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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1906)
,-mm-ne P TJtUS SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, JASOJABY 21, 1906. 45 &Jk STORy OF THE MONTANA. RAjVGE VBY HUGH HERDMAN-r ' OUTSIDE the wind shrieked with fury. It swept across the Montana prairie like a maddened beast, and vented Its rage upon whatever opposed Its prog ress. At times It would stop short and, like a cougar crouching for a spring, seem to gather- Its strength. Then it would burst forth with redoubled force and roar. The rain that It drove before It struck like ice. Man or beast could scarcely face it. Keeping night herd in such a storm was a horculcan task, but since we were miles from any permanent corral, and since no rope corral would hold the bunch from drifting with the storm, the effort had to be made. Riding baclt and forth in front of the herd and keeping them from drifting too rapidly, and then, dur ing brief lulls in the storm, making fran tic exertions to drive them back toward camp, was all that could be done. An hour of tills sort of work all but ex hausted both horse and riders honcc the resort to one-hour instead of the usual two-hour shifts. The storm had struck us in mid-afternoon, while the clrclers were out round ing up, and had driven them straggling into camp, cold and wet all but hard working, taciturn, old Bill Emmons. Night came on, supper was caten but Bill did not appear. As we sat in the tent and listened to the wind roaring and the rain beating against our frail shelter, we kept wondering aloud about what had happened to him. Perhaps ho had lost his bearings; perhaps Ills horse had slipped or had stepped Into a prairie dog hole and had fallen on him and brok en his " leg; perhaps a score of other things had happened to him. As I crawled under the flap of the tent after an hour on herd and shed my slicker and chaps, I heard the same anxious remark I had heard an hour earlier, "I wonder what's happened to Bill." "Look here,' exclaimed Dick. "I want you fellers to shut up 3our wo'nderin' where Bill is and what's happened to Bill, and all that rot. There ain't nothin happened to him.. He's all right, wherever he is, and sometime between now and ' midnight he'll come ridln into camp. You mark my word. And he'll bring a bunch of horses with him, too. Don't you for got that." "I ain't so sure "bout that," George remarked. "Well, I am," Dick replied. "If he didn't have horses, he'd have been here long ago. And, bavin horses, he's goin to fetch them In or die, and it'll take a worse night than this to kill him. I've knowod Bill 25 years, and I never knowed him to .die yet or to quit a job he'd undertook. Let me tell you 'bout him. "In the early days when there wasn't a great lot of white men in this country, the cowboys used to have a lot harder time of it than they do now. The fact is, the real cowboy is 'bout gone out of existence. Nowdays any feller that can get together a pair of chaps, a rope, a pair of spurs and a sombrero thinks he's a cowboy, and -says so; and nobody j disputes him. But in those days, ho had I to earn his right to even -think that. ! It meant mighty hard work, mighty hard ridln', and mighty straight shootin' lo turn the trick then. But most of all, it meant a mighty cool head and a mighty steady nerve. And Bill had era, and he ain't outgrowed 'em, cither. "But just to show you, 111 tell you what happened to him. and a partner of his once. They and two other cowboys were comin up the trail late one Fall after the round-up with a big. bunch of cattle. They knowed they were liable to got caught in a nor'-wester and were pushin' the bunch as fast as they could. 'Courso that made the cattle some nerv ous, but they were holdin them all right iljl one night a storm blowed up. For hours they rode 'round and 'round that herd, slngin' to 'cm and cussin' em till they were hoarse. They got ncrvouser and ncrvouser, however, and finally they stampeded. Well, when a herd stam pedes there ain't nothin to do but ride like h 1 and yell and shoot and try to turn "cm little by little till you get 'em to mlllin 'round in a circle. So away went the herd, and .the boys after them. Mile after mile they rode on the flanks of that wild-eyed herd, crowdin closer and closer against the leaders and tryin' to turn them. The night was black