all kin see for yourself what he done,” -cried the cook, gloriously profane, next morning. -“He knowed that was there all the time -and simply sprung it. Got that lil’ ol’ gobbler, -too; last one I had.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ki-yotes is shore smart,” the straw boss -agreed. “Smart as humans, I reckon.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Smart as humans?” the cook retorted contemptuously. -“Why, ol’ Dick is a human.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s so,” said the straw boss thoughtfully. -“Well, they’s smarter, then; smart as -a good hoss.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That ol’ ki-yote and me’s been fighting for -three years. I near had him once; but he -done chawed his foot off--they’s that treacherous. -Only last week I done set a rooster in -that mesquite tree there, and put traps all -around. He had to step in one to git that -bird. Know what he done?” The cook’s -voice rose to a howl. “I’ll eat my shirt if he -didn’t go off and git a friend, who sprung the -trap and got caught. Yes, sir. Then ol’ -Scartoe, he done jump in and got the rooster.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ever try poison?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Won’t touch it. He kin smell strych-nine -farther’n he kin see. Ate some once and -near died, I reckon, for I seen the place where -he was took sick. Every trap I set, he just -scratches stones or sticks on to it until he -springs the thing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The straw boss, riding to a division camp the -next day, came upon Scartoe trying to imitate -a rock as he slept on the brow of a hill. The -rider had no gun, but got down his rope and -rode toward the sleeper carelessly, so as not -to alarm him. The coyote let him approach -within thirty yards, then awoke to yawn; but -he was wrong in his estimate of the straw -boss, because that worthy gentleman, hot with -the memory of the recent indignity, let out a -whoop and gave chase. Before he could warm -up into anything like his usual form, a rope -sped through the air and encircled Scartoe’s -neck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now, there are three rules to observe in roping -coyotes. The first is not to rope them, and -the other two do not matter. A noose was -nothing new to Scartoe and he knew the parry. -Before it could tighten and jerk him into eternity, -he took one slashing bite at it and the rope -parted, cut clean. Next moment the coyote -had mingled with the scenery.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was a serious-minded animal, yet he permitted -himself some diversions. When his -wife found the remains of the beef, Scartoe -realized that there was a round-up in progress, -which meant food in plenty, and he took to following -the outfit from camp to camp, singing -to them about nine o’clock every night and -again before the dawn. They showed their appreciation -by taking pot shots at him with a -.30-30; but he bore a charmed life. He -managed to pick up much good meat by this -association, too, for the outfit killed a heifer -every other day and left enough to feed half -a dozen coyotes. Sometimes he had to scare -away foolish cows or steers, which, attracted -by the smell of blood, would be holding moaning -wakes over the remains; and always he -had to be on the watch for the buzzards or they -would forestall him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Lightly footing it about camp one night, he -startled a work-horse, himself a night prowler, -bent on stealing buns from the chuck-wagon -which he helped to haul during the day. A -coyote would never attack a horse, placing -too much value on his life, but this beast -was a young, inexperienced creature and did -not know that. With a snort of dismay, he -dashed off. Pleased with himself, Scartoe -gave chase in pure sport, precisely as a playful -dog might have done. Twice around the camp -they ran, then through it, stampeding eleven -staked horses and smashing the guy-ropes of -the fly, which fell on the cook, who never -claimed to be a Christian and had no fears of -an after-life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The punchers awoke, cursing volubly, and -one of them, sleeping remote from the others -on the edge of camp, shied a boot at the wolf. -He stopped in his run, smelled of it, then bore -it homeward. It would make a fine plaything -for the babies. The puncher rode twenty-seven -miles to headquarters next day, in his -socks, to get a new pair of boots.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Four months passed thus pleasurably. -Sometimes the family nearly starved, at others -the puppies sagged in the middle from -overeating. Always there were bones and -odds and ends of hides old Scartoe had hidden -away to gnaw on in moments of leisure, but -they made poor stays to hunger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When winter shut down on the land Scartoe -got rid of wife and children. He simply wandered -off when the puppies grew big enough -to care for themselves; and he found another -home in an isolated ravine. In the cold nights -that followed he took to consorting with other -bachelors, roving spirits all. Very often they -hunted in bands. They were few in number, -because it is not coyote nature to run in packs, -but this union gave them strength and made -them infinitely more dangerous. Two score -times they stalked and killed lonely, unprotected -calves.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Later, they were so hard put to it for food -that courage was born in them. One night -four surrounded an eight-months’-old steer one -of them would never have tackled singly, and -slew him. It was Scartoe who devised the -plan that the three should run him by a bush, -behind which he crouched. It was Scartoe -who leapt swiftly, unerringly, for the nose -and brought him down. And it was he who -got the lion’s share of the spoils.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Yet they were cowards for all that. A -coyote is always a coward, even when driven -frantic by hunger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With the storm kings holding sway, their -foraging became less and less fruitful. Several -of his race departed for new hunting -grounds, but Scartoe stayed in his own domain -and weathered the gales.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Twice had he to eat of his own kind. Toward -break of a wintry day he and one companion -slunk homeward from an unsuccessful -scout, their empty stomachs crying aloud for -flesh. They watched each other in suspicion, -for in each one the same desire was uppermost. -Ahead of them, crossing their trail, a -wounded coyote dragged himself--spent, done -almost to death in a grapple with a nester’s -dog. They fell upon and slew and ate him. -Later, a full month, or perhaps two, when the -same companion grew wasted and weak from -hunger, and in all the forsaken country they -could not kill, when not even a field mouse rewarded -long hours of hunting, Scartoe ran at -him and, with one shrewd stroke upward, slit -his throat and let out the life blood. He ate -his fill and came once more into his strength.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Only once during that time of stress did he -pit his cunning against man’s guile. That -was when the snow was off the ground and a -party of visitors at the ranch-house hunted -him with imported dogs. Scartoe made the -most glorious mess of his trail. He went back -on it, crossed, recrossed, waded up-stream, returned -to the starting point, and employed all -the tricks his long years had taught him. -Then he lay down behind a dead prickly pear -and watched the hunt; watched the chagrin of -the men; watched every movement of the dogs, -nosing and worrying. Tiring of this in half -an hour, he went to his den and slept. They -never untangled the web of his weaving.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When spring came Scartoe was looking -shabby. He was morose, too, and had a -longing for companionship. A week of fine -weather improved him so that he was almost -the Scartoe of old; but the longing for companionship -was tenfold greater.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On a February morn he lifted up his voice -to herald the dawn.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bow-wow! Ki-yi, yeow-eow-eow-eow-eow.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A joyous bark answered. It was not the -call of his kind, yet it thrilled him, for in it -there was a note he knew. He stiffened and -trembled with expectation. A young collie -came bounding toward him. She paused -doubtfully a dozen yards away and growled. -Scartoe threw up his head, thrust out his tail -from its usual abject droop and went toward -her blithely. Then his hair bristled, his -muscles tightened and he was ready for combat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Behind her came another coyote. He was -big. Even the veteran, large as he was, appeared -small in comparison. Where the newcomer -had picked up the living that had given -him such weight was a puzzle; but certain it -was he had ten pounds the better of it. Not -a thought gave Scartoe to that handicap.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The big wolf wasted no time in preliminaries. -His strength and skill had been tried in -mêlées innumerable, and foes had been swept -before him like chaff. But Scartoe was a -general. Like lightning he dodged the swift -rush; like lightning he ripped even as he -swerved, tearing a piece from his enemy’s neck. -Coyotes will not grapple and cling with locked -jaws, as do the brave among dogs; they depend -on the swift cutting powers of their dexterous -jaws. Three times they came together; three -times old Scartoe gashed his antagonist so -that the blood spurted. Still he could not -quite reach the throat for the death stroke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And then the end came. Too eager in his -desire to finish the battle, he left himself open -for the merest flick of time, as he wheeled for -a fourth onslaught. With one hurtling, upward -dive, the big brute gained the jugular, -and Scartoe was thrown back, his throat torn, -the life ebbing from him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The collie frisked about the victor, playfully -showing her teeth, and they trotted away together.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>An hour after sunup, the ranch-house cook, -on a quest for his infant son’s collie pet, came -upon the torn, lifeless body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jumping Jupiter!” he exclaimed, prayerfully. -“It’s ol’ Scartoe.”</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chIII'></a>III<br/> <span class='sub-head'>CORAZÓN</span></h1></div> - -<div class='literal-container' style=''><div class='literal'> <!-- rend=';fs:0.9em;' --> -<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'>A man is as good as his nerves</p> -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;margin-bottom:0.75em;font-size:0.9em;'>--Cowboy maxim.</p> -</div></div> <!-- end rend --> - -<p class='pindent'>With manes streaming in the wind, a -band of bronchos fled across the -grama flats, splashed through the -San Pedro, and whirled sharply to the right, -heading for sanctuary in the Dragoons. In -the lead raced a big sorrel, his coat shimmering -like polished gold where the sun touched it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s Corazón,” exclaimed Reb. “Head -him or we’ll lose the bunch.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The pursuers spread out and swept round in -a wide semicircle. Corazón held to his course, -a dozen yards in advance of the others, his head -high. The chase slackened, died away. With -a blaring neigh, the sorrel eased his furious -pace and the entire band came to a trot. Before -them were the mountains, and Corazón -knew their fastnesses as the street urchin -knows the alleys that give him refuge; in the -cañons the bronchos would be safe from man. -Behind was no sign of the enemy. His nose -in the wind, he sniffed long, but it bore him -no taint. Instead, he nickered with delight, -for he smelled water. They swung to the -south, and in less than five minutes their hot -muzzles were washed by the bubbling waters -of Eternity Spring.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Corazón drew in a long breath, expanding -his well-ribbed sides, and looked up from -drinking. There in front of him, fifty paces -away, was a horseman. He snorted the alarm -and they plunged into a tangle of sagebrush. -Another rider bore down and turned them -back. To right and left they darted, then -wheeled and sought desperately to break -through the cordon at a weak spot, and failed. -Wherever they turned, a cowboy appeared as -by magic. At last Corazón detected an unguarded -area and flew through it with the speed -of light.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now we’ve got ’em,” howled Reb. “Don’t -drive too close, but keep ’em headed for the -corral.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Within a hundred yards of the gate, the sorrel -halted, his ears cocked in doubt. The cowboys -closed in to force the band through. Three -times the bronchos broke and scattered, for to -their wild instincts the fences and that narrow -aperture cried treachery and danger. They -were gathered, with whoops and many imprecations, -and once more approached the entrance.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Drive the saddle bunch out,” commanded -the range boss.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Forth came the remuda of a hundred horses. -The bronchos shrilled greeting and mingled -with them, and when the cow-ponies trotted -meekly into the corral, Corazón and his band -went too, though they shook and were afraid.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For five years Corazón had roamed the -range--ever since he had discovered that grass -was good to eat, and so had left the care of his -tender-eyed mother. Because he dreaded the -master of created things and fled him afar, -only once during that time had he seen man at -close quarters. That was when, as a youngster, -he was caught and branded on the left hip. -He had quickly forgotten that; until now it -had ceased to be even a memory.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But now he and his companion rovers were -prisoners, cooped in a corral by a contemptible -trick. They crowded around and around the -stout enclosure, sometimes dropping to their -knees in efforts to discover an exit beneath the -boards. And not twenty feet away, the -dreaded axis of their circlings, sat a man on a -horse, and he studied them calmly. Other -men, astride the fence, were uncoiling ropes, -and their manner was placid and businesslike. -One opined dispassionately that “the sorrel is -shore some horse.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re damn whistlin’,” cried the buster -over his shoulder, in hearty affirmation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Corazón was the most distracted of all the -band. He was in a frenzy of nervous fear, his -glossy coat wet and foam-flecked. He would -not stand still for a second, but prowled about -the wooden barrier like a jungle creature newly -prisoned in a cage. Twice he nosed the -ground and crooked his forelegs in an endeavor -to slide through the six inches of clear space -beneath the gate, and the outfit laughed derisively.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Here goes,” announced the buster in his -expressionless tones. “You-all watch out, -now. Hell’ll be poppin’.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At that moment Corazón took it into his -head to dash at top speed through his friends, -huddled in a bunch in a corner. A rope -whined and coiled, and, when he burst out of -the jam, the noose was around his neck, tightening -so as to strangle him. Madly he ran -against it, superb in the sureness of his might. -Then he squalled with rage and pain and an -awful terror. His legs flew from under him, -and poor Corazón was jerked three feet into -the air, coming down on his side with smashing -force. The fall shook a grunt out of him, -and he was stunned and breathless, but unhurt. -He staggered to his feet, his breath straining -like a bellows, for the noose cut into his neck -and he would not yield to its pressure.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Facing him was the man on the bay. His -mount stood with feet braced, sitting back on -the rope, and he and his rider were quite collected -and cool and prepared. The sorrel’s -eyes were starting from his head; his nostrils -flared wide, gaping for the air that was denied -him, and the breath sucked in his throat. It -seemed as if he must drop. Suddenly the buster -touched his horse lightly with the spur and -slackened the rope. With a long sob, Corazón -drew in a life-giving draught, his gaze fixed -in frightened appeal on his captor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Open the gate,” said Mullins, without raising -his voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He flicked the rope over Corazón’s hind -quarters, and essayed to drive him into the -next corral, to cut him off from his fellows. -The sorrel gave a gasp of dismay and lunged -forward. Again he was lifted from the -ground, and came down with a thud that left -him shivering.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“His laig’s done bust!” exclaimed the boss.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No; he’s shook up, that’s all. Wait -awhile.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A moment later Corazón raised his head -painfully; then, life and courage coming back -with a rush, he lurched to his feet. Mullins -waited with unabated patience. The sorrel -was beginning to respect that which encircled -his neck and made naught of his strength, and -when the buster flipped the rope again, he -ran through the small gate, and brought up -before he had reached the end of his tether.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Two of the cowboys stepped down languidly -from the fence, and took position in the center -of the corral.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hi, Corazón! Go it, boy!” they yelled, -and spurred by their cries, the horse started -off at a trot. Reb tossed his loop,--flung it -carelessly, with a sinuous movement of the -wrist,--and when Corazón had gone a few -yards, he found his forefeet ensnared. Enraged -at being thus cramped, he bucked and -bawled; but, before Reb could settle on the -rope, he came to a standstill and sank his teeth -into the strands. Once, twice, thrice he tugged, -but could make no impression. Then he -pitched high in air, and--</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“NOW!” shrieked Reb.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They heaved with might and main, and Corazón -flopped in the dust. Quick as a cat, he -sprang upright and bolted; but again they -downed him, and, while Reb held the head by -straddling the neck, his confederate twined -dexterously with a stake-rope. There lay Corazón, -helpless and almost spent, trussed up like -a sheep for market: they had hog-tied him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was the buster who put the hackamore on -his head. Very deliberately he moved. Corazón -sensed confidence in the touch of his fingers; -they spoke a language to him, and he was -soothed by the sureness of superiority they -conveyed. He lay quiet. Then Reb incautiously -shifted his position, and the horse -heaved and raised his head, banging Mullins -across the ear. The buster’s senses swam, but -instead of flying into a rage, he became quieter, -more deliberate; in his cold eyes was a vengeful -gleam, and dangerous stealth lurked in his delicate -manipulation of the strands. An excruciating -pain shot through the sorrel’s eye: -Mullins had gouged him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let him up.” It was the buster again, -atop the bay, making the rope fast with a -double half-hitch over the horn of the saddle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Corazón arose, dazed and very sick. But -his spirit was unbreakable. Again and again -he strove to tear loose, rearing, falling back, -plunging to the end of the rope until he was -hurled off his legs to the ground. When he -began to weary, Mullins encouraged him to -fight, that he might toss him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll learn you what this rope means,” he -remarked, as the broncho scattered the dust for -the ninth time, and remained there, completely -done up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In deadly fear of his slender tether, yet alert -to match his strength against it once more, -should opportunity offer, Corazón followed the -buster quietly enough when he rode out into -the open. Beside a sturdy mesquite bush that -grew apart from its brethren, Mullins dismounted -and tied the sorrel. As a farewell he -waved his arms and whooped. Of course Corazón -gathered himself and leaped--leaped to -the utmost that was in him, so that the bush -vibrated to its farthest root; and of course he -hit the earth with a jarring thump that temporarily -paralyzed him. Mullins departed to -put the thrall of human will on others.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Throughout the afternoon, and time after -time during the interminable night, the sorrel -tried to break away, but with each sickening -failure he grew more cautious. When he ran -against the rope now, he did not run blindly to -its limit, but half wheeled, so that when it -jerked him back he invariably landed on his -feet. Corazón was learning hard, but he was -learning. And what agonies of pain and suspense -he went through!--for years a free -rover, and now to be bound thus, by what -looked to be a mere thread, for he knew not -what further tortures! He sweated and shivered, -seeing peril in every shadow. When a -coyote slunk by with tongue lapping hungrily -over his teeth, the prisoner almost broke his -neck in a despairing struggle to win freedom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the chill of the dawn they led him into -a circular corral. His sleekness had departed; -the barrel-like body did not look so well nourished, -and there was red in the blazing eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I reckon he’ll be mean,” observed the -buster, as though it concerned him but little.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No-o-o. Go easy with him, Carl, and I -think he’ll make a good hoss,” the boss cautioned.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>While two men held the rope, Mullins advanced -along it foot by foot, inch by inch, one -hand outstretched, and talked to Corazón in -a low, careless tone of affectionate banter. -“So you’d like for to kill me, would you?” he -inquired, grinning. All the while he held the -sorrel’s gaze.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Corazón stood still, legs planted wide apart, -and permitted him to approach. He trembled -when the fingers touched his nose; but they -were firm, confident digits, the voice was reassuring, -and the gentle rubbing up, up between -the eyes and ears lulled his forebodings.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hand me the blanket,” said Mullins.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He drew it softly over Corazón’s back, and -the broncho swerved, pawed, and kicked with -beautiful precision. Whereupon they placed -a rope around his neck, dropped it behind his -right hind leg, then pulled that member up -close to his belly; there it was held fast. On -three legs now, the sorrel was impotent for -harm. Mullins once more took up the blanket -but this time the gentleness had flown. He -slapped it over Corazón’s backbone from side -to side a dozen times. At each impact the -horse humped awkwardly, but, finding that he -came to no hurt, he suffered it in resignation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That much of the second lesson learned, they -saddled him. Strangely enough, Corazón submitted -to the operation without fuss, the only -untoward symptoms being a decided upward -slant to the back of the saddle and the tucking -of his tail. Reb waggled his head over this -exhibition.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t like his standing quiet that away; -it ain’t natural,” he vouchsafed. “Look at -the crick in his back. Jim-in-ee! he’ll shore -pitch.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Which he did. The cinches were tightened -until Corazón’s eyes almost popped from his -head; then they released the bound leg and -turned him loose. What was that galling his -spine? Corazón took a startled peep at it, -lowered his head between his knees, and began -to bawl. Into the air he rocketed, his head -and forelegs swinging to the left, his hind -quarters weaving to the right. The jar of -his contact with the ground was appalling. -Into the air again, his head and forelegs to -the right, his rump twisted to the left. Round -and round the corral he went, blatting like an -angry calf; but the thing on his back stayed -where it was, gripping his body cruelly. At -last he was fain to stop for breath.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now,” said Mullins, “I reckon I’ll take -it out of him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There has always been for me an overwhelming -fascination in watching busters at work. -They have underlying traits in common when -it comes to handling the horses--the garrulous -one becomes coldly watchful, the Stoic moves -with stern patience, the boaster soothes with -soft-crooned words and confident caress. -Mullins left Corazón standing in the middle -of the corral, the hackamore rope strung loose -on the ground, while he saw to it that his -spurs were fast. We mounted the fence, not -wishing to be mixed in the glorious turmoil to -follow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wouldn’t top ol’ Corazón for fifty,” confessed -the man on the adjoining post.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mullins has certainly got nerve,” I conceded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A buster has got to have nerve.” The -range boss delivered himself laconically. “All -nerve and no brains makes the best. But they -get stove up and then--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And then? What then?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why, don’t you know?” he asked in surprise. -“Every buster loses his nerve at last, -and then they can’t ride a pack-hoss. It must -be because it’s one fool man with one set of -nerves up ag’in a new hoss with a new devil in -him every time. They wear him down. -Don’t you reckon?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The explanation sounded plausible. Mullins -was listening with a faintly amused smile -to Reb’s account of what a lady mule had done -to him; he rolled a cigarette and lighted it -painstakingly. The hands that held the -match were steady as eternal rock. It was -maddening to see him stand there so coolly -while the big sorrel, a dozen feet distant, was -a-quake with dread, blowing harshly through -his crimson nostrils whenever a cowboy stirred--and -each of us knowing that the man was -taking his life in his hands. An unlooked-for -twist, a trifling disturbance of poise, and, with -a horse like Corazón, it meant maiming or -death. At last he threw the cigarette from -him and walked slowly to the rope.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So you’re calling for me?” he inquired, -gathering it up.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Corazón was snorting. By patient craft -Reb acquired a grip on the sorrel’s ears, and, -while he hung there, bringing the head down -so that the horse could not move, Mullins -tested the stirrups and raised himself cautiously -into the saddle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let him go.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>While one could count ten, Corazón stood -expectant, his back bowed, his tail between -his legs. The ears were laid flat on the head -and the forefeet well advanced. The buster -waited, the quirt hanging from two fingers of -his right hand. Suddenly the sorrel ducked -his head and emitted a harsh scream, leaping, -with legs stiff, straight off the ground. He -came down with the massive hips at an angle -to the shoulders, thereby imparting a double -shock; bounded high again, turned back with -bewildering speed as he touched the earth; -and then, in a circle perhaps twenty feet in -diameter, sprang time after time, his heels -lashing the air. Never had such pitching been -seen on the Anvil Range.