dark, and they had to trust to their horses not to fall. They knowed that once down they didn't have one chance in a hun dred of coming out alive. But they were there to hold that herd, and they were goin to try to do IL "All four of them were ridln' up near the head of the bunch, 'bout seventy-five or a hundred yards apart. Bill was In the lead, ridin closer In than any of the others. All at once his horse went down and the herd passed over him. The next minute the second man, and then the third and the fourth went down. The herd swerved to one side, swept on and run till they run themselves out. "A deep washout was what sent them down, one of these that begin sudden and deep without any little ditches lead in' up to a big one. Bill, us I said, was ridln' in close to the leaders of the herd, and when his horse struck the washout, 'course he went down into It. But he struck it just near the end, and that's what saved his life. He fell with h'is horse half on top of him. The lead steers saw him fall and swerved a little before they camo to the washout. But a few of them' did go in. and it's -the greatest wonder imthe world they didn't land on top of BI1L But they didn't. The other threo fellers were ridin farther out, and where they struck the washout it was wider and deper, and they got worse falls. "Well, Bill was hurt pretty bad. Ho laid there a long time, and when ho- come to it was daylight. His horse had Its head doubled under it, and its neck was broke. After workln a long time and falntin' once or twice from pain, Bill managed to get himself free of the horse. Something was wrong with his side, for every time he breathed It felt like a knife was bcin run through him, and he couldn't hardly move without yellin. It didn't take him long to figure out that his ribs were caved -in, nor long to de cide what to do. Takln' down his rope and rollin up his shirt, he wrapped that rope as tight as he could 'round abd 'round his body; so tight ho couldn't hardly breathe. "Then he went down tho w&skout te where lie saw the sther horsee, -for he 3eTmSSEl&Is lesr sSas!aCtt.-.-r- Ml" ''i 1 i ' i n n I i I n inn ii mi i knowed what had happened to the other follows. He knowed he was mighty lucky to get off with only jiomc broken Slats, and expected to find the others dead. And two of them was dead, stone dead, with their horses layln across them. The other one was just barely brcathln yet'. He had his reins still in his hand, and his horse was standln on three logs over him. Bill set to work to fetch him to, but it was slow work. But ho didn't give up, not Bill, for he ain't built that way. After a while the feller opened his eyes, and Bill brought him 'round to what had happened.' "After the feller got strongor. Bill went to feolin' to find out where he was hurt. And while lie triod to bo easy and not hurt much, ho felt like a two-year-old steer walkin over a fel ler." "Aw," exclaimed Hon, "you're string in' us! How do you know all this, when Bill and the other feller was the only ones there except the dead men?" "Well." roplled Dick, hesitating; "I might as well tell you. I Intended to keop that til the end, but you've called me and Til show down. I was the other feller. That's how I know. So Bill went to punchin and pokln' round all over me, and me a-gruntln' and groanin' like Sam Mill all the time, and callin' him everything I could think of. But he didn't say nothin. only cussin kind of soft and mad to himself. Finally he sets down facin me and looks at me hard and puzzled like. "'Am I hurt much. Bill 7 I asks. "'No, not mucli. Only your log's broke, your shoulder's out of Joint, and your head'ss cut open like an Ind'un had been tryin to scalp you. No, I ain't worryin none about your hurts. I'm just thlnkin how I'm goin to set you to Medora. You can't walk: that horse lfoks like he's clean gone in the leg, and I can't carry you that far.' "I felt liko I wanted to die, anyhow, so I says: 'Well, you just go ahead. Bill, and leave me here, and when you get in send some of the boys back for sic.' "'You go to hell." he says, 'if you think I'm goin' to leave you hore for Injuns or wolves. Iv,e rode these plains too long for that ' "Pretty soon he got up, took out his knife, and began cuttln a lot of sage brush. He whittled them down as straight as he could. Then he went and got the ropes off the saddle on the dead horses. "'Now. Dick. he says, i reckon I'll hurt you some, but you just laj' as still as you can, 'cause I've got to put some splints on "this oft .hind leg of yors. "With that he grabbed a-hold of me. Suffcrin Mike! but it did hurt. You see, I'd lain there all night with my. leg doubled under me, and had got stiff. I let out a yell like a Sioux In jun and began to cuss. "'That's right, Dick, old boy, ho says, 'cuss me just as much as you please. It'll do you good and it won't hurt me none. You see, bein' a doctor and havin' so much of this to do, I take so much pleasure in my work I don't mind what my patients say. Of course, if you'd rather. I'll cut your leg.off and nail a wooden one on, but that wouldn't be half so much fun for me. Steady there. Whoa! Dick. Hurts like hell, don't it? Just a. minute more now. and Til have o'ou hobbled good and tight. There, now. Let her down easy. "All of a sudden he turned white as a ghost and set down quick, with his hand on his side. 'What's the matter-" I asked. "Oh. nothin", he says, tryin' to smile. 'My heart aint none to good, and havin to hurt you that way made mo a lljttle faint.-that's all. ril be all Tight in a minute. "After a little while he got up and began to set my shoulder. I was pretty powerful, and though I tried not to resist him. ray muscles would set against him, and he had to pull every pound there was in hlra. Finally, he gavf a big jerk, and she slipped Into place with a big 'cluck.' And Bill fell ever In a dead faint. He laid there as white as death, and T wass go weak: I couldn't move to help hist. . jws-t ALL I laid there and called 'Bill! Bill! Oh, Bill!' till after what seemed an hour to mc he opened his eyes, stared round for a minute, and then slowly sat up. "What's the matter. Bill? I asks. "'Oh, nothin', he says, 'l guess 3 must have fainted from Joy over tho success of that operation. I guess you haven't run away on that leg yet.' -Alter ne had set there a few minutes he got up and said that if I'd excuse him he would turn veterinary for a while. He examined my horse and found that he had busted a tendon, but that except for a few scratches he wasn't hurt otherwise. Aftor cutting a piece off my saddle blan ket, he wrapped that round the horse's leg and then wound the other rope round and round thai, making -a. bandage so. tight that the horse couldn't move tho joint. When he had done that he went to work to get the bodies of our pardners free of their horses. He oped away the sand and pulled them out. Then, layln them close together and coverln them with their saddle blankets, he piled sand on top of them tMl he had them welf covered, so that the wolves wouldn't get at them right away. " 'Now. Dick,' he says, after he'd got done with that job..If you're ready we'll hit the trail for Medora. . " 'How? I asks. " 'Ob. we'll manage that all right.' he says. 'You're gcj!n to ride and I'm goin' to walk. ' 'How am I goin' to ride.' I asks, 'when I can't get on the horse? " 'Can't get on the horse? he says. 'How do you know you can't?.' ' " I know by the way I fecL If I move that leg It'll kill me.' " 'That so? Well. 111 move it for you. and I'll bet my dead horse against your three-legged one that it won't kill me.' " 'Bill,' I says. 'I'd almost rather stay here and die than try to get on that bore.' "Then Bill gave up trying. Ho seemed to lof-e hope. He just set down and looked at me sorrowful-like and kept Ehakln his head. 'Poor old Dick.' he says aloud to himself. ."I never thought It of him. I never thought I'd live to Bee the aay that I could call him a quit ter. Just to think of all the tight places he's been through without a whimper, and then to see him, now that he's got scratched up a little, lay down and whine like a sick pup. He's worse than any tenderfoot I ever saw. But I guess ho can't help it. He's lost a lot of blood, and he's had a lot of pain; so I-reckon he's lost his nerve complete.' " 'You're a damned liar! I says, get tin mad. 'You never saw the day that 1 couldn't and wouldn't do anything you could. I've got more "nerve than you ever dreamed of havin.' " 'You used to have a lot. I know. Dick,' ho says, 'but I reckon you got a little scared in tliat stampede last night.' " 'I wasn't no more scared than you were, I says. 