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I swan, he just misses his tail a’ inch when -he turns back!” roared a puncher.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mullins sat composedly in the saddle, but -he was riding as never before. He whipped -the sorrel at every jump and raked him down -the body from shoulder to loins with the ripping -spurs. The brute gave no signs of letting -up. Through Mullins’ tan of copper hue -showed a slight pallor. He was exhausted. If -Corazón did not give in soon, the man would -be beaten. Just then the horse stopped, feet -a-sprawl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mullins,”--the range boss got down from -the fence,--“you’ll kill that hoss. Between -the cinches belongs to you; the head and hind -quarters is the company’s.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For a long minute Mullins stared at the -beast’s ears without replying.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I reckon that’s the rule,” he acquiesced -heavily. “Do you want that somebody else -should ride him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No-o-o. Go ahead. But, remember, between -the cinches you go at him as you like--nowhere -else.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='leap'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i103.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0005' style='width:85%;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“<span class='it'>Leaping, with legs stiff, straight off the ground</span>”</p> -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>The buster slapped the quirt down on Corazón’s -shoulder, but the broncho did not budge; -then harder. With the first oath he had used, -he jabbed in the spurs and lay back on the -hackamore rope. Instead of bucking, Corazón -reared straight up, his feet pawing like -the hands of a drowning man. Before Mullins -could move to step off, the sorrel flung his -head round and toppled backward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, he’s not dead.” The range boss leaned -over the buster and his hands fumbled inside -the shirt. “The horn got him here, but he -ain’t dead. Claude, saddle Streak and hit for -Agua Prieta for the doctor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When we had carried the injured man to -the bunk-house, Reb spoke from troubled -meditation:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Pete, I don’t believe Corazón is as bad as -he acts with Mullins. I’ve been watching him. -Mullins, he didn’t--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You take him, then; he’s yours,” snapped -the boss, his conscience pricking because of the -reproof he had administered. If the buster -had ridden him his own way, this might not -have happened.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That is how the sorrel came into Reb’s possession. -Only one man of the outfit witnessed -the taming, and he would not talk; but -when Reb came to dinner from the first saddle -on Corazón, his hands were torn and the nail -of one finger hung loose.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I had to take to the horn and hang on -some,” he admitted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ay, he had clung there desperately while -the broncho pitched about the river-bed, whither -Reb had retired for safety and to escape spectators. -But at the next saddle Corazón was -less violent; at the third, recovering from the -stunning shocks and bruisings of the first day, -he was a fiend; and then, on the following -morning, he did not pitch at all. Reb rode -him every day to sap the superfluous vigor in -Corazón’s iron frame and he taught him as -well as he could the first duties of a cowhorse. -Finding that his new master never -punished him unless he undertook to dispute his -authority, the sorrel grew tractable and began -to take an interest in his tasks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s done broke,” announced Reb; “I’ll -have him bridle-wise in a week. He’ll make -some roping horse. Did you see him this evening? -I swan--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They scoffed good-naturedly; but Reb proceeded -on the assumption that Corazón was -meant to be a roping horse, and schooled him -accordingly. As for the sorrel, he took to -the new pastime with delight. Within a -month nothing gave him keener joy than to -swerve and crouch at the climax of a sprint -and see a cow thrown heels over head at the -end of the rope that was wrapped about his -saddle-horn.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The necessity of contriving to get three -meals a day took me elsewhere, and I did not -see Corazón again for three years. Then, one -Sunday afternoon, Big John drew me from El -Paso to Juarez on the pretense of seeing a -grand, an extraordinary, a most noble bull-fight, -in which the dauntless Favorita would -slay three fierce bulls from the renowned El -Carmen ranch, in “competency” with the fearless -Morenito Chico de San Bernardo; and a -youth with a megaphone drew us both to a -steer-roping contest instead. We agreed that -bull-fighting was brutal on the Sabbath.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll bet it’s rotten,” remarked Big John -pessimistically, as we took our seats. “I could -beat ’em myself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As he scanned the list, his face brightened. -Among the seventeen ropers thereon were two -champions and a possible new one in Raphael -Fraustro, the redoubtable vaquero from the -domain of Terrazas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And here’s Reb!” roared John--he is accustomed -to converse in the tumult of the -branding-pen--“I swan, he’s entered from -Monument.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shortly afterwards the contestants paraded, -wonderfully arrayed in silk shirts and new -handkerchiefs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Some of them ain’t been clean before in a -year,” was John’s caustic comment. “There’s -Slim; I KNOW he hasn’t.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They were a fine-looking body of men, and -two of my neighbors complained that I -trampled on their feet. The horses caught the -infection of excitement from the packed stands -and champed on their bits and caracoled -and waltzed sideways in a manner highly unbecoming -a staid cow-pony.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was one that did not. So sluggish -was his gait and general bearing, in contrast -to the others, that the crowd burst into laughter. -He plodded at the tail-end of the procession, -his hoofs kicking up the dust in listless -spurts, his nose on a level with his knees. -I rubbed my eyes and John said, “No, it -ain’t--it can’t be--”; but it was. Into that -arena slouched Corazón, entered against the -pick of the horses of the Southwest; and Reb -was astride him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We watched the ropers catch and tie the -steers in rapid succession, but the much-heralded -ones missed altogether, and to John and me -the performance lagged. We were waiting -for Reb and Corazón.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They came at last, at the end of the list. -When Corazón ambled up the arena to enter -behind the barrier, the grandstand roared a -facetious welcome; the spectacle of this sad-gaited -nag preparing to capture a steer -touched its risibilities.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Listen to me,” bawled a fat gentleman in -a wide-brimmed hat, close to my ear. “You -listen to me! They’re all fools. That’s a -cowhorse. No blasted nonsense. Knows his -business, huh? You’re damn whistlin’!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Assuredly, Corazón knew his business. The -instant he stepped behind the line he was a -changed horse. The flopping ears pricked forward, -his neck arched, and the great muscles -of his shoulders and thighs rippled to his dainty -prancing. He pulled and fretted on the bit, -his eyes roving about in search of the quarry; -he whinnied an appeal to be gone. Reb made -ready his coil, curbing him with light pressure.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Out from the chute sprang a steer, heading -straight down the arena. Corazón was frantic. -With the flash of the gun he breasted -the barrier-rope and swept down on him in -twenty strides. Reb stood high in the stirrups; -the loop whirled and sped; and, without -waiting to see how it fell, but accepting a -catch in blind faith, the sorrel started off at a -tangent.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Big John was standing up in his place, clawing -insanely at the hats of his neighbors and -banging them on the head with his programme.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look at him--just look at him!” he -shrieked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The steer was tossed clear of the ground and -came down on his left side. Almost before he -landed, Reb was out of the saddle and speeding -toward him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s getting up. HE’S GETTING -UP. Go to him, Reb!” howled John and I.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The steer managed to lift his head; he was -struggling to his knees. I looked away, for -Reb must lose. Then a hoarse shout from the -multitude turned back my gaze. Corazón had -felt the slack on the rope and knew what it -meant. He dug his feet into the dirt and began -to walk slowly forward--very slowly and -carefully, for Reb’s task must not be spoiled. -The steer collapsed, falling prone again, but -the sorrel did not stop. Once he cocked his -eye, and seeing that the animal still squirmed, -pulled with all his strength. The stands were -rocking; they were a sea of tossing hats and -gesticulating arms and flushed faces; the roar -of their plaudits echoed back from the hills. -And it was all for Corazón, gallant Corazón.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dam’ his eyes--dam’ his ol’ eyes!” Big -John babbled over and over, absolutely oblivious.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Reb stooped beside the steer, his hands looping -and tying with deft darting twists even as -he kept pace with his dragged victim.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I guess it’s--about--a--hour,” he panted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then he sprang clear and tossed his hands -upward, facing the judges’ stand. After that -he walked aimlessly about, mopping his face -with a handkerchief; for to him the shoutings -and the shifting colors were all a foolish dream, -and he was rather sick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Right on the cry with which his master announced -his task done, Corazón eased up on -the rope and waited.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Pee-ler’s time,” bellowed the man with -the megaphone presently, “is twenty-one seconds, -ty-ing the world’s re-cord.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So weak that his knees trembled, Reb -walked over to his horse. “Corazón,” he said -huskily, and slapped him once on the flank.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nothing would do the joyous crowd then -but that Reb should ride forth to be acclaimed -the victor. We sat back and yelled ourselves -weak with laughter, for Corazón, having done -his work, refused resolutely to squander time -in vain parade. The steer captured and tied, -he had no further interest in the proceedings. -The rascal dog-trotted reluctantly to the center -of the arena in obedience to Reb, then -faced the audience; but, all the time Reb was -bowing his acknowledgments, Corazón sulked -and slouched, and he was sulking and shuffling -the dust when they went through the gate.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now,” said John, who is very human, -“we’ll go help Reb spend that money.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we jostled amid the outgoing crowd, several -cowboys came alongside the grandstand -rail, and Big John drew me aside to have -speech with them. One rider led a spare horse -and when he passed a man on foot, the latter -hailed him:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Say, Ed, give me a lift to the hotel?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure,” answered Ed, proffering the reins.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The man gathered them up, his hands fluttering -as if with palsy, and paused with his -foot raised toward the stirrup.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He won’t pitch nor nothing, Ed?” came -the quavered inquiry. “You’re shore he’s -gentle?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gentler’n a dog,” returned Ed, greatly surprised.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ain’t fooling me, now, are you, Ed?” -continued the man on the ground. “He -looks kind of mean.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give him to me!” Ed exploded. “You kin -walk.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From where we stood, only the man’s back -was visible. “Who is that fellow?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who? Him?” answered my neighbor. -“Oh, his name’s Mullins. They say he used -to be able to ride anything with hair on it, -and throw off the bridle at that. I expect -that’s just talk. Don’t you reckon?”</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chIV'></a>IV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE OUTLAW</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>Steve was recounting an episode of -Hell’s Acre.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And jist as I was fighting my horse -to make him go through that scrub-oak, he -done stubbed his toe in the sand. Up she come -with a whoof--one of them ol’ long-horns. -That cow had hid herself there. Yes, sir; but -she didn’t quite git her horns covered.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Reb said he could well believe it. No longer -ago than last Tuesday, while chasing some -stubborn cattle, he had chanced upon a cow -lying flat behind a bush. A jackrabbit was -burying her under leaves, for better concealment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Whereupon the two got to horse and rode -away, leaving behind them a thoughtful silence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was a water-gap to be repaired and -they headed for the Salt Fork of the Brazos.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wait a minute,” said Steve. “Look there.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A cow stood on the crest of a rise--a lean, -dun creature, with distended eyes. When -they approached, she trotted off to the right, -mumbling anxiously. They did not follow. -Then she stopped, her head erect and nostrils -dilated, to watch them. The two ambled forward -and she kept near, very, very anxious.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She’s got a calf hid out somewheres,” Reb -remarked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He surveyed the immediate country leisurely, -confident of what he would discover. -Two hundred yards in front was a patch of -mesquite, and they made for it. Behind a bush -they found the calf--a sturdy, red-and-white -baby with a specially black, moist nose. It -flattened out when Steve stood over it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Git up,” he commanded, “I want to see -more of you. I bet them hoofs of yours is -soft.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The calf hugged the ground. He raised -the sagging body by the brisket and tail, none -too gently. When he let go, the little fellow -collapsed, spread out like a jellyfish. He must -have marveled as he lay there, rolling his wide, -questioning eyes upward, what strange beings -these were, for he was just one day old and -had never seen a man.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come a li’l’ seven,” Steve cried joyously. -“Look a-here, Reb. See his face.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Between the youngster’s eyes was a crimson -splash which made a perfect 7. Reb examined -the peculiar marking with interest and -suggested that Come-a-Seven might bring the -little devil luck as a name.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The calf resented all this handling and raised -his voice in a plaintive bawl. As they loped -away on their errand, the cow crashed through -the bushes to her offspring’s side. She nosed -him solicitously, rumbling caresses.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Come-a-Seven inherited all the hardiness of -his race--indeed, in later years, Reb vowed -that he was tougher’n the oldest man in the -world. Half an hour after his advent into -this vale of tears he could walk. It was not a -gait to justify boasting, because his forelegs -showed a tendency to give at unexpected -places, but he saved himself from a fall by -leaning against his mother’s shoulder. He -next made the circuit of the cow twice in a -clumsy hunt for the fount of his food supply -and finally reached it in an extremely awkward -position. Nevertheless, she watched him pridefully, -her sight blurred with happiness; and -braced against her hind leg, he fed like a glutton. -Feeling full and reckless therefrom, he -humped his back in abandon and tried to -cavort, but came down with a jarring thump.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The young mother did her duty by him like -a Scotch washerwoman with nine children. -He breakfasted at dawn--drank until he could -drink no more. Afterwards she went off to -graze, leaving the calf behind some screening -hush. It was seldom she strayed so far that -she was not within sight or call: there is danger -to toddling calves that lie out on the range unprotected.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>How fast his strength grew! At five days -of age he could have butted into a wooden -fence at half-speed without any especially ill -effects, save to the fence. Yet his mother’s -care never abated. She would go over him -every night with eager tenderness and was -ever aggressively on the alert to defend. For -she would have fought anything on four legs -for the life of that loose-jointed, red-and-white -blatherskite she held to be prince of his race.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cattle grazed in scattered bunches over -some hundred thousand acres of the east range--they -are not so companionable as horses and -do not herd so closely in their feeding. Nor -will the bulls take such responsibilities upon -their shoulders as do stallions with the mares and -colts. Come-a-Seven, in fact, never saw his -father, to his knowledge. That ponderous, -morose scion of Hereford stock lived his own -life in his own way, spending half the day -sleeping in the shade of a cottonwood; and he -did not worry about family matters. His -scores of children might fare as best they could. -In the meantime he had his amusements. Besides, -what on earth were their mothers for?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On his eighth day Come-a-Seven started out -to see something of the world. No great -variety offered within his ken--a rolling expanse, -green-gray, gashed by numerous brick-red -gullies; hundreds of scraggy mesquite -bushes and some prickly-pear; two or three -regal cottonwoods on the bank of a creek, -whose sandy bed was a third of a mile wide; -beyond, a butte lifting from the earth like a -monstrous mushroom. That was what he saw--that, -and big blue blotches of shadows moving -over the country like an army of specters. -Piles of tumbled white clouds gave promise of -rain at a later date.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Upon this the red-and-white gazed, his head -moving from side to side in jerks, ears twitching, -tail straight out as when he fed. He was -trying to get up nerve to sally farther afield. -As a starter and a spur to courage he curveted -clumsily, but was brought up short by the sight -of another calf of about his own age, standing -not a dozen yards away, surveying him with -the liveliest interest. Come-a-Seven tried to -look hostile, even threatening, but his curiosity -got the better of him, because the calf into -whose face he glared had the merest stump of -a tail.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Advancing a step, he intimated in his own -peculiar, gruff calf-manner that the abbreviated -member puzzled him. If Come-a-Seven -had ever dodged a coyote, he would not have -been so ignorant. The other evinced no resentment -and they approached in amicable -fashion, made a playful butt at each other and -became fast friends. After that they would -loaf about together in the hot summer days, -making trouble for the other calves and stirring -up bickerings and feuds.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>None of them was of a serious nature. The -nearest approach to a tragic ending happened -when the red-and-white smashed, full tilt, into -a six-months’-old half-brother, of whose relationship -he was ignorant--not that this would -have made any difference--and knocked him -off the steep wall of a tank into the water. -He had to run at that, for the other was a -husky, ardent calf, and he was angry all -through. When he scrambled out, he went -hunting for the red-and-white, but by that time -the offender was safely under his mother’s eye, -which fact he flaunted brazenly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Who ever saw a braver pair? Who so bold -as the tailless one and Come-a-Seven when -there was no possibility of danger? Then, at -the first hint of trouble, up would go their -tails and they would run to their mothers at -their very best pace.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They were learning, too, for many things -they saw carried lessons to their youthful perceptions. -They were witnesses of the finish -of a wild-cat, which a puncher roped out of a -tree under which they had been taking a nap. -They saw a companion die slowly from blackleg, -and another practically eaten alive by the -fearful screw-worm. For days, too, they -avoided an old cow whose head was swelled to -twice its natural size. The poor creature was -the victim of a snake bite, but she survived.</p> - -<hr class='tbk101'/> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ow-oo-yah! Ow-oo-yah! Ow-oo-yah! -Ki-yi! Git up, cattle.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A shrill whistle brought the red-and-white to -his feet with a jerk just as the sun tinted the -eastern sky to gray and gold and rose. He -bellowed an inquiry to his mother, and for a -second stood irresolute. A horseman came -riding at top speed straight for them, hallooing -with all his might and waving his hat. -Whereupon the calf waited for no instructions. -He let himself out for all he was worth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The puncher rode at a hand-gallop behind -and he did not drive too hard. Instead, he -gave them a shove in the direction he desired -they should travel, and, with a final shout, -swung away to the right, where a bunch of six -rose up with a snort and gave him a chase. -He calculated that the cow would keep going -and she did. Her slow march was marked by -protests from her hopeful offspring. Observing -that the rider was busy stirring up -cattle in many directions, his baby mind could -conceive of no good reason for plugging along -in a line dead ahead because this individual had -furnished the impetus for the start. So he -grumbled much, but trotted along obediently, -notwithstanding; and presently his own grievances -were dissipated by the contemplation of -what was happening around him. Every -patch of brush in the country appeared to be -turning out cows, calves and young steers, as -a magician’s bag scatters paper roses. In -several bunches he recognized acquaintances, -but they were too concerned about the future -to do more than give a hurried squall of recognition. -An enormous procession was under -way and they were marching in it, a part of it. -Whither would it lead them?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Apparently this speculation was likewise a -source of worry to the cows and steers, though -they all had been through much the same before. -Yet, for the most part, they went -soberly, falling into the semblance of a trail-herd -as their ranks were swelled by others which -the cowboys roused up; but there were some -that did not. Occasionally a heifer would -make a break to one side, only to be headed -off; and once a cow, driven too impetuously, -jerked her head sideways and bowed her tail. -She was “on the prod,” and they let her go. -Time after time, when the red-and-white would -turn about to gaze, a rider would come at him, -slapping his boot with his quirt and whistling. -This constant surveillance irritated Come-a-Seven.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Their ranks were swelling so fast, too, that -his identity, and hence his sense of security, -was lost. Another influx of cattle caused him -to carom off his mother’s side and in puerile -anger he butted at those nearest, until he observed -he was making no impression, when, discouraged, -he gave it up and moved along. -His tiny troubles were submerged in that -great army. Two thousand cattle were converging -upon a plain, from nine points in an -area five miles wide.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Come-a-Seven was almost too interested to -be scared.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Clouds of dust welling up; a babel of sound; -mighty roarings of irate bulls, petty monarchs -now on a common footing they resented; the -lowing of cows and the frightened bawling of -the calves; and always a bewildering churning -and shifting like a maelstrom. Every few -minutes a stream of dirt would shoot skyward -like a geyser, where a bull was spoiling for a -fight and sent his thundering challenge over -the ranks. Occasionally there was a clash and -some desperate attempts at goring. Holding -this host on the round-up ground was a -cordon of eight punchers, sitting apathetically -on their horses. They had little to do while -their companions worked the herd, cutting out -the cows and calves to one side, the strays and -beef cattle to another. Sometimes an animal -would wander to the edge, stand staring uncertainly, -then saunter forth to attain the open; -but most were driven back without trouble. -One persisted and gave a herder a furious dash -to head him off; but that was all part of the -day’s work.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When the cutters penetrated the dust and -came threading their way through the noisy, -restless horde, the calf became doubly uneasy. -A man on a blazed-face bay was particularly -insistent. Come-a-Seven watched him work -deviously through the entire herd after a cow -and her young, and drive them forth to the -open; so he tried to keep out of sight. But it -was no use. Soon the horse was close to them, -and mother and son felt, rather than saw, that -they were the objects of the quiet maneuvering -that followed. Wherever they dodged and -doubled the blazed-face was sure to be there, -close behind, patient, untiring. A wave of resentment -against this steady pressure broke -them into a run, and, before they knew it, the -outer rim of cattle split wide open and they -were beyond the herd. In a panic they endeavored -to dart back, but the big bay interposed. -Seeing this, the cow sped toward a -draw where the scrub-cedar appeared to offer -chances of escape. With the speed of light -the puncher was after them, twisting, wheeling, -heading her off toward the cut-bunch. -And the calf found the same indefatigable foe -between him and freedom when he emulated -his mother.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Git in, you low-lived whelp,” howled the -cutter, and he spurred furiously.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They finally gave up the contest as hopeless -and trotted meekly to join the bunch of cattle -they perceived ahead of them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were cows which shot from the herd -at a gallop and then would break to a hesitating -trot, their heads nodding loosely close -to the ground. Their gait had an odd uncertainty -about it. The animals would shrink -from a weed and draw back. One stopped at -perceiving a shadow and went around it fearfully.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Locoed,” a puncher commented. For -these had eaten of the strange loco weed and -were afflicted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>By ten o’clock, the herd was worked. Fires -were lighted and the branding irons thrust into -them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The roper and flankers got into action, two -sets of them, and every minute calves emitted -protesting wails as the hot irons seared their -sides. He worked like an automaton, that -roper. He seemed removed from human passions, -remote from the ordinary human impulses. -His loop dropped unerringly, and -back the horse would go at a trot or a lope, -with a panic-stricken, crying calf plunging, -bumping along in rear, sometimes turning -somersaults--for life is too short to carry calves -to the flankers with solicitous care, though -possibly the flankers would prefer them that -way.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The red-and-white edged away from the -field of this gentleman’s labors and ran -straight in front of a sorrel horse.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Baw-aw-aw-aw-aw-aw! he cried, as something -settled about his neck and a resistless -force commenced to drag him into the open.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Another roper had snared him. He humped -his back and began to buck, his legs rigid. At -every leap into the air he blatted and protested. -His mother shrank back in confusion -at the first outcry and lost sight of him in the -dust raised by his unwilling progress. For -fully thirty yards he was dragged in a series -of hurtling leaps, with the rope cutting into -his neck so that he could scarcely breathe; and -then, before he had time to recover his faculties, -a man seized the rope, ran along it until -he reached the red-and-white, and reaching -over his body, flopped him in the air. But -the calf was not flanked so easily--not Come-a-Seven. -Twice he rebounded like a rubber ball, -finding his feet before his antagonist could -fall on him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Stay-ay-ay with him, Steve! Go to him, -boy!” shrieked the delighted flankers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Durn his hide. He’s stout as a weaner,” -Steve snorted; and he gave a tremendous -heave. At the same time he made a short -spring forward with knees crooked, which carried -him under the calf as that strenuous combatant -tried to make his hoofs hit the ground -first. The red-and-white came down with a -bump that sounded like the unloading of a -trunk marked, “Handle with care.” It would -have broken the ribs of anything aged three -months except a calf.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Holy cats, it’s Come-a-Seven,” Steve -panted. He sat back of his head, with a knee -on the neck, and twisted one foreleg in a jiu-jitsu -grip that paralyzed all effort. Another -puncher at his other extremity got a vise-like -hold of the left leg and put the other out of -commission by thrusting it far forward with -his foot.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Oh-oh-oh-uh-uh-uh-ah!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cry was almost human, and the eyes -bulged and rolled with terror until the whites -showed. The iron had touched him, biting -through his coat into the flesh, while the smoke -curled up with smell of burning hair. His -fright needed just that pang to get proper -vocal expression, and he used all his available -breath in a frantic appeal to the mother that -bore him. It was not in vain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look out! Here she comes!” yelled a -flanker.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The three working over the calf looked up -to see the cow trotting toward them. There was -no time to dodge. When she was within ten -feet of the group an idle flanker kicked a jet -of sand into her face and she swerved irresolutely, -coming to a walk. The roper drove her -back and work was resumed on her son.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I mind once, when I was with the Spur, a -cow jumped clean over us that-a-way,” remarked -Bill Kennedy, rising from the ground. -As a parting salute he rolled the red-and-white -over his hip, as a wrestler throws a man to the -mat. “Say, Jake, heel them big fellers.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The calf was scared, and sore all over. A -swallow-fork in the right ear and a crop in the -left worried him. He stood glowering in all -directions, in an effort to get his bearings; -then he executed some shuddering, half-hearted -jumps, as though trying to shed the -two burning letters on his left flank, and -sought his mother. He was sick, and all the -fight gone from him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The herd was driven off and released, and -the red-and-white went with them. He tarried -in a draw, enduring great pain. A fever -burned him, too, and he was low in spirits. -Half of his enormous appetite was gone, but -only half. Alas, he had lost the source of supply -for even the remnant that remained. In -the general confusion he had become separated -from his mother, and, as it was meal-time, the -loss was doubly distressing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He lifted up his voice in a song of sorrow, but -naught availed. Perceiving this, he started -to find her. The cow was hunting for him, -too, hunting frenziedly. And she was not -alone in her grief, for at least a dozen cows had -lost their young in the turmoil of branding, -and they wandered up and down and across -without cessation, lowing pathetically, a world -of distress in their tones and in their eyes. -From time to time one would sight a stray calf -and make a bee line for it, but only to give a -moan of disappointment and resume her hunt.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Come-a-Seven tried to establish filial relations -with every cow he met. As a result, he -got some rebuffs that would have discouraged -a less hungry youngster. For hours he -searched; for hours cows wandered about crying -for their young. Twice the red-and-white -essayed to feed where he had no blood-rights -and nearly had his ribs stove in for his pains. -Finally, made crafty by hunger, he softly -shouldered another calf away from her place at -the mother’s side and tried to substitute. The -old cow properly kicked him for that trick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But his hunger was short-lived; a familiar -voice smote upon his ear, his answering cry -came with a glad quiver in it, and mother and -son were reunited. How she smelled of him -and licked his dusty sides and neck! And -the way he went for his meal! She gave a -deep rumble of content. Even when Come-a-Seven -butted cruelly with his head, in his -consuming hunger, and hurt her, she lowed in -proud satisfaction.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Pain and trouble cannot last forever. In -a week his wounds had healed; he was sound -and strong again. Once more began the long, -idle days of good feeding and play with his -young companions. His life was a full one. -Compared with that of the barnyard variety of -the genus calf, it was as checkered as a drummer’s -appears to a hot-blooded resident of a -country town.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the winter his mother grew gaunt. The -cold was intense at times, and the snowfall was -greater than the oldest bull could recall. At -rare intervals men came riding to inspect and -on one visit drove some of the weaker cattle to -the home pasture, there to be fed daily. For -the others little could be done, and the red-and-white -was one of them. There were many -good windbreaks on the range and the calf was -tough, so he won through somehow, though once -when the snow drifted deep and the cow could -not find grass in her wanderings, grim death -stared them in the face. The calf himself -went three days without a meal, yet lived. A -cow will not paw down through the snow like -a horse, and mother and son saw some of their -friends perish.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Spring came at last--suddenly, like a mountain -sunrise--and the earth was exceeding glad. -Worried and emaciated, they greeted the season -of hope with a sudden access of energy. -In later months the red-and-white was weaned. -He learned to eat grass, of which accomplishment -he was at first inordinately proud, and -he throve on it; and he had but one worry in -the world--heel flies.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It has been said that Come-a-Seven was -lusty. He was an amazing big fellow for his -age. When round-up time arrived again and -he was herded with about fourteen hundred -cattle, he grew chesty over the fact that he -sized up well with most of the two-year-olds. -His strength and restless energy were proportionate.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Indeed, Come-a-Seven bade fair to be a -rounder. While the other cattle would be -sleeping peacefully on the bed-ground, the -young red-and-white would go up and down -through the herd, trying to start some excitement. -He always chose to walk straight -through the center of the recumbent host, and -where he passed all got to their feet uneasily. -The tired old cows would grumble at him and -tell him to go to bed, but he was proof against -all reproaches and conscience he had none.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Damn him,” grumbled a puncher on guard -as he watched his wanderings for the twentieth -time, and for the twentieth time turned -and drove back some who tried to walk out at -his prompting. “He’s playing for a stompede.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I swan if it ain’t Come-a-Seven!” remarked -Steve, when the red-and-white passed very near -him. “Git to bed, Come-a-Seven. I reckon -you’re a rake.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When tired of his solitary roaming, the red-and-white -would select some young steer -weaker than himself, butt him off the bed he -had warmed, and compose himself to slumber. -Whereat a great sigh of satisfaction would be -heard mingled with the blowing of the cattle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Another year passed. When the cowboys -came whooping up the cattle in the following -August, the red-and-white heard the loud -shoutings and saw, with contemptuous resentment, -his fellow-creatures being propelled toward -the round-up ground. Their meekness -awoke hot rebellion in him. Big he was now -and of the strength of two. He decided he -would not go.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A rider caught him unawares and the surprise -of his first rush started the steer in the -right direction, but it failed to keep him -there; for as soon as the man departed to drive -another bunch, the red-and-white went off at -a tangent. Far had he wandered in his day, -and he knew some brakes--miles, miles away--where -the foot of horse seldom trod. Toward -these he headed. Two hundred, three -hundred yards, and behind him he heard the -familiar scramble of the pursuer. The red-and-white -flagged his tail and let out another -notch.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Quit it, you Come-a-Seven!” Steve bawled. -“Blast you, git in there.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The two-year-old only ran the harder, but -the pony gained. Then he lost his temper and -made up his mind that whether or not the cowboy -overtook him he would reach those brakes; -if necessary he would turn about and attack. -His head swayed from side to side, his gait became -uncertain and he seemed worried--symptoms -which were not lost on Steve. When -the steer stopped and faced about, the horse -turned like a flash, and as he did so a loud, -querulous voice, raised in helpless anger, broke -up Steve’s programme. That voice changed -the red-and-white’s destiny. Indirectly it -saved him from the stockyards; but, then, he -would probably have saved himself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let him go, Steve! You’ll lose that other -bunch,” the wagon boss cried. “We’ll get him -again.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Steve waved his hat at the steer with a good-natured -grin and shook up his horse, departing -like a rocket to his work. The red-and-white -continued on toward the brakes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That is how he became an outlaw.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the vast Croton brakes were scores such -as he. Some of them were grown old and -hoary, and they bore many brands. A few -had no brands. All had run wild for years, -and round-ups were things of the long ago. -So shy were they that it was as difficult for a -man to approach them as to stalk a herd of -antelope. They kept in bands of five and six, -and did anything come near which one did not -understand, they were off like deer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The red-and-white took to the life as his birth-right. -Somewhere in him ran a strain that -drove resistlessly to solitude and the wilds; -and he was happy. More than once he had to -fight, but he possessed an unbeatable temper -and had a world of craft to direct his agility -and colossal strength, so that he came from his -battles with blood-dripping horns held high and -proudly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Rough and torn and forbidding were the -brakes--miles on miles of red-walled cañons, -of scrub cedar and sand-rock--but the feeding -was good for so few when one knew the -best places, and the outlaw waxed ever -stronger. His horns spread, too.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Five years sped by and the outlaw fought his -way to kingship.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On a December day he was startled by the -noise of firing. Such sounds he had never -heard. It was not the snappy, sharp report of -the six-shooter, but louder and of heavier -metal. Suddenly fear took hold of him. -There was a hunt on--a hunt of outlaws. The -horns of the free steers would bring high -prices, and once in a generation a party of -punchers came thus with rifles to gather them. -Come-a-Seven let out a bellow and tore away -at the head of his followers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a terrible day for the outlaws of the -Croton brakes. When the bunch that trailed -behind the red-and-white split and scattered, -the chase developed into mad, individual contests -of speed. The outlaw could run; the way -Come-a-Seven traveled would have made an -ordinary range steer look like a muley cow. -Up and down sheer bluffs that appeared too -steep to climb, he ran; and cliffs seemed to -be highways to him. But, behind, a rider -spurred tenaciously, steadily diminishing the -distance that separated them, holding his fire -until he could be sure of this glorious prize. -Up came the rifle--but it never sent forth its -leaden messenger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gee whiz, if it ain’t ol’ Come-a-Seven!” -cried Steve. “Git a-going, boy, and keep her -up! Whoopee!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With a final spurt and shout the veteran -puncher wheeled and came to a standstill, regarding -the smashing run of the big steer with -a smile of admiration. The red-and-white -was already disappearing in the distance, far, -far away from all further danger of pursuit, -his tail held high, his head swaying. Steve -watched him until he topped a rise and disappeared. -He had lost a goodly prize; but he -was content. He chuckled as he recalled the -steer’s past misdeeds on the bed-ground.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The outlaw went back to his remotest fastnesses. -He may be there yet, boss of the Croton -brakes.</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chV'></a>V<br/> <span class='sub-head'>SHIELA</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>A panther’s scream split the whine -of the wind and Shiela reared herself -in front of the fire, her body retched -by an answering challenge.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shee-la,” her master rebuked. “Lie down, -girl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The wolfhound sank to the floor with a reluctant -flop, but the hairs on her neck and -along her spine bristled still. She continued -to rumble.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were four men playing at cards in -the bunkhouse. Cold weather had set in and -the Tumbling H outfit were eating out their -hearts in winter camps. Here at headquarters, -the range boss, wagon boss, blacksmith and -cook played half the day at seven-up and -pitch; and listened to Mit’s varying accounts -of high life in the East, as he had plumbed it -in Fort Worth; and raved at the climate and -cursed petty annoyances with the savage irritability -of full-blooded men lacking enough to -do.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hark to that ol’ wind,” mourned the wagon -boss--he was fifty and considered fourteen -hours a day in the saddle mere child’s play--“It -was sixty-six above this morning, and now -it’s zero. No wonder a man cain’t be healthy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The others nodded gravely and the cook -shuffled the cards.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s a wonder, Steve,” he observed, “that -you don’t--my deal?--you don’t try that dog -in wolf huntin’. Not by herself, but with a -bunch of ’em.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wait till she’s used to the country and has -got her growth. Then you’ll see.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mit remarked that he referred, of course, to -the hunting of coyotes, which prompted a -passionate declaration from the wagon boss -that the range ought to be cleared of these -pests. They killed too many calves in bad -years: poison ’em, he urged. Nobody opposed -objection and they went on with the game. -Then from the mouth of the cañon came to the -ears of the players the vibrant cry of the lobo. -Right upon it broke Shiela’s roar of defiance, -and the beast was at the door in a bound, -whimpering frenziedly, her terrible teeth -bared. Beside her, his head three inches short -of Shiela’s breast, Friday stiffened in sympathetic -rage, his stubby tail wagging. He -raised a shrill treble bark.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Down, Shee-la! Down, girl.” Running -from the table, O’Donnell led her back to the -fire.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Friday, you come here,” the blacksmith -cried. “Lay down under the table, and don’t -you go for to move!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Not to cattle-browsed stretches of prairie -land had Shiela been reared, nor to vast sweep -of hills and mesquite-flecked valleys, and of -torn, brick-red sandstone and tortuous, dry -river-beds. She was a stranger in a strange -land, and her new kingdom struck to the roots -of her nature. Far as she could wander in a -frivolous all-day rabbit hunt with Friday was -no sign of human habitation; and beyond that, -away to the pale-blue line that must surely be -the rim of all things,--full sixty miles,--no -handiwork of man was visible. Here was an -unspoiled empire, and her master was the autocrat. -For the first time in her life the wolfhound -drew the breath of unrestrained liberty, -chafed hotly to the tang of the air, cast about -and trailed wild creatures whose taint stirred -her to mad longings for the chase and a fight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>How can one tell of Shiela’s beauty? A -great animal and a wonderful--light fawn in -color, with a shaggy coat. Her eyes were in -general gentle and melting. But it must be -confessed that her proportions did not fit -Shiela to be a comfort about the home, for she -weighed a hundred and eighteen pounds and -could not go under the tallest table without -stooping. As she always forgot to stoop, her -progress was fraught with excitement.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On the day following her arrival, the cook -scrambled out of bed long before sunup to ascertain -what manner of idiot could be knocking -on the door in this deserted region. Man -alive, why couldn’t they walk in? Shiela -leaped on him to be fondled--the wolfhound -had been wagging her tail against the door as -she lay across the threshold.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ef I was you,” Mit suggested civilly, “I’d -lay out on the range where you’d have room to -move round. Git a nice big butte all to yourself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Her heart and her courage were big as her -body. Following O’Donnell on a day when he -fared to Stinking Water, quite by accident she -roused up a loafer in the cañon. Shiela flew -in pursuit, deaf to O’Donnell’s frantic commands -to come back. And when the wolf -turned fiercely at bay to pit her might against -this daring hunter, a hundred and eighteen -pounds of dauntless pluck launched itself at -her neck like a bolt from a storm-cloud.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She’s a dead one now,” O’Donnell groaned, -circling for a shot. “She’s a goner, sure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Had the wolfhound been more wary, she -would have fared better. She could not have -slain her foe; the dog does not breathe that -can go to the death-grapple with a loafer wolf -in the flush of his strength; and Shiela knew -neither the amazing quickness of the wild, nor -how to guard against those slashing counter-attacks. -The lobo could dodge and rip simultaneously, -using her jaws from any direction. -Even when bowled over by the hound’s unreckoning -rush, she tore Shiela’s throat with a -backward thrust of her muzzle and was free -in a twinkling. Badly cut in several places, -dazed by the speed of the combat, the wolfhound -was soon forced to let her go.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shiela and Friday were fast friends, albeit -the diversity of dimensions was productive of -intermittent rancor. It was Friday’s wont to -rush at her fiercely, to seize one powerful leg -in his mouth and worry it, whereat Shiela -would hit him a playful pat that sent him reeling -ten yards. But Friday came of a staunch -breed, and he returned to the sport again and -again. Often the wolfhound would stretch -herself out on the ground, and thus recumbent, -the fox-terrier could almost reach her head. -Over Shiela would roll, lying on her back with -legs in the air, while Friday snorted and -grunted valorously as he shook her by the -throat or the ear. But the fun always ended -in the same way: a clumsy blow would catch -Friday full on the head and he would dash off -to his master with cries of pain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Steve oughtn’t for to keep her round headquarters,” -the blacksmith remonstrated to -Dick. “She’s shore too big. Pore li’l Friday! -When she gits into my shop, Dick, I swan her -ol’ tail is like to send my tools flying which-ways.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where’d he keep her, then? He cain’t -turn her out on the range to eat grass,” sneered -Dick.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The blacksmith was silenced, but there was -born in him a dislike of the hound. It happened -that, when next the terrier came yelping -from play, O’Donnell had ridden off to a -tank. The blacksmith issued from the shop -and hurled a bolt at Shiela. She dodged, but -did not run, and the bristles on her neck stiffened -in warning.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Aside from the manager, who spent much of -the year with his family in Denver, the blacksmith -was the only married man with the -Tumbling H outfit. He had a son three years -of age. Oscar was the child’s name,--a -sturdy, ruddy-cheeked youngster he was--and -from the outset he was the apple of Shiela’s -eye. The boy could pull her ears or tail with -absolute impunity, and into the yawning cavity -she would open to his teasing, he would -thrust a chubby fist.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oscar! Oscar! My baby, don’t,” his -mother would cry. But Shiela was infinitely -tender with him, and the two would roll on the -ground in a tight embrace, while the child -thumped a tattoo on the wolfhound’s ribs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It befell on a morning that they indulged in -this frolic until both were in a state of unbridled -excitement. Crowing with delight, the -baby staggered to his feet and tried to butt -Shiela with his head. Forgetting for a fraction -of time how fragile was this cherished -morsel of humanity, the wolfhound struck out -joyously with her paw, bowling him over like -a ninepin. As he went backward, the boy essayed -to break his fall on the ground by thrusting -out his left arm; it doubled under him and -snapped at the elbow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A single wailing cry brought his father running -from the smithy. Oscar lay white-faced, -the wolfhound nosing him eagerly in an endeavor -to stir the baby to a resumption of play. -Flinging a curse at the dog, the blacksmith -picked up his son and carried him to his mother. -Ten minutes passed, which Shiela spent in vain -efforts to ascertain what kept her playmate -from her, and Peck emerged from the bunkhouse -with a shotgun. The quick-sensing -Shiela disappeared without further ado around -a corner of the saddle-shed; but, as the blacksmith -followed on a run, O’Donnell’s voice -stayed him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’re you doing with that gun, Peck?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shiela done broke Oscar’s arm, and I aim -to git even--that’s what.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be a fool!” the boss cried sharply.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Peck faced him, his lips twitching.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I may do more’n shoot a bitch, Steve,” he -said, and his voice was calm now.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You don’t mean that, Peck.” The range -boss continued to advance, his eyes on the -troubled eyes of the blacksmith. “Shee-la and -little Oscar have always been friends. Didn’t -she pull him out of the creek only last week? -She couldn’t have smashed his arm on purpose. -You can’t blame a dog for an accident.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The blacksmith cursed Shiela to the eightieth -generation; but O’Donnell smiled and -tapped the barrel of the gun with his forefinger. -There would be no shooting of man or -dog now, he knew.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Put it away, Peck. We’ll forget all about -it. I’ll ride over to Deadeye and bring the -doctor myself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The blacksmith wavered and obeyed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Little Oscar was soon able to toddle about, -with his arm in a cast and a sling. But Peck’s -dislike for the hound grew to hate. In the -short winter days and long winter nights he -watched and brooded, waiting for an opportunity -to make her suffer. His hostility to the -soft-eyed, affectionate Shiela took the form of -an intense nervous sensibility to her every -movement--one sees precisely the same symptoms -in persons who are unhappily cooped up -for any length of time. Soon the bigness of -the animal grated on his nerves, so that whatever -she did excited in him childish spleen. -Even when Shiela ate, Peck could not look at -her magnificent satisfaction without falling -into a paroxysm of loathing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Once he spread pieces of meat cunningly -about the saddle-shed where she was wont to -loll while the child slept in the afternoons. -Shiela espied and swallowed these tidbits with -much relish, and stalked away to get a drink, -feeling unaccountably thirsty. There was no -water in the trough; and that saved her life. -Soon a tremor came upon the wolfhound, so -that she swayed uncertainly, her nose close to -the ground, froth slathering her muzzle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At this moment Oscar rocketed from the -bunkhouse at his usual ungainly gallop. The -boy knew exactly what to do. Had he not endured -agony, too? There was only one sure -remedy for belly-pains, and it stood on a shelf -in the kitchen--he never passed the shelf without -a certain creeping of the flesh. How he -forced castor oil upon the dog is one of those -modern miracles that are wrought for babes -and the inebriated. At any rate, with only -one arm free, he administered a glorious dose, -and, feeling full of pity for the tortures of -which she mumbled so weakly, he followed it -with generous hunks of greasy bacon purloined -from the big brown crockery jar in the pantry. -Shiela became violently ill and Oscar feared -for her life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dick! Dick! She sick. Hurry, oh -hurry!” Oscar ran to summon help.