'And I've got Just as much nerve as I ever had. Ant just to show you, I'll walk to Medora on one leg.' And I started to get up. The first move brought a yell to my lips, but I bit 'em hard and wouldn't let It through. I managed to stand up, but I had to lean against the bank to keep from yellin, 'cause my head was splnnln round like an Injun snake dance, and I felt power ful tottery. "Bill, be goes and leads the horse up. close to me. At first I wouldn't let him help mc. but It all hurt so that pretty ooon he did It without me knowin he was doln' it I can't tell you how I ever got on that horse. Bill must have almost lifted me on, and I wasn't no feather weight then, either. But between us I got there somehow. " 'Preachers and Sunday school teach ers can talk all they want 'bout how a feller mustn't gat mad Bill says to me, after I was In the saddle, but I Just want to remark tj you. Dick, that It docs a heap ot good some times. "Then we started for Medora. Bill leadln' the horse and me ridln'. We went down the washout till we struck a gully leadin in from the side, and took up that, and finally worked our way out. Wc found, as soon as -we got out from the protection of the wash out, that the wind was still Wowln" hard and eels f rem" the nor' west. ,It went right thre-ugtt me, and the click ers Out Mil had wmed 'rennd 'me CAN KEMKMBER WAS THE SNOW BLOWIN' didn't seem to do much good. But wc went ahead, the horse llmpin' pretty- bad and every step scndln' pain through leg and shoulder. "It was a long trail we haJ ahead of us. Wo didn't have nothin' to eat. The only thing we hud was our smok in tobacco: so we chewed that. We plodded along hour after hour, hopln' fe might meet someono on the trail, Hut not n s,en ot --nyont- d-d we see. "Long 'bout three o'clock in the after noon the wind died down a little, and pretty soon it began to snow. By this time I was almost out of my head. All I can remember was the snow ulowin in my face and fcelin kind of cool and refresh-In. I can remember, too, hearin Bill talkln' to me, but I don't know much of what he said. One thing that he said struck the right spot and stayed in my mind. "'Dick he says, his voice soundin' faint and far away. 'Just think what a good time we'll have when we pull Into Arkansaws place! Just think of the big room with the tables and chairs all 'round and the big stove in the mid Nature Stories .i . ouuu-y ai-cmoon m aummer a ana uie uia prospector -sat on a pile of rock beside his open cut and smoked his Missouri Meerschaum., regarding me meditatively as the smoke curled upward in the quiet air. I had been requesting him to tell me some of his experiences with Nature, and after going Into the silence for about 25 minutes, he proceeded. The Dog-Prospector. a BOUT the smartest dog that I ever saw was one a brother-in-law of mine once owned. That dog was almost Intel ligent enough to vote at a primary elec tion with a dosen candidates on the bal lot. It was down In Shasta County, Cali fornia, where I was working on a lead that I thought was going to put me on Easy Street that I noticed this dog. You see my brother-in-law rah a miner's supply store and also had the pbstoftlcc. Thus it came about thatthe miners for 29 miles around made his store a sort of general headquarters. Sunday was the great day with them. They would lay oft work and come In to buy their bacon and beans, get a new pick or shovel and their batch of newspaper mall. Miners as a class are so much alone that they appreciate an opportunity to be sociable, and so they would gather around the- store stove or dut pn the front platform and swap yarns about their prospects. Every true-born prospector is always on the verge of striking it rich. I have had the symptoms several times myself, and he always carries -evidence of this around in his peckct in the shape of specimens of ore which he Is anxious to show on every occasion. When they all got together this way there was a general exchange of speci men's. One miner would say: "Look at this sample I toek out of the face of my tunnel yesterday. I bet that will go $tt to the ton." The reck "would then be handed from one to the other and the gristed miners wo 14 fish around in their vest pockets for their magnifying glasses and proceed to- scrutinize the reck from all poMlble viewpoints. Another miner wcifld get out his sample and proceed to tcfi how he intended to put up an arras tre as soon as he got the vein opened up a