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shiela survived, and O’Donnell devoted the -better part of a day to impassioned dissertations -on the folly of leaving strychnine baits -for coyotes round the saddle-shed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One evening in midwinter, the range boss, -Dick, the cook, and Peck sat in the bunkhouse, -as usual, trifling with a pile of dominos. -Shiela lay dozing in front of the fire. The -wolfhound had shown considerable restlessness -of late and Dick had cautioned O’Donnell to -chain her up. It came Mit’s turn to play and, -as he was ponderously miring himself, the -night silence was rent by the hunting cry of -the loafer. So near was it, so savagely compelling, -that the men sent the benches back in -amaze. The effect on Shiela was extraordinary. -She was at the door, scratching for her -liberty, whining, turning appealing eyes to -O’Donnell that he should open.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dick gazed at the range boss and waggled -his wise bald head. “You better lock her up, -Steve, or you’ll shore lose that ol’ dog.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She was locked in the smithy the next evening, -and in the morning the shed was empty. -O’Donnell was positive that the staple and chain -on the door had been secure when he left her -the night before; yet now the staple dangled -free, with a splinter attached. Reflecting that -the hound’s weight made this feat possible, he -ceased to speculate; and in the blacksmith’s -soul entered peace. Shiela had fled.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The Wednesday following fell blustery, with -a bullying wind, and the range boss sat late at -his table, working over a cattle tally by the -light of a lantern. A timid scratching on the -door-sill disturbed him, and he listened curiously. -There it was again, this time accompanied -by a plaintive whine. He reached the -handle in a stride.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shee-la! Shee-la, old girl!” His glad cry -brought Mit running. Shiela slunk into the -room and crossed to the fire, which she sniffed -doubtfully and then lay down in front of it. -Down her throat and across her left shoulder -burned cherry-colored slashes. She touched -her tongue to them and began to clean her -soiled coat, while O’Donnell stood watching, -lost in wonder. The wolfhound growled as -he moved, but he laughed affectionately and -stooped to the fearfully lowered head.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So you’ve come back--like the prodigal,” -he whispered. “Poor, poor Shee-la!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mit,” he bawled the next instant, “kill the -spotted calf, or the fatted heifer, or whatever -else will do. She’s hungry.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Not being conversant with the tale of the -erring son, the cook roared back a request to -Steve to have sense--didn’t he know there -wasn’t a calf in the pen?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bring some beef, then,” laughed the -boss.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The animal’s eyes followed her master furtively. -He noted that flickering gleam with a -pang--the fear and suspicion of the hunted in -it. So much had three days with the wild -linked up the slack chain of her blood tie. -Then presently she licked his hand, and the -look that answered his was soft and appealing -as of old.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Here’s enough to choke her,” announced -Mit cheerily, entering with a slab of beef.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The hound sprang at him and the cook, taking -no chances, hurled the raw meat into the -air. She caught it as it touched the floor and -tore into it with the desperate zest of the -famished.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The days drifted one into another, and the -Tumbling H men rose and ate and slept, and -rose again, which is the sum of many lives. -Of work there could be little until the spring -rains fell. Would the good days of the -roundup never come? Oh, the sweltering -hours in the saddle, and the bellowings of -mighty herds, and the choking dust of the -corrals in branding!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shiela was carefully guarded. In the first -of the mild weather she contributed to the -bustling cheer of the bunkhouse a litter of four -lusty pups. It was as much as a man’s life -was worth to go nearer than six feet to the -tugging little rascals; but the boy Oscar, who -did not know this, proceeded calmly to inspect -and caress them. The mother flared in a sudden, -quaping rage, but instantly sank back and -became reconciled to the extent of permitting -the baby, quite undaunted by his first reception, -to stroke her progeny with his pudgy -hands. She watched him jealously.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Summer rushed upon the land, and the -Tumbling H outfit got to horse and rode forth. -In November O’Donnell shipped seven thousand -head of steers to help stay the world’s -maw, and in December there were four men -playing at cards again in the bunkhouse.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Steve,”--the cook cleared his throat as he -riffled the cards,--“is it my deal? Shore. -Say, Steve, one of Shiela’s pups is killing -chickens. He’d ’a got a turkey too, only I -done seen him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You ought for to have killed ’em all when -they were teeny pups, Steve,” broke in the -blacksmith. “What was the use of keeping -two? Anyone kin see they’re more wolf than -dog.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s your play,” the boss said evenly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shiela had the run of quarters, but her -broad-jowled, heavy-shouldered pups were -chained in the smithy. Just what to do with -them was a problem. Shiela had exhibited no -special affection since they were weaned, and it -needed only the merest glance to detect the bar -sinister. Had only the eyes been visible, there -was that in their glint which betrayed the wolf. -Yet, in the tawny coats and a certain lithe -spring in gathering for a stride, the youngsters -favored their mother.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A loafer wolf made a foray from the cañon -on a Sunday night, when the range boss and -Mit played seven-up and the blacksmith poisoned -life with a concertina. He killed a milch-pen -calf close to headquarters; yet so silent -was the raid that the men heard nothing of it, -though Shiela cried protests to be gone and -growled at intervals. In the smithy the pups -bayed deep-voiced greetings. They leaped -and snapped their teeth, and gnawed and raved -to be free. Forgetting that O’Donnell had -unchained them, Dick went to the door to still -the brutes. They hurled themselves over -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Here’s where the trouble starts, Shee-la,” -observed her master dubiously. She wagged -her tail and looked up at him in curiosity, for -she had practically forgotten the pups.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a bitter winter, and the cattle sickened -and died in hundreds. The men rode -range in all weathers, setting out oil-cake and -salt; but what help could be given to thirty -thousand head? Carrion waxed fat. And -then, one day in Deadeye, whither he had -journeyed for supplies at the first hint of -spring, the range boss stumbled on a strange -tale. The wolves were out, bolder and -stronger than they had been in a generation. -They were making no stealthy, lone hunts,--a -swift leap from the dark upon a helpless -thing, and then the gorge,--but waged an almost -systematic war of pillage. The leader -was a shaggy veteran of speckled gray that ran -with a limp; and with him--the men of Deadeye -hoped they might perish horribly were this -not so--with him there ran two fawn-colored -wolves like no lobo of the west country. They -were, perhaps, slightly shorter than a cowhorse; -that is, of course, a strong roping horse, -not a stunted pony.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shee-la, you’ve surely done it now,” O’Donnell -told her with a sigh. She thrust her moist -muzzle into his hand to be petted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In less than seven days’ time Padden reported -from a division camp that he had come -on the carcass of a freshly killed heifer near -a salt trough. The wolves had hamstrung the -poor brute and had fallen to their grim feast -before life was extinct, he thought; which is -not unusual. O’Donnell vowed a war of extermination.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The mail-carrier came upon the pack casting -about beside the trail, at fault in running -an antelope. They let him approach within -two hundred yards, gazing insolently, then -flitted swiftly through a jungle of mesquite -trees. His story was that beside the wily gray -scoundrel that led, raced two tall creatures, -half wolf, half dog, which ran with a long, -springy stride foreign to lobo locomotion.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s Shiela’s pups,” the blacksmith exclaimed -venomously, when the mail-carrier related -this experience at dinner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, they’re Shee-la’s pups,” O’Donnell admitted; -and, “Poor Shee-la!” he said. Then -raising his voice with decision:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Johnson, you tell them in Deadeye that I’ll -give fifty dollars each for those pups, and -fifty for the old gray fellow. Put up a notice -in the post-office. Or--wait, I’ll write one for -you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The result of this placard was an egress from -Deadeye of eight ambitious hunters, who went -their several ways, wishful to earn two months’ -pay by a lucky shot. They straggled back -empty-handed at the end of a week. While -they were thus engaged, the pack ranged wide. -They killed at Cedar Creek, but were compelled -to abandon their prey, and slew again -before daylight on a nester’s place on the outskirts -of Deadeye. Here, too, they let the life -out of an interfering collie. Long immunity -had made them contemptuous--or was it that -they gave ear to the counsels of man-raised -mates? They raided the Tumbling H headquarters -in quest of certain turkeys that were -Mit’s solace in dark days, and from ambuscade -the cook slew his finest gobbler with buckshot, -in a berserker effort to shoot one lissome marauder.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shiela and Friday led uneventful lives amid -all this harrying and turmoil of pursuit. They -frisked and wrestled on the baked, cracked -ground, or basked in the sun until it grew too -hot and the flies became unbearable in attack, -when they would slouch to the cool of the -long bunk-room. Shiela had forgotten all -about her degenerate offspring, and held herself -fearlessly and with pride as an honest -dog.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>More than once she and the terrier took -jaunts over the low hills toward the cañon, in -spite of the watch on her goings-out. It might -be a rabbit they pursued, or the zigzagging -trail of a coyote; or it might be that rare scent, -the antelope’s. One afternoon they disported -themselves, chasing some half-wild hogs that -roamed the range.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A long-snouted porker of tender years was -rooting about a patch of bear-grass, when -suddenly he cocked his impudent nose and appeared -to listen intently. Shiela and Friday -stopped short in a game of tag, to watch. The -pig did not turn his head, but continued to -stand at attention, his ears twitching. What -could it mean? Shiela crept closer. With a -speed that left her dumbfounded, the pig -sprang sidewise on to a spot his glance had -certainly not been regarding, and simultaneously -tore with his jaws at a writhing, earth-colored -coil. Shiela drew off respectfully and -in trepidation, while he devoured his victim -with beautiful hog voracity. It was the -dreaded rattler, which he had killed with two -lightning strokes of forefeet and jaws.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So the days passed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the meantime, O’Donnell had other things -than Shiela or wolves to think about. The -manager had resigned, and the boss added to -the superintendence of the active work of the -range, the conduct of the business of the -Tumbling H company, the sale and the shipping -of Tumbling H cattle. He was an enthusiast -on improving the breed of his cattle and -horses; and his anger was deep, therefore, when -late in the autumn his men found the remains of -a young stallion. He was a splendid beast, but -newly come from Kentucky, and ignorant of -perils and the necessity for perpetual vigilance. -Apparently he had been cut out from the band -he lorded it over,--sheer foolhardiness, this--and, -alone in the battle against heavy odds, had -been pulled down. That he died full of fight -was sufficiently evident: the battered body of -an exceptionally large young wolf lay on the -ground beside his own.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shiela sniffed at the carcass of this creature, -then moved away unconcernedly, circling for -another scent; but the hide caught O’Donnell’s -gaze and held it. The coat was of a peculiar -tawny hue, running in spots to red. There was -something in the lines of the body and legs that -struck a reminiscent chord in his memory. He -glanced from it to Shiela, turning the body -over with his foot.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If that isn’t one of your litter, old girl, I’m -much mistaken,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Shiela, then, must atone. With all the dogs -of Deadeye to help, she should hunt these bold -ravagers. Hers was the crime; hers must be -the expiation, even at the cost of life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, old girl,” he said, as he ambled away -from headquarters three days later, with Shiela -beside him, “here’s your one chance to wipe -out your little slip. A lot of us humans -don’t get that, my lady. So go to it and clear -your name, Shee-la.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were twenty-five dogs on hand at the -rendezvous, about thirteen more than were -needed, and they ranged from bloodhounds and -greyhounds to a wheezy water-spaniel, which -thought he knew a scent when he struck it, and -whose master fondled the same delusion of -him. His presence led to a dispute at the outset, -because the spaniel persisted in messing -about and mugging a trail, and his owner pig-headedly -abetted him. The owner was set in -argument, and carried a long, smooth-bore -rifle. However, both were persuaded to go -home, quite convinced that spiteful jealousy -was at the bottom of this attitude.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“So that’s Shiela?” queried a Gourd -puncher. “I reckon you ought to kill her, -O’Donnell. It’s her pup and his father what’s -raising all the hell. She might run away ag’in -and--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She’s my dog, Joe,” the boss cut in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hard upon his words, old Rags gave tongue -and went away on a warm scent. Luck was -with the hunters. Within two miles the dogs -were running free, their noses in the air, making -the ridges ring to their eager yelping; and -a wolf, a tawny, limber-limbed wolf, smashed -through a tangle of weeds and briars at the -head of a gulch and streaked across the open -country. The pack laid themselves out in pursuit, -Shiela and the greyhounds running silently.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The wolfhound was well up with the leaders. -A dozen strides would have brought the -quarry to bay, when a speckled gray shape -burst into view beneath her feet and departed -at a tangent to her line of running, heading -for a shallow draw. Shiela and one greyhound -swerved and dashed after him. The others of -the pack kept on behind the flagging fugitive.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Everything was against the gray. He was -old, and the combats and the hunts of years -had stiffened his muscles. He was full fed -and heavy; slumbering, he had blundered into -the chase when he could have lain low. The -two silent things behind carried in their sinewy -bodies the speed and stamina of generations of -dogs whose special business in life it had been -to run. A wall of earth faced them, the bank -of a dried stream, and he must scale it in his -flight. Well he knew that the race was over. -He must fight, and as well here as elsewhere. -When it comes to the last test of courage, the -king of wolves is indeed a king.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A rapid glance over his shoulder showed -him the greyhound almost at his flank. He -reached the bank by a desperate spurt, whirled, -and with one rending stroke, cast back the first -pursuer, coughing in the throes of death. But -the shock of the charge shook him for an instant -and in that fraction of time he was unprepared -to withstand the crushing velocity -of Shiela’s onslaught. On his hind legs, his -worn fangs gleaming, he received her. She -went straight for his throat, and the grip being -an eminently satisfactory one, she did not -release it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='legs'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i174.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0006' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“<span class='it'>On his hind legs, his worn fangs gleaming, he received her</span>”</p> -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>To and fro the big gray dragged her, over -and over, tearing with his forefeet to pry her -off, snapping his wide jaws in futile efforts to -seize his enemy. His hind claws ripped unavailingly -along the wolfhound’s sides; he -writhed and twisted to gain an inch of freedom -for his head--only an inch, and he could reach -her shoulder. Once only Shiela growled, a -deep, rumbling note of content. She knew -what she had to do, and she felt this to be the -right way. Slowly her jaws tightened and -she hung to him soundlessly. The rasping -snarls grew fainter; the tremendous heavings -and lurchings slackened. The old lord of the -cañon had made his last fight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was O’Donnell who drove her off. -Blown but triumphant, he raced from the -slaughter of the first quarry, and gave a long -whistle of incredulity at sight of the slain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Father and son--father and son in one -day,” he exclaimed. Then, “Poor Shee-la.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As they trotted cheerily homeward, the -wolfhound kept close to O’Donnell’s horse, and -whenever she glanced up at him, frisking -clumsily the while, he grinned down at her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’ve wiped out your fault, Shee-la. -You’ve done more than most,” he observed -seriously, as they neared the ranch. “I -thought once I’d have to send you away. Or--or -send you out on the long trail.” Shiela -leaped playfully at his horse’s bridle. “But -we’ll stick together. Only,” he drew a deep -breath, “we’ll take a holiday. We’ll go back--back -home to County Mayo, old girl.”</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chVI'></a>VI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>MOLLY</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>It may be there are persons who will scoff -at the assertion that there is more of sentiment -in a cow than in any creature of four -legs that walks the earth. Cavilers, these--hard-shelled -individuals who look at the gentle -bovine through the eye of commercialism, not -gifted to see beyond her barnyard activities toward -the nourishment of mankind. It is reasonably -established that one may approach a -horse in comradely security, confident of fair -play. The rules as to hybrids are these: you -walk up to a mule in a spirit of veneration and -religious preparedness, wearing a sickly aspect -of confidence. And you quaver soothing -words and carry a club behind your back.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But toward a cow--ah, that is different. -Here is a mainstay of life, a pillar and prop -of civilization. Here is--well, a cow is a cow. -Why, there was the time when three hundred -furiously anxious, bawling mothers smashed -out of a stout wooden corral on the Turkey -Track range and laid a straight course across -seven leagues of territory, in quest of their -helpless progeny, mercilessly cooped in cars at -a railroad siding, awaiting shipment to an Arizona -butcher. They kept two well-grown men -atop a water-tank for five hours, and--but to -attempt a citation of cases would be idle. This -is the simple tale of Molly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She was not an especially pretty animal, -Molly--just plain cow, dun in color, with a -Jersey strain somewhere among her remote -forebears. Yet, one could not gaze on Molly -for long without a feeling of profound respect -pervading his soul. It was not because one -could see with half an eye that she gave large -quantities of milk; that was merely the performance -of her natural functions. Nor was -it that her wistful regard suggested all the sorrows -of her sex. Molly in some way made a -subtle appeal to sympathy that cannot be -voiced.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As a matter of fact, she ought to have been -the pampered occupant of a clover field by day -and of a stall by night. Instead, she was -roaming the zacaton flats of the Tumbling K -and losing herself among the blackbrush -ridges, in vague wonder that the world was -grown so large. Designed to be a respectable -milch-cow on a dairy farm, here she was in the -heart of a wilderness, and all because of a boy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He came among us, pink and white and fearfully -clean; and he was the owner’s son. There -were eleven thousand cows in our domain, but -milk had been a thing of rumor to the outfit, -perhaps because it is inconvenient to milk on -horseback. Now, however, Vance shoved his -legs under the boards at the bunk-house and -objected to clear, biting coffee. So, when he -departed blacker than a Mexican, with a two -months’ beard and overalls sustained by a -strand of rope,--babbling wild things of a bath -he would take, a bath that would endure for a -day and a night,--we still had Molly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That cow’s got a mind, I tell you,” Uncle -Henry assured the outfit at supper. “She’s -got a mind jist like you or me, Dave, only -better than yourn. Pass them frijoles.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Perhaps Molly did have a mind. At any -rate, she was humanly lonesome. To be the -only one of her kind in a tract of five thousand -acres--they kept her in the horse pasture--was -depressing to a companionable disposition. -The bronchos on the river flats and -mesquite-clothed hills were shy, wild creatures, -subject to alarms and foolish panic. With -mild wonder she would watch them break into -a run at a sound or a strange scent. They -were masterful, too, always driving her away -from the water-holes and the salt until they -had had their fill. Instinctively she was afraid -when one of them approached with careless -confidence that she would give place. Yet, -though unhappy, Molly never overlooked her -duty, and each morning and each evening she -stood quiet while Uncle Henry milked her, occasionally -rumbling a note of satisfaction or -sweeping at a fly with cautious backward -swings of her head. Uncle Henry was becoming -too stiff for hard riding, and now spent -most of his time trying to persuade himself -and others that the odd jobs he applied himself -to were of his own choosing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One morning Molly awoke to turmoil. -Wondrous noises came to her on the west wind, -and she arose and walked to the imprisoning -fence. Truly the Tumbling K was become a -Babel. In the wide, browned valleys, on the -mesas, and far into the fastnesses of the Mules, -bulls and cows and clumsy calves were on the -march, with riders hanging in rear. Molly -could hear the churning of the hosts on -the round-up ground, and to her nostrils was -wafted the taint of the dust belching heavenward -in clouds. For the Tumbling K range -was to be divided, and eight thousand head -must be turned over to the retiring partner.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Where did all the cattle come from? Molly -had never dreamed there were such hordes of -her kind in the world. Armies of them filed -by in long lines, the cowboys on flank and in -rear shouting, whistling, spurring into the press -in their efforts to urge the herds forward. -Molly stood at the barb-wire fence most of the -day, staring at this rally of her species. Sometimes -she bawled a troubled greeting.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And the little calves! Many a toddling -new-born, strayed from its mother and solicitous -of protection, staggered out to sniff at the -kindly disposed creature that nosed it so tenderly -from the other side of a four-strand -barrier. All night the trampling of sleepless -thousands and the bawling of steers and worried -cows came to disturb Molly’s slumbers. -The bed-ground for the herds was not four -hundred yards distant from the pasture fence. -She could see tiny intermittent lights move -slowly about them in a wide circle, where the -men on guard smoked as they rode their -rounds.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Next day her heart was filled with forebodings -and uneasiness. Hundreds of cattle were -driven into an extensive corral within the confines -of her pasture, and thence, in small groups, -they went into a chute, propelled by the whoops -and outcries of sundry reckless horsemen who -crowded their rear. Molly watched and wondered. -She saw these cattle forced singly into -a narrow runway; she saw them caught fast -in a squeezer, heard their bellows of consternation -and fright; and then there reached her -the stinging odor of burned hair, when the -branding irons seared the flesh. Upon which -Molly would flip her tail in the air and lope -away. But she always returned; much as she -feared it, she could not leave this anguished -assemblage.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was Uncle Henry who discovered that the -arrival of the herds was demoralizing our faithful -benefactor. She no longer grazed sedately; -even the succulent grama-grass of the -creek-bottom failed to hold her, and she walked -the barb-wire ceaselessly day and night. Her -weight fell off in alarming fashion, and when, -on the third evening, Uncle Henry approached -with outstretched hand and honeyed speech, -and the milk-pail cunningly concealed, she -shook her big, patient head and moved off. -He followed, and she quickened her pace.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Consarn your fat haid!” roared Uncle -Henry, never a patient man. “Hold still or -I’ll take the hide off’n you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He tore after Molly, threatening dire visitations. -Now, it takes an extremely clever person -to circumvent a determined cow, when he -is on foot and she has five thousand acres in -which to manœuver, and Uncle Henry returned -to headquarters, howling for somebody -to lend him a horse and he would drag that old -fool clear to Texas. We went without milk -that night, and grumbled and swore precisely -as if we had had nothing else all our lives.</p> - -<hr class='tbk102'/> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hi-yi! Bear down on him, cowboys. -More frijoles here!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With a yell, Big John sprang to the lever of -the squeezer and threw all his strength on it, -gripping a plunging steer about the middle as -he strove to win through the chute.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hot iron! Hot iron!” the wagon boss -shrieked. “Somebody build that fire up. All -right. That’s got him, Cas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Molly hung about near the corral, gazing on -these frenzied activities in consternation. It -was early morning and low-hanging mists were -shredding before the sun.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Some calves passed through the chute by inadvertence. -Being too small for the squeezer -to hold, they were noosed as they came out, and -branded on the ground. One was so tiny that -the men at work beside the runway, idly rolling -cigarettes during a halt in the operations, -failed altogether to perceive him above the -heavy lower boarding. As a result, he sauntered -into the open, and there was no noose -ready to snare. His ears were twitching with -curiosity, and he moved his legs as if they were -stiff and his feet hurt, as indeed they did, because -he had come many weary miles and he -was not three days old.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hi-yi! There goes a calf!” yelled the -punchers. “Go to him, John. He’s just your -size.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Big John grinned, spat on his hands, and -made a dive for the fugitive. “The li’l’ rascal,” -he chuckled, grabbing for its tail. Instead of -taking to the open and falling a prey to a -roper, the calf lunged sideways and went under -the horse-pasture fence. He was so short that -he easily bowed his back and slid beneath the -wire. The outfit sent up a shout of laughter, -and exhorted John to stay with him; but the -giant remained where he was, gazing fixedly at -the fugitive. Molly was on the other side of -the fence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>To her side the white-face bolted, confident -of sanctuary. For a cow, Molly was terribly -agitated. She turned about and about, trying -to obtain a really good look at this forward -baby who greeted her as his mother. The -calf, on his part, kept close in an endeavor to -secure his supper, being very hungry and properly -careless as to where he got it. Molly -smelled and sniffed at him, and edged off in intense -nervousness. Evidently quite positive in -his own mind that he had found what he had -been seeking, the calf gave over all useless fuss -and set himself resolutely to obtain a meal.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let him go, John,” the boss called. “We -lost his mother over on the Magayan. -Molly’ll look after him. Look out! Bear -down on him, cowboys! It’s that big ol’ -bull.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Molly was thrilling to long-pent yearnings, -and the vapors of self-delusion welled up to -befog her instincts. After five minutes of nosing, -the Jersey came to the conclusion that this -must be her son, and yielded to his hungry importunities. -With a deep murmur of content, -she walked away, followed by her adopted -baby. And behind a sage-brush, safe from interference, -she fed him. The outfit watched -them go in amazement, prophesying many -things.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One of the few things they did not foretell -came to pass next morning. Molly had hidden -the calf behind some soapweed while she went -to graze a few rods off, and, the dawn being -still gray and the air stinging cold, we picked -that particular bunch of weed for a bonfire -to provide warmth while the wrangler was -bringing up the horses. When the match -flared, the calf on the other side of the shooting -sparks staggered to his feet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ba-a-a-a-aw!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s the little ’un,” John whooped.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He said no more, because at that moment -came the dull pounding of hoofs on grass, and -there was Molly, her head held high, turning -her gaze jerkily from one to another, after the -manner of cows when preparing to charge. -We forgot about the fire for the moment and -headed for the corral fence, streaming across -country twenty strong, with Molly in hot pursuit. -Big John eluded her by dodging dexterously -behind a bush, leaving a portion of his -overalls with the cow, and she abandoned the -chase at once, returning to her charge. Him -she licked and caressed with many mumbled -endearments, making sure that he was unhurt. -The calf took all this stoically and as a matter -of course, considering it his due, and fell to -breakfast. Molly gazed across at her late -friends sitting spectrally astride the fence, and -all the anger was gone from her eyes. They -were large and melting with tenderness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A crippled horse was shot that day,--the -broncho-buster threw him too hard, breaking -a leg,--and to the carcass a coyote skulked -when night shut down. About eleven o’clock -Molly got to her knees, in which position she -remained a few seconds, meditating; then rose -to walk about, nibbling at the grass. All cattle -get up in this manner between eleven o’clock -and midnight to graze for a few minutes and -then lie down on the other side. This may be -the basis of an old superstition that “good cows -say their prayers.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Molly, with the warmth of the snuggling -calf still on her side, wandered farther than she -intended. Abruptly she thrust her nose into -the wind and sniffed. It was a stale, penetrating -stench, and inherited knowledge warned -her there was danger. Back ran Molly in a -tremor of anxiety, her head wagging from side -to side in her efforts to glimpse the marauder. -Behind a clump of bear-grass crouched a coyote, -his foxlike nose pointed toward the spot -where snoozed her unprotected son. Inch by -inch he slunk forward; now his muscles grew -taut for the leap.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Whoo-oo-oo-huh! snorted Molly, smashing -down upon him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The wolf straightened and wheeled with a -flash of gray, and sprang, all in one movement. -So marvelously quick was he that escape would -have been certain ninety-nine times in a hundred. -A bull would have borne down on him -with lowered head and eyes shut, like a runaway -freight train; a cow charges with eyes -open, and Molly, consumed with mother-wrath, -ripped sideways with her sharp horns as the -hunter swerved. A shapeless bundle of -brown-gray fur was tossed into the air, and -when it struck the ground and rebounded, -Molly went at it again. This time she caught -him full with her horns, and, quite by chance, -followed stumblingly on his ribs with her forefeet. -The coyote squirmed away from this -terrible avenger, snapping futilely at her muzzle, -and a cry from the calf distracted the Jersey -from a burning desire to complete the good -work. When she abandoned him to run to -her adopted son, the wolf made as if to flee; -but he was hurt unto death, and sank down -miserably under a mesquite, his glinting eyes -searching the brush for foes. And through the -long night he panted out his life, until at dawn -the last spark flickered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s a big ol’ ki-yote”--John stirred the -carcass with his boot--“A bull done ripped -him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There aren’t any bulls in the horse pasture,” -the boss retorted. “Only Molly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>By one impulse the outfit turned in their -saddles to look for her. There stood the Jersey -a hundred paces off, feeding tranquilly on -mesquite pods. Toddling at her heels was a -red, white-faced calf of sturdy frame and curly -coat. Molly was behaving as if she had never -done anything more exciting in her life than -eat bran mash.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good ol’ Molly,” they called back, as they -rode to the bunk-house for dinner. Molly, -hearing the familiar name, lifted her head to -regard the cavalcade soberly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went without milk cheerfully enough -now and speculated at every meal as to the -probable course Molly would pursue as the calf -grew. There was little else to talk about. -Some vowed she would get over her hallucination -quickly and abandon the youngster. -Uncle Henry thought differently.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She’s a better mother to him than his own -would have been. I never done saw a range -cow look after her calf like Molly does that -rascal. And ain’t he fat!” he exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The wagon boss conceived it to be in the line -of his duty to brand the calf. A man was despatched -to rope him. He returned presently -to say that Molly would not permit him to get -near. “She went on the peck and gored my -horse.” He exhibited a red wale along his -mount’s flank.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You can’t rope a calf away from its -mother?” the boss exclaimed, dumbfounded. -“Pshaw! You’d better go back to cotton-pickin’, -Cas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He spurred away to bring in the culprit himself. -What were cowboys coming to nowadays? -He would show them! We mounted the -corral fence the better to view proceedings, and -waxed merry of spirit when Molly chased the -boss six separate times. Molly would not be -frightened or enticed away from her son, but -turned to confront this unexpected enemy -when he galloped at her. As for the calf, he -glued himself to Molly’s side and would not -budge therefrom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Will we stretch her out, Pink?” we shouted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” the boss roared.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He made another try and almost got his rope -over the calf; but the Jersey went at him -just then and gave him something else to do. -So the boss ambled back, grinning sheepishly -behind his sandy mustache.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I reckon”--he cleared his throat--“I -reckon that’s one on me, boys. Let him go -just now. We’ll get him in the spring.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Uncle Henry was the only human being -that the Jersey would permit within five yards -of her baby. He entertained a sort of proprietary -affection for the cow, and she reciprocated -save when such cordial relationship clashed with -her love for the adopted one. At such moments -Uncle Henry was not to be considered, -of course, and she was as ready to put him on -the fence or speed him round a bush as any -other member of the Tumbling K outfit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Upon a day in September, he was on his way -back from patching the line fence, when he -espied Molly trotting distractedly about a narrow -draw. She stopped to stare as he approached, -then resumed her agitated run. -From time to time she dashed to the brink of -an arroyo to gaze down. Uncle Henry -watched her, surmising from the stores of his -experience what had happened.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She’ll jist about go on the prod and rip me -if I try to git him out.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Molly took a few steps toward him, lowed -pitifully, and returned to look down at the unfortunate -calf. He advanced with caution, anticipating -a rush; but Molly only lowed again -and made way for him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I swan, she wants me to pull him out,” said -Uncle Henry in a reverent tone. “If that -don’t beat every--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He alighted and walked to the arroyo’s rim. -Ten feet below, on the sandy bottom of a hole -whose precipitous sides prevented him climbing -out, lay the white-face. Uncle Henry -deftly dropped a noose over its head, and -dragged the kicking youngster to safety. -When he went to remove the rope, Molly suffered -him to handle her son, though she glared -in swift suspicion when Uncle Henry threw -him to the ground and knelt on his body to free -the loop from his neck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Boys,” said the boss at supper one night, -“Molly has got to go.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh-ho! Ho, indeed!” Uncle Henry retorted -with fine sarcasm. “Oh, yes,” he added, -unable to think of anything better to say.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The boss shook his head sadly over the -clamor that ensued. He spoke of the matter -as a man of feeling would acquaint a wife of -her husband’s taking-off; but it had to be. An -order had come to deliver Molly to Bockus, the -butcher at Blackwater.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>What! Lose Molly? The boss was locoed, -or worse. Had he by any chance secured a -bottle, of whose whereabouts we were in ignorance? -We would buy the cow ourselves first.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was an off-day. The branding was done, -and the Tumbling K outfit was awaiting the -arrival of a purchase of four thousand steers -from the South. Thus it came about that -twelve of us rode into Blackwater, and Big -John was spokesman. John was not much of -a speaker, being given to profanity when a congestion -of language threatened, but he had a -grand theme, and talked about Molly in a way -that made us cough.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Bless my heart,” cried the owner of the -Tumbling K, when the nub of the matter was -revealed. “Bless my heart!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He gaped, then squeezed the mighty muscles -of Big John’s shoulder and laughed. All this -fuss about a cow--one forlorn dun cow. The -puncher grinned in his turn, shuffling his feet; -for they knew and understood each other, these -two, having been associated for eighteen years. -That is why Bockus received the strange explanation -he did when he called to protest -against the delay in delivering Molly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s just this way,” the cattleman observed, -slipping an elastic band about his tally-book. -“If I let you have that cow for thirty, I lose -precisely nine hundred and thirty-seven dollars. -No; Molly stays.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nine hundred and--Why, man, you’re -crazy! How’s that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ask those strikers of mine,” came the answer, -accompanied by a chuckle. “Great -weather, isn’t it? How is veal selling to-day?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But look a-here, Vance, let me have the -calf, anyway. You owe me that much,” the -fat Bockus protested.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right. Send out for him, though,” said -the cattleman.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It happened that Bockus despatched a youth -with a pair of mules hitched to a wagon, for the -calf. He was a wily urchin, and a glance satisfied -him that Molly’s son could be taken from -her only by craft. Accordingly he loafed all -of one forenoon in the horse pasture with his -wagon close at hand, and when the unsuspecting -Jersey strayed off some hundreds of yards -to secure better grazing, he made a sudden descent -upon the white-face, locked his fingers -about its nose so that the calf could not utter -a sound, threw and tied him, then heaved the -outraged victim into the wagon and made off. -Molly returned shortly, and missing the apple -of her eye, set out on a search of the immediate -vicinity. In the distance a wagon raised the -dust of the Blackwater trail, going rapidly. -The boy did not feel any too secure even with a -fence between them, and lashed his mules, -shrilling oaths at the gawky beasts.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The cow brought up at the fence, every sense -on the alert to detect the presence of the calf -in the fast-disappearing vehicle. Some subtle -intuition told Molly he was there, and she retreated -a few steps. Then, with a crash, she -went through the four strands of wire, and, -with a long gash in her left shoulder dripping -blood, started after them at a swinging trot.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Brother Ducey was conducting an open-air -revival service among the mining population of -Blackwater. He was a powerful exhorter, -was the brother, and, as most of his congregation -were women, with a sprinkling of men who -would presently go on the night shift six hundred -feet into the bowels of the earth, his picture -of a lurid, living perdition had them swaying -and rocking on the benches. Their groans -and lamentations rolled up the street.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re all a-going to hell!” he shouted. -“Your feet are on the hot bricks now. Hell -is--” And, again-- “Hell--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Brother Ducey broke off and glared wrathfully -at an imp of a boy who drove a clanking -wagon at top speed completely around the -meeting-place, making for the slaughter-house -beyond.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then Molly arrived and took no such devious -route. She went straight through the congregation, -overturning the mourners’ bench, and, -unable to differentiate between friends and -foes, headed for the rostrum. Brother Ducey -waved his arms wildly and squalled “Shoo!” -But, as Molly would not “shoo,” he scaled a -tree with the speed of a lizard, from which -vantage-point he besought somebody to shoot -the animal.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The Jersey did not pause to trifle with these -hysterical worshipers. Her business was to -find her baby, and she was almost up with him. -In truth, the cow was an awesome sight as she -charged anew after the wagon, the blood trailing -from her shoulder, froth flaking her muzzle. -Evidently the butcher’s assistant found -her so.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can’t beat her to the gate!” he gasped, -with a glance backward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Whereupon he wheeled again and galloped -his team in front of Bockus’ store. There he -abandoned them, springing through the door -just as Molly swept down the road. The calf -bawled a greeting and the Jersey began to -circle the wagon, occasionally prodding at the -mules just to be on the safe side in the event -of their having had anything to do with this -theft. They kicked at her in return, but did -not offer to run away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Somebody rope her! Somebody rope her!” -Bockus cried, dancing up and down in his shop. -“No, don’t shoot. Them locoed Tumbling -K’s will wipe out the town if you do.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Alas, there was nobody in Blackwater competent -to do it. They were a peaceful, industrious -mining folk, and a cow was a dubious -thing to them, to be handled respectfully in -the best of moods. And an enraged animal -like Molly! Blackwater suspended business, -shut up shop, and hid indoors or took refuge -on the roof.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From time to time Molly abandoned the -wagon temporarily to seek revenge where it -might be given to her. In this way she made -forays over half the town, and put Bill Terry, -the postmaster, through a new plate-glass window -that Tom Zeigler had imported at enormous -expense. Tom swore that Vance would -have to pay for it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Send for one of them fool cowboys!” -Bockus screamed, after an hour of this.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His boy stole forth on an emaciated pony, -and, eluding the cow by a burst of speed, -brought Blackwater’s prayerful appeal to the -Tumbling K headquarters.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We rode in and roped Molly. Then certain -of us did some trafficking with Bockus, -Big John laying down the terms, with the result -that the cord around the calf’s legs was -loosed and he was restored to his mother.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>All the blind savagery was departed from -Molly now. She sauntered over to a patch of -grass and began to eat, with the calf at her -heels, and the stare she turned on the citizens -of Blackwater was noncommittal, even kindly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Her departure took on something of the -character of a pageant. Brother Ducey was -induced to make an oration--or he could not be -restrained--at any rate, Brother Ducey delivered -a speech setting forth the extraordinary -qualities of the cow. It was really a remarkable -tribute, but all the notice Molly took was -to flick one ear as she masticated a bunch of -grass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And, brethern and sisters, what does this -brave creature teach us? Hey?” he demanded, -in conclusion.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I dunno,” mumbled a gentleman at whom -he was staring, in a hopeless tone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I ask you-all ag’in, what she done taught us -when she come a-seeking of her young in the -very heart of our meetin’? Why, it’s plain as -the mole on Lon Rainey’s face,” cried Brother -Ducey. “I forgive her a-chasing of me up -that cottonwood,--it’s a right good thing it was -so handy,--and Miz Ducey kin sew the pants. -But what did this noble animal show? Jist -what I was praying of you-all to reveal, brethern -and sisters. She showed love and devotion, -and a generous sacrifice for somebody else -besides her own self. That’s what she done -showed. You-all do likewise. Brother Perry -will now pass the hat.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We took Molly back to the Tumbling K and -turned her into the horse pasture. She came -peaceably enough, six of us acting as escort of -honor. She is there now, followed everywhere -she goes by a husky red calf with a white face. -Molly is firmly persuaded that he is her son and -the pride of the range.</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chVII'></a>VII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE BABY AND THE PUMA</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>The wagon jolted and whined over -rough ground, winding among giant -pines. Off to the right followed a -tawny shape, flitting from blotch of shadow -to screening bush, blending with the blurred -outlines of tree and rock. The moon was hidden -and Brother Schoonover drove with circumspection, -lest his ark and all his possessions -be wrecked in the wilderness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Doggone that moon. It ain’t never working -when you need it right bad,” cried Brother -Schoonover, cracking his whip. “That limb -was like to blind me. Stead-ay, Glossy. -Now, girl--now.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The puma crouched flat on hearing the -voice. Then the wagon drew out of sight beyond -a tope of trees and he sprang to the -shelter of a mesquite. There he peered again -at the nester’s outfit going down the valley -through the dark. It labored heavily; Brother -Schoonover’s tones reached him, raised in sharp -rebuke of the mare; and presently he slunk in -pursuit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Don’t imagine that Bowallopus--such was -he dubbed from that night of adventure--was -stalking prey. Nothing was farther removed -from his purpose. He was dreadfully afraid, -but curiosity overrode fear! Time and again -he halted to abandon the game and go about -the serious things of life, but could not. The -wagon and its inmates had him fast.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Bowallopus was not even hungry, but he -trailed along in rear. Perhaps there lurked -a sneaking hope far back in that hard skull of -his that something might transpire toward the -further easement of his stomach, but it never -for a moment dulled his caution.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The nester whistled at the mare and urged -her forward, and twice the harsh scream of the -brakes stayed Bowallopus rigid in his tracks. -It should not be held against Brother Schoonover -that he forgot on three occasions the Biblical -limitations as regards profane words, because -the night was deceptive and he was far -from water. All he had on earth was with -him there in the wagon, and he could descry no -suitable place to camp. The family spring-bed -was slung from ropes off the floor under -the arched canvas top, and on it his wife slept. -Curled warmly in the hollow of her arm was -the baby. Sometimes the lurchings of their -home rolled him quite away from her side, to -return him on the rebound. He slept placidly, -being a seasoned traveler.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Just before descending a gulch to cross a -dried creek-bed, Brother Schoonover drove slap -against a large rock, being now far off any -trails. The wagon careened to the point of -overturning and the baby slid from his mother’s -arms. Mrs. Schoonover had raised the canvas -for purposes of ventilation--she suffered -from an affection of the lungs--and he shot -downward through the hole. Being utterly -helpless, he was unhurt. He hit the ground -lightly and the wheel missed him a full half-inch.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Of course the shock woke the baby, but he -was so astonished for a minute that he could -only hold his breath ready for what might befall. -When he did let out a yell, the wagon -was thumping over the stones, with the driver -standing up to beat the mare, and the couple in -it could not have heard a steam calliope ten -yards off.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Bowallopus vanished when the brown bundle -dropped. A hundred paces and he halted in a -thicket, arrested by a gurgling treble cry. -The puma had seen children before, playing -near the shack of a Mexican woodchopper, and -he knew that note of distress. Very cautiously -he crept back and began to circle.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='pindent'>The felidae steal upon their prey noiselessly, treading on -the soft elastic pads of the soles of the feet, without risk of -betrayal from the rustle caused by non-retractile claws. -When within a short distance, they crouch and spring, bounding -many times their length upon their unsuspecting victims, -which, borne down by the descending weight of the fierce foe, -are at once fastened upon by the deadly grip of the well-armed -jaw and by the united action of eighteen fully-extended -piercing claws.</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>So says an old school book--or it may be an -ancient natural history--and it is very illuminating -and authoritative. But it happens that -Bowallopus belonged to a class of felidae -which does not prey upon man or the children -of men, and he did none of these things. He -waited until the groaning of the wagon died -away, his head up, keen for sound or sight of -danger. A puma relies more on his ears and -eyes than on his nose to apprise him of enemy -or victim. Then he went forward stealthily, -moving in a wide semicircle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The baby threshed about with his chubby -arms and howled, whereat Bowallopus shrank -back, hissing like an enraged gander, his tail -lashing from side to side. Perhaps the threatening -noise chilled the boy to silence; at any -rate he broke off in his wail and lay quiet. -The lion went nearer. He stood above the -brown bundle, his muscles ready for combat or -instant flight, and eyed it suspiciously. Much -as a house cat would pick up a questionable bit -of loot from the floor, Bowallopus seized the -dress in his teeth and lifted the baby. Schoonover, -Jr., waved a pudgy hand in lively terror -and slapped the beast on the nose. Horribly -surprised, Bowallopus dropped him and -sprang back. Then he gathered himself to -leap.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hi!” yelled Brother Schoonover.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The lion snarled as he turned to flee, but -the nester had stopped in his run and was down -on one knee. Bowallopus cleared the distance -between him and some brush with a magnificent, -sinuous jump, but as he went, a crashing -sound smote his ears and sharp burning pains -ripped along loins and back. Brother Schoonover -had loaded his old smooth-bore with bird-shot -that day to the end that he might pot a -dog-rabbit or a brace of wild doves for supper, -and Bowallopus received the entire charge.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Without paying the slightest heed to the -fleeing puma, the nester threw down his -weapon and clasped his son. Instantly the -baby shrieked his loudest, and “God, he ain’t -hurt a bit,” cried Brother Schoonover in a great -voice. He was shaking like a cottonwood -leaf and his fright impelled the child to further -outcry, so contagious is fear. And now Mrs. -Schoonover came running, unable to remain -longer in the wagon with bone of her bone and -flesh of her flesh lying helpless somewhere in -the dark along the trail--she could see him -dead. She prayed audibly as she ran.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Give him to me,” she said, snatching the -baby from his sire as though he had been much -to blame.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It weren’t my fault, Sally Jo,” he protested.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You drive most awful reckless, Brother -Schoonover,” returned his wife, and hugged -her son closer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He ain’t hurt a mite. Just scared,” she announced, -after a wondrous inspection by touch -of hand. “Something done tore his dress.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A big ol’ line had him, Sally Jo,” the nester -exclaimed. “I swan he was a monster. He -went a-smashing up among the bushes and -rocks.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You didn’t kill him? You done let him go -and he most had eat our child?” shrilled Mrs. -Schoonover.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I reckon I done missed, Sally Jo. There, -there, girl--it’s all right now. You cain’t hurt -a line with birdshot. It won’t even tickle him. -This here shot would bounce off’n a kitten’s -hide, this here would.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They went back to the wagon, Mrs. Schoonover -carrying the baby. The nester opined -that he had had enough of driving for one -night and they would camp here.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s hard on Glossy, but I’ll go find her -water first thing in the morning”--he poked -a finger playfully among his son’s ribs--“So -that ol’ line was like to git you, boy? Ol’ Bowallopus -was a-looking you over for a meal?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Brother Schoonover hobbled the mare and -they went to rest.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Bowallopus lay on a flat rock amid the lower -ridges next day, sunning himself. He was not -far from home and felt perfectly secure. In -a gulch, washed out by floods numberless generations -ago, was a large hole that led into a -shallow cave. There was in front a sandstone -ledge much to the beast’s liking, and here the -puma resided, as a stinging odor proclaimed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was very handsome, was Bowallopus. -On his side, he measured eight feet ten inches -from the tip of his nose to tip of tail, and his -weight could not have been less than two hundred -and forty pounds. Just now the superb -richness of his reddish brown coat was marred -by unsightly clots in the region of his rump, and -he was constantly reminded thereof by a gnawing -and itching of innumerable tiny spots. -The irritation meant that the wounds were -healing, but Bowallopus’s temper was very bad -nevertheless. He licked his sores tenderly and -settled himself to bask in the glare, lids drooping.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Five miles away, Brother Schoonover was -digging with might and main into the side of -a low hill, for he had found a spring bubbling -from the rock and was now engaged in fashioning -a dugout for a home.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Bowallopus went up the valley early that -evening, being minded to kill. And before -darkness closed down he arrived at a butte -about three miles from his lair.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The huge cat crawled warily to a ledge and -composed himself to wait. At the other side -of the butte vague figures were moving, and -Bowallopus could hear plainly the crisp munching -of grass. These were the range mares -wearing the Anvil brand, and he had taken toll -of their young many times before. In the -position he had selected they could not wind -him; and along the base of the butte ran a trail -down which the mares went to drink.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The sun sank back of the mountains. A big -roan stallion which ruled the band gave over -eating and lay down to roll. Invigorated by -this exercise, he whinnied joyously and started -for the pool. One mare, with her colt, followed -at his heels. The others began to -close in, slowly, then in groups, until they -were moving in loose array towards water. -The leader picked the butte trail, paused to -pull a tempting tuft, and rounded a bend. -Then he snorted an alarm and swerved outward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Bowallopus let him go--he was too formidable -for attack--but the mare and her colt were -below him. On the stallion’s warning he -hurled himself downward, a yellow streak in -the gloom, and bore the luckless colt to the -ground. The crunch of its broken spine was -drowned in the rumble of flying hoofs. Bowallopus -gripped his prey by the neck and -started homewards. Twice he was compelled -to stop to obtain a fresh hold, but he dragged -the carcass to the washout.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It happened that he made a foray early one -evening to Wolf Creek in quest of a deer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sometimes, if he were exceedingly crafty, -and wind and bough of tree were right, he -could slay when a deer stole timidly to drink. -Bowallopus went down the valley, alert and -noiseless as was his wont. Suddenly he stiffened, -the hairs on neck and back pringling.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Here was a fence. There could be no doubt -of that. It was a very crude contrivance of -one strand of wire, but he could see the posts -standing in a ghostly, wavering line. Bowallopus -walked along it, tensely expectant. -In the distance a tiny light shone like a fallen -star, and Bowallopus paused often to stare. -This was the lantern in Brother Schoonover’s -house. He had fenced a quarter-section, or -had enclosed it sufficiently to conform with -the law, and now occupied a one-roomed dugout -constructed of logs and earth. The -Brother was fully determined to prove up on -this claim, and already indulged in dreams of -how the place would look when green under -Kaffir corn, and a red-roofed house on the hill -back of them. He had longed all his life for -a house with a red roof, for it could be descried -so far and looked so cheery.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The puma made the circuit of the place and -watched and listened. Presently the light -went out and all was still. He did not tarry -long, being seized of a feeling of unrest. All -heart for the hunt was gone from him and he -struck northward, intent on putting distance -between himself and this newest invader of his -domain. While the dark was yet young, he -scaled a pine tree--a tree bole was to the lion as -greensward to the antelope--and sat comfortably -on a thick limb. Once he tilted his nose -and sent his screech vibrating to the topmost -hills. It was a rending cry like the scream of a -woman in mortal pain--no animal but a horse -in its death agony can produce a sound more -terrifying. After a while he descended and -went northward once more; but there was no -yowling from Bowallopus now. He had to -find something to eat, and stealth alone could -accomplish that end.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Yet he was back at the fence next night and -on many nights succeeding. The dugout and -its dwellers recurred again and again to tempt -his curiosity, however far he raided. Bowallopus -had no desire to forage there, but he -simply could not keep away. And gradually -the feeling of anxiety over their presence became -a fixed dread, an obsession.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Brother Schoonover acquired a dog from a -passing Mexican freighter and owned the mongrel -for exactly seven days and six nights. -Most of that period was spent by the canine -back of the shack, tied to a post. Then he -was released and ventured too far in the dusk, -and Bowallopus gathered him in. When the -nester found the remains he forgot all about -the spirit of kindly charity for which he had -been so strong in a two days’ debate with -Brother Ducey in Texas, and railed against all -created things save those man had domesticated.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After this episode Bowallopus absented himself -from the vicinity of the Schoonover home -for a space. He went up into the mountains, -where he contrived to get considerable veal and -young beef. Winter was coming upon the -land and a calf did not hug his mother’s side -so closely of a night, being grown and prideful.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the sheen of a late November gloaming, -he dropped from a jutting rock on the rim of -The Hatter and padded along a burro trail. -This was the way down the big mountain which -the woodchoppers took; thence they drove their -patient beasts of burden seventy long miles -to town. Bowallopus slunk beside the well-worn -path, one eye cocked for trouble. He -was ferociously hungry; his stomach clamored -for food; and at sight of a scurrying jackrabbit, -a peculiar pulsating ache started back of -his jowl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Abruptly he drew back and flopped downward -behind a thorny bush. Below, on the -shoulder of The Hatter, clung a shack of -boughs and sod. A man was even then hammering -on its roof, while a woman passed him -up bits of old tin. Half way between the -puma and the hut, a small boy was toiling -under a pile of fagots, tied over his back.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>All this Bowallopus saw, but what interested -him most was an object nearer at hand. Not -twenty feet away a Mexican baby played in -the dirt, crowing with delight over possession -of a captive lizard. The child was perhaps -two years old and much too naked for that time -of year, but she was hearty and cared naught -for that. Her brother had brought her up -the trail, leaving her to amuse herself as best -she might whilst he gathered firewood. Naturally -he forgot all about the toddler, the job -not being to his liking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Bowallopus listened and watched and -waited. The baby rolled in the dust. The -man and woman were busily engaged and the -boy had been sent to fetch a bucket of water. -A bull-bat flew over the puma’s head. A hush -crept over The Hatter.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It may be that he shut his eyes when he -launched himself and struck, though she was -so very, very little. There was no cry to betray--only -the throaty snarls of the puma, -now turned mankiller and more horribly afraid -and fearfully daring than he had ever been in -his life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A big ol’ mountain line done eat a Mexican -baby up yonder,” Brother Schoonover reported -to his wife.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You keep buckshot in that gun, Brother -Schoonover; do you hear? Oh, my li’l’ lamb! -What if that wicked lion had eat you up?” -Her son did not appear at all disturbed by the -speculation, but thumped on her breast with -his fists.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was a tremendous to-do up and down -the country for eighty leagues. The manager -of the Anvil offered a hundred dollars reward -for the murderer’s hide and the cowboys of the -region blazed away at every bobcat that -showed a hair within their line of vision. -Even Richter’s sheep herders bestirred themselves -to set traps, but all to no avail. And -the victim being a native child, the killing soon -ceased to be a live topic.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The winter arrived in the wake of a norther. -It blustered for a fortnight, then set in to be -bitterly cold. Bowallopus fared well, and grew -ever more malignant and furtive. One rib -was cracked owing to misjudgment of distance, -but accidents are likely to occur to the -best of hunters. In diving from a tree for -the back of a colt, he missed and came down -close to the mare. In a flash he gathered himself -and leaped again, but the mother’s heels -crashed full on his side and she went away at -full speed, her son running a good second. -On another occasion a young bull caught him -with a headlong rush, unprepared on his kill, -and would have made short work with so excellent -a start, had not Bowallopus sought -safety in the fleetness of his legs. He was a -sapient animal and knew when he had enough.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Spring came at last, and Bowallopus had a -fight. It was a family affair--his wife was -not wholly blameless--and it is better for all -concerned to say only that he came off the victor. -A young puma had wandered into his -ridges from the south and west, and he never -went back. When a mountain lion does fight, -it is worth going many miles to see.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Some years it will rain so hard in this part -of the cow country that the nesters can but sit -and watch their puny efforts at raising corn -seep away; but the cattle rejoice exceedingly. -It must be admitted, however, that this happens -extremely seldom. Generally the land -bakes under cloudless skies from February to -June and the earth opens in cracks, as though -gasping for breath.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Brother Schoonover broke his ground and -planned to raise a bumper crop of corn, the -signs being propitious. He made two trips to -town, three days each way by wagon, in order -to make all ready. Bowallopus used often to -see him toiling long after sunset; the puma -spent many hours of the dark in sinister vigil -beyond the fence, where he could see the light -burning steadily in the dugout. Again he -would prowl completely around the claim, -keeping always off the wire, for that solitary -strand was associated with man. Once he -topped the hill back of the home in late afternoon, -though it was seldom he went abroad in -daylight, and hid behind a boulder. The -Schoonover baby was crawling near the door, -on hands and knees. Bowallopus never once -removed his gaze from him in a full hour.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His own domestic affairs had progressed of -late. Three sons had been born to his wife, -who hid them on a day when she detected a -certain glint in her lord’s eyes. Bowallopus -discovered their hiding-place and slew the cubs -and ate them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Rain should have fallen in June, but it did -not. July passed, and the country quivered -under a white ball that was the sun. The cattle -gave up the hopeless fight. In the valley -the air reeked of carcasses. Brother Schoonover -finished a weary day in his waste fields in -August, and said to his wife:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, Sally Jo, I reckon we’ll be moving -agin.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, no; don’t say so. Have we really got -to go, Jed? We’re always moving. This is -a right cruel country, ain’t it, Jed? Nowhere -for a person to get along nice and quiet.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He made no reply, but picked his son from -the floor and set him on his knee. Then he -stared out over his bare acres and began to -laugh.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t,” she entreated. “That’s awful. It -ain’t so bad as that, Jed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We’ve done nothing but move for six years, -Sally Jo. Or I reckon it’s nearer eight, counting -them over in the Nations? And I made -certain this place would do and we’d have a -home.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jed,” she said, putting a hand awkwardly -on his shoulder. “Can’t we stay? Ain’t there -no way? Perhaps you could get a job somewhere--with -the Anvil boys. Oh, anything, -so’s we don’t have to move again. It’ll be so -soon now. I’ll never live through it, I know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He eyed her anxiously, dandling the baby -the while.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s one of the reasons,” he said. “You -ought to be near where a doctor can be got -handy, Sally Jo. No, we’ll have to give this -up. I’ll take you back to my folks for the -winter. We ought for to be there anyway. -The ol’ man, he’s getting feeble, and first thing -we know, he’ll be leaving that farm to Sam instead -of me, Sally Jo. Cheer up, girl; we’ll -find another place.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right,” she returned hopelessly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Two nights later they made camp among -giant pines in the valley. The mare grazed -near, hobbled to prevent her straying. -Brother Schoonover lighted the fire and his -wife cooked supper of bacon and bread and -coffee. That must suffice until they reached -town--and afterwards, more of the same diet, -for the family treasury was down to eleven -dollars.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They washed the pots and tin plates, and -put the baby to bed in the wagon. Then the -couple knelt down and Brother Schoonover offered -up a prayer. He always prayed to his -Maker in a loud voice before retiring, invoking -benedictions on the entire world and all the -dwellers thereon. Only two exceptions did he -ever make and he made those religiously--nothing -could induce him to intercede for -reigning monarchs, and he made special mention -of the Republican party only that they -might be excluded from the general benefits to -accrue.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When they were rising to their feet, Sally -Jo clutched her husband’s arm.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s that, Jed? There--back of them -mesquite.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I cain’t see nothing. Where?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you see? Look along my finger. -There, it’s moving again. It looks like a dog, -Jed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Her husband saw now and sucked in his -breath. Off to the right a tawny shape flitted -from blotch of shadow to screening bush, -blending with the blurred outline of tree and -rock.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hush,” he cautioned, tiptoeing to the -wagon.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The reliable smooth-bore lay on the seat. -Brother Schoonover slipped the shell out without -a sound and put in another loaded with -buckshot. That done, he lay down under the -wagon and pretended to be asleep, but the gun -protruded through the spokes of a wheel and -the Brother occasionally sighted along the barrel. -It was dark, but there was a pale glow -from the stars, which would suffice for the work -in hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When he gits in line with that pine tree,” -he murmured.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A mountain lion was circling the camp. He -had stumbled upon the nester’s outfit by chance -and had no business there, but curiosity beat -down doubts and caution. He had glimpsed -the baby near the fire and had cringed to earth -momentarily. Now, he was the more eager. -The sight of the couple on their knees and the -man’s harsh tones drove him back a few yards, -and he had inadvertently moved from shadow -while one might count three; but now all was -quiet. He lay in the gloom surveying the -camp. The mare cropped the grass noisily -on the far side and the puma determined to -take a closer look over there.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He emerged so eerily from nowhere that -Brother Schoonover almost doubted his senses -when he saw a head and neck between the -sights in line with the tree. There was a flash -and a terrific roar. Brother Schoonover was -knocked backward by the kick of the gun, and -his wife cried out. The baby awoke and -squalled in affright.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The puma made a convulsive leap high into -the air, hitting out blindly with his mighty -paws. He came down with claws tearing into -the earth, and whirled about and crouched to -meet the unseen enemy. Mrs. Schoonover -cowered in the wagon, covering the baby’s head -with her apron that he might not hear the uproar.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I got you, hey?” Brother Schoonover -shouted, furiously elated. “Well, here’s another -of the same kind.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He held the gun firmly against his shoulder -and sent a charge straight between the eyes -glaring at him like two living coals. The puma -lurched forward and stretched out. He -coughed once, his muscles jerking; then stiffened.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the morning, a mountain lion lay on the -edge of camp, his hide riddled with shot. Still, -he was very handsome. He measured eight -feet ten inches from the tip of his nose to tip -of tail, and his weight could not have been less -than two hundred and forty pounds.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>While his mother prepared breakfast and -his father watered and harnessed the mare, the -Schoonover baby inspected the creature. He -pulled its ears and kicked it with fine deliberation -on the point of the nose.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you aim to leave it here, Brother -Schoonover?” his wife asked, when they were -ready to set forward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Shore. The hide ain’t no good at this season. -And he’s shot all to bits. Do you know, -Sally Jo, I got a idea this is the same ol’ -mountain line what found our son? It’s like -he’s the same one that eat the pore li’l’ Mexican, -too, don’t you reckon? Ol’ Bowallopus?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It wouldn’t surprise me none,” she -answered, and shuddered. Her husband -spurned the carcass with his boot.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They got under way. High up in the sky -appeared two black specks. Brother Schoonover -pointed to them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They’ll rip him to pieces in no time. But -we’ll keep the claws and whiskers and the end -of his tail for the baby to play with. Hey, -Sally Jo?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The specks grew larger. Soon they showed -as birds, hovering on effortless wings above -the camping ground. Brother Schoonover -whacked the mare in high glee, and they set -out again on their pilgrimage.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Before they had gone half a mile, the buzzards -shot from the blue vault to earth.</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chVIII'></a>VIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE MANKILLER</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>All this happened in the Bad Year, -which was not so many months ago. -The outfit issued daily from their -camps--riding bog, skinning cattle and driving -in the helpless to the home pastures to be -fed on oil-cake and alfalfa. The cows were -walking skeletons, wild of eye, ready to wheel -in impotent anger on their rescuers; or sinking -weakly to the ground at the least urging, -never to rise again. Every creek was dry. -Springs that were held eternal became slimy -mudholes and a trap. A well-grown man -could easily step across the San Pedro, oozing -sluggishly past mauled carcasses.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Wherever one rode he found bones of hapless -creatures, or starved cows stretched flat on -their sides, waiting for death to end their sufferings. -And the flies settled in sickening, -heaving clusters. Each mire held its victim. -Wobbly-legged calves wandered over the -range, crying for mothers that could never -come. And the sun blazed down out of a pale -sky.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Even the saving mesquite in the draws and -on the ridges was failing as sustenance; of -grass there was none. The country lay bleak -and gasping from Tombstone to the border. -Not even a desert cow, accustomed to slake her -water hunger by chewing cactus, could have -long survived such blighting months. How -we prayed for rain!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel Salazar gave heed to the comet -where he lay on his tarp, and crossed himself to -avert the death-curse which was come upon the -land. This weird luminary portended dire -events and Manuel began, like a prudent man, -to take thought of his religion. There might -be nothing in religion, as Chico contended; but -a man never knows, and it is the part of wisdom -to be on the safe side.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then, one evening, when the mountains were -taking on their blue sheen and the beauty of -these vast stretches smote one with a feeling -akin to pain, Archie Smith rode up to headquarters -and tossed a human hand on the -porch.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Found it in the far corner of the Zacaton -Bottom,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Jim Floyd recognized it at once by the triangular -scar on the palm. The hand had -been gnawed off cleanly at the wrist. Floyd -wrapped the gruesome thing in a sack, wishful -to give it decent interment when opportunity -should offer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’s ol’ man Greer’s,” he said. “You remember -ol’ man Greer? He used to dig postholes -for the Lazy L. Where’s the rest of -him, Smith?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I aim to go and see. Ki-yotes eat him up, -don’t you reckon, Jim?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It sure looks that way. Pore ol’ Greer--he -could dig postholes right quick,” the boss -answered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>What Archie found of the digger of postholes -established nothing of the manner of -death. Both arms were gone and wolves had -dragged the body; hence, there was no real -argument against the theory that old man -Greer, who indulged a taste for <span class='it'>tequila</span>, had -sustained a fall from his horse and had perished -miserably within sight of the ranch. Yet -Archie found this hard to believe. Wolves do -not crush in the skull of a man, and it was the -cowboy’s conviction that anyone could fall off -Hardtimes, the digger’s mount, twice or thrice -a day with no other injury than the blow to -his pride.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Two days later Manuel Salazar brought in -Greer’s horse, shockingly gaunt and worried, -and swelled as to the head. But what interested -the outfit, when the saddle and bridle had -been removed from Hardtimes, were long, parallel -wales along neck and flank. Archie pronounced -them to be the marks of a horse’s -teeth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That don’t show anything. He wandered -off and got into a fight with another horse,” -Floyd asserted. “Yes, sir; it’s like that he -done just that.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After which he dismissed the unfortunate -Greer from his mind. The outfit shook its -head and expressed sorrow for the lonely -digger, but opined that his fate surely went to -show how injurious steady application to <span class='it'>tequila</span> -could be, more especially in cruel weather. -The Mexicans, and the nesters in outlying -parts, were not satisfied with the explanation -put forward. They discussed the mystery during -protracted pauses in work and in the dark -of the night. When two men met on a trail -and halted to pass the time of day, old man -Greer was the subject of talk. There were -rumors of a snug fortune the digger had -amassed and buried--sixty-six thousand dollars -in gold, it was. Joe Toole, who made a -nice, comfortable living by systematic theft of -calves from the cattle company, did not hesitate -to hint that Greer had died a victim to -its professional gun-fighter for reasons best -known to the rich corporation; but, then, Joe -was prejudiced. Soon the death grew to a -murder, and no man not of white blood would -ride the Zacaton Bottom after nightfall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Tommy Floyd talked of these and other -matters to his father as the boss was feeding -Apache.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Pshaw!” Floyd said contemptuously. -“Don’t you put no stock in them stories, -Tommy, boy. Some people in this here country -can smell a skunk when they sight a dead -tree.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But what do you guess killed him, Dad?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know, son. I sure wish I did,” was -the troubled reply.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He punched Apache in the ribs to make him -move over. The huge jack laid back his ears -and his tail whisked threateningly, but he gave -place with an awkward flop, and Floyd -laughed. Others might fear Apache, but he -knew there was not the least particle of viciousness -lurking in that hammerlike head. Of all -the ranch possessions--blooded horses, thoroughbred -Herefords and cowponies--he liked -the jack best. It pandered to his vanity that -others should avoid the monster, or approach -him in diffidence, with suspicion and anxiety; -and, in truth, Apache’s appearance was sufficiently -appalling. Great as was his blue-gray -bulk, it was dwarfed by the ponderous head; -his knees were large and bulbous, and when he -opened his mouth to bray, laying bare the powerful -teeth, Apache was a spectacle to scare -the intrepid. Horses would run at sight of -him; an entire pasture would squeal with fear -and flee on his approach. Yet there was not a -gentler animal to handle in the million acres -of the company’s range.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Toward the fag-end of a day Tommy was -eating <span class='it'>panocha</span> on the steps of the porch, a -favorite diversion with him. While removing -some particles thereof from his cheek, in the -region of his ear, he espied his father riding -homeward from the Zacaton Bottom. Something -in the way the boss swayed in the saddle -brought Tommy’s head up alertly. Floyd was -clinging to the horn and the reins trailed on the -ground. The boy threw his crust away and -ran to meet him. A dozen yards from the -house the horse stopped, as though he knew -that the end of the journey had come for his -master.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That black devil, Tommy!” his father -gasped, and lurched outward and to the -ground.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Two of the boys came running and bore -Floyd to his bed. That he had contrived to -ride home filled them with wonder at his endurance -and fortitude--nearly the whole of his -right side was torn away, one arm swung -limply, and there were ragged cuts on the -head. Tommy hovered near, crying to him to -open his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The boss never regained consciousness, and -died at midnight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A Mexican doctor was summoned from a -border village--his American competitor was -off in the Dragoons, assisting at an increase to -the population. After a minute examination -the man of medicine announced that five ribs -were broken. It was his opinion that Señor -Floyd had met with an accident, from the -effects of which he had passed away. Nobody -was inclined to dispute this finding.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Something done tromped him,” Dan -Harkey asserted. “It’s like one of them bulls -got into the Bottom and went for him when -he got down to drink.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Archie positively; “a bull couldn’t -have tore him up that way. It looks to me -like teeth done that.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then Tommy awoke from the benumbed -state in which he had moved since the tragedy -and repeated his father’s dying words. They -were very simple of interpretation. A black -man had drifted into the country from eastern -Texas, and lived, an outcast, on a place not fifteen -miles from headquarters. It was well -known that Floyd had had trouble with him, -being possessed of an aggressive contempt for -negroes, and twice had made threats to run the -newcomer off.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A nigrah could easy have beat him up thataway,” -Dan declared. “A nigrah could do -most anything. Yes, sir; he beat him to death--that’s -what he done. It’s like he used that -old hoe of his’n.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Word of the killing flew over the land in the -marvelous fashion news is carried in the cow-country. -Within twelve hours men knew of it -in the most remote cañons of the Huachucas, -and a party of nine set forth from headquarters. -But somebody had carried warning, for -the lonely hut was untenanted and the door -swung loose on its rawhide hinges.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They buried Floyd on top of a hill where the -wind had a free sweep, and piled a few stones -atop. Tommy fashioned a cross out of two -rough boards; and the boss sleeps there to-day. -The sheriff was deeply stirred and had notices -posted throughout the territory.</p> - -<div class='blockquote'> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.5em;'>$250 REWARD</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For the arrest, dead or alive, of the man who brutally -murdered James Floyd, boss of the Tumbling K, sixteen -miles from here, some time yesterday evening. This man is -supposed to be a negro; about forty years of age; black; -about six feet in height and weighing close to two hundred -pounds. Has a razor scar above the left ear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He has in his possession a .35 caliber autoloading rifle, No. -5096, and a .32-30 pistol. He may be riding a sorrel horse -with a roached mane, branded 93 on left hip.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This crime is one of the most dastardly in the criminal -annals of the Territory, and I earnestly urge every officer -and other person receiving this circular to do everything in -his power to effect the capture of this human fiend.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The above reward is only a preliminary reward, which -may be increased later to one thousand dollars, when the -governor, with whom the matter will be taken up, is heard -from.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Wire me if any suspect is arrested, or if any information -is obtained whatever concerning this negro, at my expense.</p> - -</div> - -<p class='pindent'><a id='hut'></a></p> - -<div class='figcenter'> -<img src='images/i245.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0007' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/> -<p class='caption'>“<span class='it'>The lonely hut was untenanted</span>”</p> -</div> - -<p class='pindent'>Two months passed, and nothing was heard -or seen of the black man. The rains held off. -North and east the ranges were deluged. A -blight appeared to have fallen upon the Tumbling -K. The land grew a shade grayer, the -dust spurts whirled in gleeful, savage dance, -and the cattle gave up the effort of living and -lay down to die. All that the boys could do -was to distribute salt and feed and work frantically -to maintain the water supply. The -emaciated brutes would eat of the oil-cake and -hay, and sweat profusely on the nose, then -stiffen out and expire with a sigh. Those that -clung to life carried swollen under-jaws from -the strain of tearing at the short grass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Poor bastard!” Archie grunted, tailing up a -cow he had already helped to her feet three -times. “It fair makes a man sick at the stummick -to see ’em. Here, you doggone ol’ she-devil! -Why don’t you try for to help yourself? -Up you come! That’s it; try to hook -me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was no use. He shot her where she lay, -and skinned her. Then, with the wet hide -dragging at the end of a rope and her calf -thrown over the fork of the saddle, he set out -for headquarters. The orphan was a lusty -youngster, and Archie made him many promises, -accompanied by many strange oaths.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Li’l’ dogy,” he said, “I’ll find a mammy for -you to-night if I have to tie up the old milch -cow. Do you think you can suck a milch cow, -dogy? Sure you can. Man alive, feel of him -kick! He’s a stout rascal. You’ll be a fine -steer some day, dogy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On a black-dark night flames leaped above -the rim of the mountain, and the Tumbling K -were roused from bed to go forth with wet -sacks, and rage in their hearts, for the scum of -humanity who would fire a range. Twenty-six -hours in the saddle and six more fighting the -leaping, treacherous enemy; then two hours of -sweating sleep on saddle-blankets beside their -hobbled horses, and back a score of miles on -desperate trails for fresh mounts--three separate -times they beat out the blaze with sacks -and back-firing. Once more, rising heavy-lidded -and dripping from the stupor of utter -exhaustion, they saw it licking hungrily -through the Gap. No unlucky cigarette-stub -thrown amid parched grass, no abandoned -campfire, had done this. It was the deliberate -work of an enemy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Orders came to move the cattle down into the -valley, lest they perish to the last horn, to the -last torn hoof.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It’ll take you three days to move ’em ten -miles,” the manager said; “but never mind. -Ease ’em. Ease ’em careful. The man who -yells at a cow, or pushes her along, gets his -time right there. The only real way to handle -cattle is to let ’em do what they want and work -’em as you can. Think that over, boys.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Manuel Salazar remembered this warning as -he moved his tired horse at a snail’s pace behind -a bunch of sick ones in the Zacaton Bottom. -Manuel made twenty dollars a month with consummate -ease, working only seven days in the -week and only thirteen hours a day; and he -would not throw his job away lightly. Therefore -he permitted the gaunt cows to straggle -as pleased them, humming to himself while they -nibbled at tufts here and there. If one turned -its head to look at him it fell from sheer weakness; -therefore he held aloof. So the sad procession -crept along.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was in Manuel’s mind to save a mile by -moving the bunch through the horse pasture. -He put them through the gate with no trouble -and was dreamily planning how he might steal -back a hair rope Chico had stolen from him, -when the quirt slipped out of his fingers. The -vaquero got down to pick it from the ground.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hi! Hi!” he yelled in panic, and ducked -just in time.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A black shape towered above him, striking -with forefeet, reaching for the nimble Manuel -with its teeth. Its mouth yawned agape; Salazar -swore he could have rammed a lard bucket -into it. The vaquero swerved from under the -deadly hoofs and hit out blindly with the quirt. -The stallion screamed his rage for the first time -and lunged at him, head swinging low, the lips -flicking back from the ferocious teeth. Manuel -seized a stone, put to his hand by the blessed -saints, and hurled it with precision, striking the -horse on the nose. Midnight blared from pain -and shook his royal mane in fury, but the -shock stayed him and Salazar gained his horse.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now,” he yelled, pulling his gun and -maneuvering his mount that he might be -ready to flee, “come on, you! You want to -fight? That’s music to me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But Midnight did not want to fight. He -had employed craft in stealing upon the man, -and now he moved off sulkily, the whites of -his eyes rolled back, a thin stream of blood -trickling from his muzzle. Salazar longed to -shoot holes through his shiny black hide, but -contented himself with abuse instead. Was -not the stallion worth five thousand dollars? -Who was he--Manuel, a poor vaquero--to be -considered in the same thought with so noble a -beast?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tommy,” he said as he unsaddled at headquarters, -“I’ve found who killed your pore -father. Yes, and old man Greer, too. Don’t -look so pale, Tommy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Tommy stalked into the manager’s office next -forenoon, a very solemn and very determined, -if a short and somewhat dirty figure. He was -white under his freckles, and he talked through -his teeth, jerkily, his eyes fixed unwaveringly -on the manager’s face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Midnight!” the manager exclaimed. -“Nonsense! Why, he wouldn’t harm a fly. -That horse would never kill a man. He’s -worth five thousand dollars. Since we got him -from Kentucky, two years ago, a woman could -handle him, Tommy, boy. Salazar must have -been teasing him. You’ll have to look somewhere -else, Tommy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You mean you ain’t going to do nothing, -Mr. Chalmers?” Tommy asked in a dry voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Of course not. Midnight? Impossible. -Why, that horse is worth five thousand dollars. -He couldn’t have done it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Tommy went back home very slowly. That -night he sat beside Manuel’s candle and cleaned -and oiled a sawed-off .25-30 rifle, inherited -from the man who slept on the hill. Salazar -smoked lazily and watched him through drooping -lids. The boy finished his task and leaned -forward on the stool, staring at the tiny flame, -the weapon across his knees.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Of what avail to shoot Midnight? Of -course it would be easy. Tommy had acquired -some degree of skill by blowing the -heads off chickens whenever any were desired -for the dinner-table, and he felt assured that at -two hundred yards he could pick off the stallion -with one pressure of his finger. It would -be mere child’s work to distinguish Midnight -from the mares, even on the murkiest night. -But, after all--had the stallion done the killing? -He had only Manuel’s experience and -suspicions to go on. Moreover, if he took -punishment into his own hands they might -throw him into a jail. Midnight was worth -five thousand dollars: assuredly Mr. Chalmers -would cast Tommy out into the world to shift -for himself. He put the rifle back under his -bunk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Very discreetly Tommy entered the horse -pasture at sunup--he had been unable to sleep -for scheming--and made his way down the -mile-long fence toward the corner where the -mares usually grazed at that hour. He had a -six-shooter in his pocket for an emergency, but -he hoped that he would not use it. Midnight -sighted him and stood rigid a full minute, -twenty paces in advance of the mares, gazing -at the boy. He was a regal animal; Tommy -thought he had never seen so glorious a horse. -Then the stallion advanced with mincing steps, -his head bobbing, the ears laid back. He -sidled nearer, without haste, whinnying softly. -The boy waited until he was a dozen feet distant, -then threw himself flat and rolled under -the barbed-wire fence. With a rending scream -Midnight reared and plunged for him, his forefeet -battering the ground where Tommy had -fallen. He tore at the earth in discomfiture -and wrath, and raved up and down on the -other side of the fence, his nostrils flaring, his -eyes a glare of demoniacal hate. Tommy surveyed -him in deathly quiet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The dark came warm, with puffs of hot -wind, so that the Tumbling K men reviled the -discomfort joyously, since it presaged rain. -So long as the cold nights endured there could -be no relief. Tommy slipped from the bunkhouse -for a breath of air, though it was past -bedtime and they had told him to turn in.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Apache!” he called in a low tone, gliding -into the stall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The jack cocked his monstrous ears and listened, -knowing well the voice. Tommy put a -halter over his head and opened the stall door. -It was gnawed and scarred by Apache’s teeth -and hoofs, and the boy wrenched it from the -hinges and laid it aslant on the ground.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You done bust your way out, Apache,” -he whispered. “You hear me, you ol’ devil?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He led him out into the corral and thence -into the lane, talking softly as they went. -Apache raised his nose and sniffed of the wind. -When they reached the horse pasture the boy -tore out the strands of wire at a spot near the -corner of the fence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You was fond of my Dad, wasn’t you, -Apache?” Tommy quavered, working with -nervous fingers to unbuckle the halter. “Then -go to it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The jack required no bidding. He -wrenched free and stepped carefully over the -wire into Midnight’s domain. Apache never -did anything in ill-judged haste. A blur, two -hundred yards off, attracted him and he headed -toward it eagerly. A moment, and he -stopped; then went forward with caution.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Midnight had seen him coming. He trotted -out from his band of mares and halted expectantly. -Next instant he had recognized -Apache for what he was, and shrilled a challenge. -The jack brayed like a fiend and went -forward slowly to meet him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now, a capable jack can whip any stallion -that ever breathed. It is really an education to -watch a jack like the mighty Apache fight. -There exists the same difference between -the methods of a stallion and a jack as between -those of a nervous amateur boxer and the seasoned -champion. A jack has no fear that anyone -can detect, and is practically insensible to -pain. One can see at a glance what an advantage -this gives him over an opponent with any -lingering predilection for longevity.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Also, a jack never fights for glory, never -fights for the gallery. His sole object is to -win. Wherefore, no idle and frivolous prancing -about for him--no swift rush in, a blind -striking with hoofs, a tearing with the teeth, -then out again. A jack is not constructed that -way. Fighting is a business--a serious, albeit -a pleasurable, business; and he attends to that -side of it with passionate singleness of purpose. -He will watch his opportunity with the alert -coolness of the professional, wasting not an -ounce of energy. When the opening comes he -goes to it like the stroke of a rattler, gets his -grip and shuts his eyes and hangs on. There -is considerable of the bulldog in a jack, and if -he is to be gotten off at all, one must pry him -off with a crowbar; in fact, next to a Shetland -stallion, which is the darlingest little fighter -that ever tore at an enemy’s ribs, nothing more -instructive can be witnessed than a full-sized -jack in a fair field and no interruptions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Apache had fought before--many, many -times. Therefore he made for the foe with -circumspection, his head jerking sideways, his -tail tucked, ears laid flat on his neck, and his -feet barely touching the ground, so lightly did -his tense muscles carry him. One evil eye -measured the giant horse with venomous composure.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Vastly different was Midnight’s attack. -The stallion had pluck to spare, but his temper -was overhasty and his skill slight. Rage forever -clouded his judgment in encounter. He -had learned only one plan of battle and that -was to rush and bear down his opponent. -There was his rival. He would kill him. -Midnight’s was a simple creed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His harsh scream rent the night silence, and -the fight was on. Another horse would have -circled so formidable an adversary in an endeavor -to create an opening, but the black’s -temper was too imperious for delay. Straight -was his rush. He bore down on the jack at -the top of his speed, his wonderful, supple body -a-quiver with eagerness and anger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Then Apache did a remarkable thing--a -thing almost human in ingenuity. What Apache -didn’t know about fighting is best forgotten. -Swerving ever so slightly as the black -came, he lunged to meet him, crashing shoulder -to shoulder with all the strength of his tough -sinews behind the impact. Hit sideways, -taken off his balance, the force of Midnight’s -own charge contributed to his overthrow. -Down he tumbled, scrambling with his feet as -he fell. Before his body touched the ground, -the jack whirled and lashed with both heels into -his sides. With the same appalling speed, -Apache drove for the throat of his prostrate -enemy, secured his grip and shut his eyes, -wrenching frenziedly from side to side and upward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It is well not to tell further what Apache -did to the mankiller. A jack has about as -much sense of mercy as he has of fear, and -he has never been taught any rules of warfare. -When he gets his enemy where his enemy -would like to get him, he does his utmost to obliterate -him from the face of the earth. So it -was that next day the Tumbling K men were -barely able to recognize the Kentucky stallion -in the torn, broken, black pulp they found in -the horse pasture.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>All night long Apache brayed and screeched. -The noise of his triumph would set a soul to -quaking. It pierced Manuel’s dreams and he -muttered in his sleep a prayer for protection -from the Evil One. The jack pranced around -and around his victim, and up and down the -pasture, wild with the joy of battle, magnificent -in his superb strength and the pride of victory. -Toward dawn he abandoned the carcass and -drove off the terror-stricken mares as the just -spoils of the conqueror.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Big white clouds boiled up back of the mountains -that afternoon, with a stiff wind from the -southeast behind them; and at sunset the heavens -opened of their blessed treasure. Manuel -and Tommy lay in the bunkhouse listening to -the thunder of rain on the sod roof. A burro -came to the door and poked his patient head -inside, seeking warmth and a friendly dry -spot.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come in!” cried Manuel cheerily. “Take -a chair. Tommy, give him your bed. Ain’t -that music, though? Hark! Oh, the cattle! -Can’t you see them soaking in it, boy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A yellow mongrel ousted the doubtful burro -from the doorway and began nosing about for -a place to rest his uneasy rump. The roof was -leaking in strong, hearty streams, and Salazar -sprawled on his back, letting the water run on to -his chest. He was smiling placidly. Tommy -snuggled into the blankets and pictured to himself -a new land of much grass, and clear-eyed, -contented cows and high-tailed calves.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The curse is lifted,” Manuel observed -piously. “Yes, sir. The dear God sent the -jack to kill that stallion. How else could it -be? What do you think, Tommy, boy?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I reckon so,” said Tommy.</p> - -<div><h1><a id='chIX'></a>IX<br/> <span class='sub-head'>NEUTRIA</span></h1></div> - -<p class='pindent'>My name is Neutria. It means -Beaver, and they gave it me because -I tuck my tail. Nobody but Chappo -ever called me a pretty horse, but Chappo once -said in my hearing that my ugly roan hide covered -more beauty than all the girls of Sonora -possessed; and Chappo really knew everything -worth knowing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was not my first master. There was another, -to speak of whom is pain--a tall man, -with only one eye, and a long, sandy mustache, -stained of the tobacco he chewed perpetually. -This person owned my mother and -we lived in a small pasture among the lesser -hills of the San José range. What he did to -sustain life was never quite plain to us, because -the land he held remained uncultivated -and he spent much time by himself in his dirty -shack, drinking from a demijohn which he -kept hidden under some sacks in a corner. -Oftentimes he would come from his drinking -and drive us into a corral he had constructed of -ocatilla. There he would beat my mother, and -chase us about and about. I was very young -then and he spared me. She was terribly -afraid of him, and whenever he roared at her, -even though it was in the sixty-acre field, where -he could be evaded, she fell to trembling and -would walk falteringly to the halter he held -out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were nights when he forgot us entirely -and left us in a small wooden pen, without -anything to eat or drink. Occasionally a calf -was dragged up and shoved in with us, and it -would bawl for a day and a night for the -mother from whose side it had been torn. -After a while he would brand the little creature -with his own mark of the inverted pitchfork. -In this manner he gathered a respectable -bunch of cattle, though I know of two -cows only which he ever bought.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This is not the place to tell how he broke me -to the saddle. He made me obey him, but he -did not break my spirit, even though my sides -were bloody from his savage anger. Although -Sloan branded all else he could get, on me he -never put the iron.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What for you haven’t got the Pitchfork on -that li’l’ horse, Sloan?” a cowboy asked him -one day at Buzzard’s Feast.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He don’t need it, this hoss don’t. He’s so -doggone ornery nobody’d steal him,” said my -master.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Later I heard the other--a roaring, swaggering -boy, with a kind eye and soothing hands--tell -a friend that the only animal Sloan did -not brand was the one which he owned legally.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Whenever the strength was in me, I fought -him. He was a powerful man, with a punishing -knee-grip and a poise that was almost unshakable, -whatever his condition. But oppression -begets cunning, and ride as he might, there -were times when I could hurl him off. If a -horse take thought when he starts his pitch, instead -of bucking in blind, raving anger, there -is a chance that he will have the victory. I -mastered a trick of rocketing straight into the -air and whirling about back under the rider, -before my feet touched the ground. This is -difficult, but imparts a really terrific shock; -even Sloan could not withstand it. Of course -he would beat and spur me almost to death -when he was able to walk again. If that -method of fighting him failed, there was another, -dangerous to horse and rider alike. I -would rear high, with my head thrown back, -whereupon Sloan would kick his feet free of -the stirrups lest he be caught under me when I -toppled. Then, before he could recover, my -head would shoot down between my forelegs -and once more I would go to pitching. It was -very efficacious, this stratagem, and the pleasure -of it was much enhanced if the ground was -rocky or there were cactus and mesquite into -which he could be flung.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In spite of the endless cruelty to which -Sloan subjected me, he taught me much. -Whatever else he might be, he was a cowman; -but he knew and practiced a lot that no honest -cowman should know. Sometimes he would -reverse the shoes on my feet that the impress -on the ground might appear to be a trail leading -in the opposite direction to his line of travel. -He rode much at night, so that I became expert -at picking my way down rock-cluttered -declivities in the blackest of the dark. Once -when he fled before a body of horsemen which -had discovered three calves hogtied in a box -cañon, I managed to distance them. Thereupon -he alighted and muffled my hoofs with -gunny-sacks, that he might follow a stony -creek-bed without sound.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Damn, but you kin climb out when you -want to,” he said grudgingly, when we were -safe at home.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Because I learned quickly and never forgot, -Sloan held his hand from killing me in any of -his outbursts of rage. At least a dozen times -did he tie me fast to a snubbing-post and belabor -my head and neck and ribs with a stout -club, until I grew sick from pain and my glazing -eyes warned him that he had touched the -limit of my endurance. Then he would desist, -for I was of value to him. These fits of -frenzy were occasioned by the most trifling -happenings. Perhaps when he came to drive -in my mother and me, we did not move fast -enough--she was growing very old--or she exhibited -a too great fear. Then he would rope -us and proceed to torture until his temper -waned.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I come now to the time he killed my mother -and I won a brief freedom. The weather had -been murderously hot. From January to July -no drop of rain fell and our hills grew sullenly -naked and brown. Sloan’s spring ceased its -flow. He did not discover that for two days, -being stupefied, and we were terribly wasted -when he turned us out to find water for ourselves.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was no grass. The earth showed -gray as the rocks and as bare, and the rocks -gave back the heat in shimmering waves. -Where the ground had cracked under the sun, -giant fissures gaped for the feet of the unwary. -Five miles from home we saw some -cows stumbling hopelessly out of a cañon and -learned that there, too, the water had failed. -Their dried skins drew tight over their bones -and the panic of desperation glared from their -eyes. One prodded at my mother as we -passed, refusing to give place as cattle do to -horses, then sank weakly to the ground. -Later she stretched out on her side, and we -knew that the end was near.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Turkey buzzards strutted everywhere, -gorged to apathy. They would cluster on a -carcass, unwinking and insolent, and watch us -nosing in quest of a bite to eat. Fires had ravaged -the lower ridges, and trees and brush were -stripped clean. To remain here meant slow -death, and we fared higher.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We met with cattle on the upper slopes, -spent and picking their path with care. A -heifer slipped and rolled downward almost beneath -our feet. There were many orphan -calves, bawling impotently against echoing -cañons’ walls, and carrion-crows hung soundlessly -in flocks, their shadows flitting swiftly -over the earth in front of us. We came on -the body of a horse at a dried waterhole. He -had plunged from a ledge in his exhaustion, to -die helplessly in sight of the place he sought. -Crows had torn out the eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But I would not let my mother become disheartened. -All these creatures were moving -downward, and some propelling force has always -driven me upward in time of stress. So -I led her far among the peaks. It was desolate -enough, of a certainty--so barren that my -poor, tottering mother wanted to go back, -though she knew well that the homeward -stretch was beyond her strength--but I urged -her forward.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We came at last to four peaks, away up in -those mountains, and threading a defile, -emerged into a cuplike draw among them; and -there were mesquite in profusion and many -green things. And more precious than all, a -tiny spring bubbled behind a boulder at the -north end. It would not water more than four -head, but it sufficed, and we tarried on its edge -all of one evening.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For forty days we stayed in our random -home and gained in flesh and in strength. -Then, one hot, sticky evening, great banks of -mist surged upward and massed around our beloved -peaks, and the rain broke from the press -and drenched the hills. We turned our backs -to the driving torrents, clamped our tails and -let the cool water soak into our crackling hides.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>What a difference in the land when the sun -showed again, clear and warm! It was as a -dead thing come to life. Tender shoots thrust -their heads above the hard ground; the trees -stopped their complaints, and nodded and -rustled jauntily to a southwest breeze, for the -sap stirred within them and soon they would -put forth new leaves. A ground squirrel -emerged from a hole, blinked impudently at -us, and then dashed off across the rocks, reckless -from sheer joy of being alive. We sniffed -of the good, fresh wind and headed for the -lower reaches, for there would be rare grazing -now that the rains had washed the valleys. -Thus we came to live close to our old home.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sloan came riding on an October day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Crackee, but you two is fat,” he shouted -gleefully.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He had a new horse, a high, long-backed -sorrel with the legs of a racer. I knew the -breed,--a steel-dust valley horse, built for -speed and helpless as a wagon among our -crags. Sloan drove us in and got down to put -a halter on the mare.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My mother had never concealed her dread -of him. It moved him always to an excess of -fury, but she had learned terror in youth and -it held her through all her years. Now she -snorted, her limbs a-tremble, and drew back. -The sweat stood out on her muzzle and dyed -her neck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What,” Sloan bellowed, “you ol’ she-devil, -you ain’t learned to quit dodging yet? Then, -by God, I’ll learn you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He swung a breast-yoke with all his force, -smashing my mother squarely between the -ears. The mare gave a moan, a long sigh, and -sank slowly to the ground, the eyelids flickering. -I saw her legs stiffen.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He kicked her where she lay and started for -me, but I rushed by him, lashing with my shoeless -heels as I went. They caught him full in -the chest. I can hear yet the grunt he gave -at the impact; then over he went.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He had put up only two bars of the corral -gate. I took them with a rush and headed for -the high hills. Sloan scrambled to his feet, -coughing and swearing, and ran to the sorrel. -In the saddle, he fired twice, but though the -bullets slashed the ground ahead of me, I never -wavered. He let out a shout and spurred -after, making ready his rope as he came. It -made my blood dance to see these futile efforts. -For a valley horse is to a mountain horse as a -house kitten is to a wild-cat. It is true that an -exceptional valley horse, if turned loose in the -hills young enough, may in three years’ time -develop into a fair mountain pony--with good -schooling, that is. Even then he will lack -something of our depth of chest and perfection -of feet. But put a valley horse, green, -in the mountains, and he will stand and shiver -and sweat, not daring to venture. So I was -elated when Sloan came pounding behind, -knowing full well that the sorrel could never -follow where I would lead.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The chase led up a rocky cañon filled with -post-oak, along a mesa, through a gap, skirted -a summit, and dipped downward into another -cañon. Now we were straightened out for my -familiar peaks. Suddenly I became aware that -the pursuers had dropped back, and, easing in -my run, I saw Sloan beating the sorrel over the -head with his rope. He was ever thus, blaming -his mount on the least excuse.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Two days and a night I fled. Of course it -was necessary to pause for a few hours to eat -grass and to drink, but fear of Sloan kept me -moving. I struck south, then westward. -Fences delayed my flight considerably in the -valleys, but I had had experience with them, -and roamed along until I discovered a spot -where the wires were partially down and could -be jumped, or until I found a watergap. I -suppose I covered one hundred and sixty -miles, but not all in a straight line by any -means, and at sundown of the second day I -was in a goodly range of hills. Here I rested.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A band of bronchos wandered into a draw -where I fed that night, and I joined them. -We roved where we willed, and the rain fell -abundantly and the grass was green and plentiful.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Why is it one can never be entirely happy? -If one be breast-high in succulent zacaton, a -fly will mar the feast. I have observed a mare -in a field of alfalfa, neglecting what she could -have without effort, to stretch unavailingly -through the fence after a tuft of tough Johnson-grass; -in fact, I have done that myself. -Here was I with millions of virgin acres in -which to wander; all I could eat; agreeable -companions. Yet I pined to hear a man’s -voice. That sounds inexplicable, but it is the -truth. Even Sloan’s harsh bass tones would -have been welcome, after six months of freedom. -Man’s companionship had been bred in -me, and though his presence might bring terror, -yet I longed for it, and the master-grip -of his hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Winter passed and the long, dry season -opened in a blaze of heat. A horseman bore -down on us one day, from the south, and we -massed swiftly for escape. Within a mile, -two more riders appeared, and my companions -increased their pace to a gallop. Only -I, of all the band, knew what this meant. The -others were bronchos who had never felt the -rope and they ran blindly, ignorant of the cordon -closing in from every direction. But I -was cleverer. Suddenly darting from the -herd, I sped within sixty feet of a cowboy--not -close enough for his loop--and gained the -mouth of a cañon. Up this I spurted, the -rider in hot chase.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>How often are pride and conceit confounded. -The cañon narrowed--narrowed to -sheer walls fifty feet apart--and there ahead -of me, blocking my path, was a cliff of red-streaked -rock. Water trickled down its face. -That much I perceived, and then it rushed -upon me that the race was run. I turned short -about and tried to go by him as I had passed -Sloan, but he threw his rope and caught me -cleanly. Sloan had taught me the lesson of -the rope--taught it in bitter vindictiveness--and -I followed my captor without struggle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Done got a maverick,” he announced, when -he rejoined his comrades.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s been rode before, Chappo,” another -said. “Look at the way he follows. And -there’s been a cinch sore on his left side. -Look.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I cain’t see it,” Chappo said obstinately. -“He’s a maverick, I’m a-telling you. And he’s -my horse, because I done found him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When he had me in the corral at headquarters, -Chappo walked fearlessly to my head. -Of course I began to quiver, for well I knew -what this portended.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You pore son-of-a-gun,” he muttered, and -stopped. “So he done beat you over the -haid?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He scratched my ears and rubbed my head -lightly between the eyes. All the while, he -talked to me in a low tone, with a sort of laugh -behind it. Chappo was a small man, no higher -than a fence post, but there was something in -his touch that made me fear and yet want him -to keep on rubbing. When he attempted to -put the bridle on, I stood rigid, expectant. -Surely the beating would come now. It did -not. Instead, he said, “You ol’ rascal, you,” -and jabbed me in the ribs with his thumb. -Now, here is a curious thing. A man can jab -you with his thumb so that it hurts, and he -can jab you in the same place with the same -force and it will only tickle pleasantly. Everything -depends on the spirit in which it is -done. Chappo’s thumb was very agreeable -and I laid back my ears and pretended to nip -at him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll top you,” he said, “and then I’ll put the -Box C on you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It amused me vastly to hear this mite of a -man tell so confidently how he would ride me, -when even the terrible Sloan could not keep -the saddle at times. Just to scare him, I -bowed my back when he slapped the blanket -on. Then I rolled my eyes backward to note -the effect. He was grinning, actually grinning--and -his hat did not show above my -withers. Next, he threw on the saddle, and -the curve in my spine was unmistakable; but -he merely hummed a tune and began to cinch -me tightly, with careless freedom, just as if -we had been friends all our years. It surprised -me so much that I suffered his impertinence -in quiet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were some cowboys on the fence, -watching.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Want me to ear him, Chappo?” one asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No-oo. Me and him’s friends already. -Ain’t we?” He made me walk a few steps, -still grinning as he inspected the significant -upward tilt of the saddle. “Look at his tail, -boys. We’ll shore have to call him Beaver.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Call him Neutria,” one cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My new master nodded and then stood directly -in front. I tried to look away, but his -eyes drew mine in spite of me, and when he -backed off, I followed, though he exerted no -pressure on the bit. There was nothing hard -and there was nothing mean in those eyes; a -devil lurked in Sloan’s. Chappo’s were clear -and very good-natured, yet oddly compelling.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That’s all right,” he said. “Now we know -each other, me and you, Neutria.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He pulled my head around by the cheek of -the bridle and next moment was atop. I remained -motionless. The grip of his knees was -curiously at variance with his bulk: somehow -that grip raised a doubt in my mind that I -could shed him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Next second I was pitching, more from force -of habit than from any wish to hurt this youth. -What was the matter? No spurs gored my -sides; I felt no sting of quirt. Instead, -Chappo merely swayed in the saddle and he -whooped me on to further effort, hitting my -shoulders gleefully with his hat. This was -too much--a wight of one hundred and twenty -pounds to make game of me! I paused for -breath and to gather strength.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hey, you ain’t quitting?” he inquired. -“Wipe her up, li’l’ feller. Fly at it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>After that it was imperative I should do my -best--Sloan could never have kept his seat -when I let myself loose to his challenge. -Every trick his brutality had taught me I employed, -and only once did Chappo waver. He -was riding on his spurs now, yet he had to grab -desperately for the horn; but he righted himself -with a laugh and renewed his yelling. At -last I was compelled to stop.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You’re shore a dandy, Neutria,” he panted. -“Let’s call it an even break.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That suited me admirably. It would have -been a shame to injure the boy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I never pitched with Chappo again. He -was always kind to me, save once only. That -was when he placed the Box C on my left hip -with a red-hot iron. It pained horribly, but -I realized that all horses had to go through this -ordeal and that Chappo did not mean to be -brutal.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>What times we had that summer and autumn! -It was a year of frequent rains, and -horses and cattle were sleek and fat and rollicking. -Chappo and I would go out from -camp twice each week and prowl the mountains -the livelong day. Perhaps a long-eared calf -would be roused up--he is one that has escaped -branding--and my master would settle himself -and take down his rope even as I flashed -in pursuit, over rocks and brush, down cañons’ -sides, up cliffs, shooting through defiles. It -is something to be a mountain horse, though it -is I who say it; no other horse in the world -could have carried Chappo at full speed where -I carried him after mavericks. And he never -faltered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Wherever you put your doggone feet is -good enough for me, Neutria,” he said once, at -the bottom of a perilous descent.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Chappo was an excellent cowhand, more -skilled than Sloan. He would seldom miss a -throw in the wildest country, and when he had -the calf roped, down he would jump and hogtie -it before one could count thirty. Then I would -fall to grazing while he built a fire, heated his -running-iron and put the company brand on -the captive. There were days when we caught -four or five in this manner. It was glorious -sport.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And then, of course, there was the fall -roundup, when all our riders--twenty-two in -number--swept the range in daily drives. We -collected more than nineteen thousand head of -cattle; some of the long-horned steers Chappo -and I brought in had not set eyes on a man -since they were suckling calves. It was good -to chase these outlaws, they being stout and -hearty on the rope, and it nerved me to see -Chappo’s fearlessness and confidence. He -would tie to one of the big brutes without hesitation, -whatever the nature of the ground, -trusting implicitly to me to throw it. If a -steer had dragged me down, it would have -meant maiming for Chappo and me, so I was -ever on my guard. I always contrived to -throw them, even though some weighed two -hundred pounds heavier than I.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was Chappo’s top horse--that is to say, his -best saddler. Consequently it was me he rode -to town on the rare occasions he could get -there. I took the best of care of him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>On one occasion when he had spent an entire -morning in town visiting various places of -call with friends, Chappo bet fifty dollars I -could throw an enormous bull they had in a -feeding-pen. It was an intensely foolish -wager; besides, he hadn’t the money, and was -earning only forty dollars a month. The sight -of this bull--a Hereford--appalled me for a -moment, for he was a monstrous fellow, -blocky and solid; but Chappo patted my neck -and whispered to me, and when he let his noose -fly, I darted off with taut muscles, unafraid, -yet ready for the tremendous jar that would -come with the tightened rope. What a giant -he was! When he lunged, the girth nearly -cut me in two, and for the fraction of a second -I thought my feet would fly from under me -and that Chappo would be ignominiously prostrated -in the dust. Then, at the critical moment, -we gave him slack, let him run to the -end of it, wheeled like a striking snake, and -with a cunning heave, flopped him ponderously -on the ground. It broke his neck and they -put Chappo in the calaboose. The boss -got him out only after much ceremony and -considerable loose talk and the payment of -moneys.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Chappo dearly loved to go to town. He -was always in excellent humor on these trips -and would attempt feats that reflected more -credit on his stoutness of heart than on his -head. On a night, he tried to make me climb -the steps of the hotel veranda and enter the -bar. Had it been anyone but Chappo, I would -have pitched him off without more ado, such -was the childishness of this display. But because -it was Chappo and I could feel from his -legs that all was not right with him, I meekly -ascended the steps and walked into the bar, -taking heed where I placed my feet. A crowd -of loafers cheered me and filled a large bowl, -that I might drink, but Chappo would have -none of this.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He sang much on the road back to camp. It -was dark as a panther’s lair. Chappo would -hum and drone a few lines, then relapse into -abrupt silences. I kept every sense alert, for -his safety depended on me. Once, when he -sagged in the saddle, I stopped until he got -settled again. After that he rode with firmer -seat, but his good humor seemed to have vanished. -We reached a point where a cow trail, -a mere thread so faint that it was barely discernible, -led off from the main trail.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Here, you,” Chappo said, jerking me -about, “who’s running this show? Hey? -Doggone your fat haid. This is a cut-off.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The trail was new to me, but I took it obediently. -It led in the general direction of -camp, but became vaguer as we proceeded. -Finally it merged into the brown of a hillside.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hell!” Chappo exclaimed. “Where’s that -cussed trail gone to, Neutria? Well, let’s hit -across country, boy. What’s twenty miles between -two of us?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We struck over a hill at a trot. Suddenly -my heart gave a leap and every hair on my -body seemed to tingle. Just in time I sat back -on my haunches. Chappo swore and struck -me sharply with the spur.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What’s the matter with you, you ol’ rascal? -I swan. . . . Seen a skunk?” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I began to shiver, and that sobered him. It -was too dark to make out anything and he -lighted a match. A gulf yawned beneath -us, where the hill dropped away to a jumble -of rocks. Chappo sucked in his breath -and let the match fall. Then he turned me -around.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Neutria,” was all he said, but let his hand -rest for a long minute on my withers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were following the Gap trail on a day in -late autumn when, in rounding a bend, we almost -collided with a rider.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hel-lo,” came in surprised accents. It was -Sloan, on his sorrel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Howdy,” Chappo said. “Nice and cool, -ain’t it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Whose hoss is that?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He’s my horse. Finest cowhorse in these -here mountains.” Chappo would often boast -thus. It was unwise, but it made me very -proud nevertheless.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Huh-huh. And who might you be?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Emp’ror of Rooshia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sure. You might be, but you ain’t. You -got papers for this here hoss?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, I ain’t got no papers for him. Don’t -you see the Box C on him? That’s papers -enough.” Chappo was careless and bold, but -I knew he was anxious.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You got to have papers in Mexico. That’s -my hoss, son.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes?” said Chappo. “Where’s your papers, -then?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I kin prove he’s mine,” Sloan said evenly. -“I’ll be obliged for that hoss, pardner.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My master thought a moment. “What’s -your name?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sloan.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes? I’ve heard of you, Sloan. The -company knows you, too. There ain’t no use -in gitting mad. Let’s talk business.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All right, son. But that’s my hoss and -I’ll be obliged for him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sloan, I’m going to tell you about Neutria -here. I caught him with a bunch of bronchos. -He was a maverick, so I done put my brand -on him. What’ll you take for him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I won’t take nothing.” I recognized that -surly bass growl. He had been drinking.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. To save trouble, -I’ll buy him off’n you. Me and him is friends. -So I’ll give you seventy-five dollars gold for -this here li’l’ horse. That’s a good price, -Sloan. I’ll raise the money in a week.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, you won’t, young feller. You won’t -give me seventy-five dollars, nor you won’t -give me seventy-five thousand dollars. That’s -my hoss. I won’t sell him. Him and me’s -got a li’l’ account to square up, and--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then it’s up to you to prove he’s yours,” -Chappo answered. I scarcely knew his voice, -it had gone so hard and cold.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You don’t believe this hoss is mine?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not me. You rustle calves, Sloan, and--”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I love a thief,” Sloan said, “but I hate a -liar.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>What happened then was beyond my powers -of perception. I felt Chappo reach to his hip. -There was a flash that singed my face, and -Sloan sat his sorrel with a smoking six-shooter -in his hand. My master tumbled sideways, -twisting the saddle as he fell, and struck the -ground on his shoulders.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Don’t shoot, Sloan,” he begged, “I ain’t -got my gun. You’ve done for me anyway. -Don’t.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But Sloan slued his horse that he might obtain -a clear shot, and pulled twice on him with -deliberate aim.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now,” he cried clutching my reins, “now -I’ll settle with you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I reared straight up and plunged forward at -him. The headstall snapped and the bit -dropped from my mouth. With the smack of -my shod hoofs on his flank, the sorrel began to -pitch, and Sloan dropped his gun.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With that I ran--ran as I had never run before -in my life. When utterly worn out, I -slowed to a walk and endeavored to rid myself -of the saddle, which galled me badly. For a -long time it resisted every effort, but I did not -despair. Chappo’s fall had turned it underneath -my belly and there it was in reach of my -hind feet. Before dawn I had kicked and torn -the thing from my sides, and was free and unencumbered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Why tell of my frantic wanderings during -the next two days? The spot where my master -had fallen drew me irresistibly. I could not -leave; but I feared Sloan more than ever and -spent the hours in cautious circlings of the vicinity -of the Gap. At last I could bear it no -longer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The moon was shining as I lightly trod the -Gap trail. Going warily as a coyote, I was -brought to a standstill by a strong taint. I -sniffed and was fearfully expectant, but still -advanced. Something was swinging from -the lowest limb of an elm. A rope creaked -mournfully to the swinging. I snorted and -made a circuit of the thing, approaching gingerly. -A gust of wind turned the object, so -that the moon lighted its every line.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was Sloan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A hundred yards beyond, I came on a small -pile of rocks. They had laid Chappo where -he fell. Above the rocks was a rude cross, -fashioned of mesquite boughs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I am a free rover now. Sometimes I run -with the wild horses. Again I go off for solitary -pilgrimages into the mountain fastnesses.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Often I steal back at night to the Gap trail. -And there, beside the pile of stones and the -cross, I whinny--whinny again. But Chappo -never answers.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:2em;'>THE END</p> - -<hr class='tbk103'/> - -<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:1.1em;font-weight:bold;'>Transcriber’s Notes:</p> - -<p class='noindent'>Archaic spellings -and hyphenation have been retained. Inconsistencies in hyphenation -have been retained. Obvious typesetting errors have been corrected -without note.</p> - -<p class='line'> </p> - -<p class='noindent'>[End of <span class='it'>The Untamed</span>, by George Pattullo]</p> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Untamed, by George Pattullo - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNTAMED *** - -***** This file should be named 63307-h.htm or 63307-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/3/0/63307/ - -Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed -Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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