little deeper. That h)6 rock was all free mil ling and wutd pay from the grass roots. Then his sample wopkl go the round. Tims It went e all day. Now the dog I started in to tell you about was a Daschhund andfused to lie around the store & good deal. First thing we knew, she got to vofog eut on the hillside and. picking up some reck, wnutd come trotting back to the store with it in her movtlu Then site weald go up to seme miner and held It eut to Mr. ' If he teek It ad leeked it ever and talked M her, s wiH stand jtaawg at hf IX MY FACE." dle of tho room, rcdhot and' sendln out heat -for a mile. I can almost f ed it now, can't you? And tho bar 'long the aide. Dick. You know how that looks, with the glasses and bottles all settin out waitin for us. And think of the good time the boys arc havin playln draw and straight poker and twerity-onc. And then thipk pf how much better time they'll, have after we get there. Dick, and have had livo or six drinks for an appetizer. And what will you havo for supper, Dick? We've got three months' wages comin to .us. you know, and we .can afford to havo ono .pretty good feed, anyhow. Hoy would about 16 dozen eggs and a Whole ham apiece strike you?' "Well, boys, I want "to tell you that It struck me right in the middle. Somehow. I got those eggs and hams fixed In my mind, and I don't remem ber what else Bill said. I quit listen In right there. The next thing I knowed was when 1 'woke up in a bunk in the backroom of Arkunsaws saloon. How I got there or how long I'd been there I didn't know. But I did know that something was hurtin of the Old Prospector, by Marcus W. Robbins wiin a pleased expression, wagging her tail the while. When you handed It back to her, .she would take It up to another miner and apparently expect him to go through the usual rigmarole. As long as she could get any one to pay attention to her, she would go out and bring In rocks for them to look ih. If this was not a truthful yarn, I would tell how she once brought In a piece of float that had specks of gold all over It and that it stirred us up so that we got out and found the rich ledge from which it had been broken. But she didn't, and only made trouble by th stones she dropped around the place, but It certalnly all went to show wonderful powers of observation and Imitation on the part of the cog. The Intelligent Lizard.- THE funniest thing that ever happened to me, though it really happened to a lizard, occurred last Summer a year ago, when I was working a prospect over on Steamboat Creek. My partner and I had struck something that looked pretty good, and we were working It for all there was In us. It was nearly at .the top of a high, bald hill, and as It wajj so far from our camp on the creek, we al ways took our dinner with ua when we went up for our day's work. As you know. Southern Oregon is full of little gray lizards, and they especially dote on staying on the sunny side of the mountains. We always ate our dinner In the same spot, and one of these gray lizards got to coming out at our dinner hour from under the fiat rock where he made his home and snapping up the files that gathered, around the crumbs. He got so tame that he would Vunover our shoes and was not alarmed If we moved around. J bui woiua sir; mouoniess ror minutes at a time. One day we had some fruit with our lunch, and this sweetness attracted a yel' low-Jacket from a neighboring nest. Mr. Lizard was undoubtedly weak on bug ology. for when Mr. Yellow-Jacket fcuzzed. too close to him. snap went the long tongue and Mr. Yellow-Jacket had dis appeared into the stomach of Mr. Lizard. For a second everything was qalet. and then suddenly Mr. Lizard began to tarn double hand-springa, stand on his head and run around "In circles. The yellow Jacket wa undoubtedly protesting to the best of his ability with the means at his command. The expression on that lizard's face and the way he twisted' his mouth reminded one of a life ineuranee presi dent after a, severe croes-examlnntien. It carried rather an air ef injured innocence. My partner and I laughed till we cried over the mistake of the poor lizard, and eoncludd that it would he & eoM day be fore he tackled yettew-Jackets again. However, the next day Mr. Ltserd snowed up at neev oalm and nexene. my leg, and. I saw they had rigged up a block and tackle and tied one end of the rope to my foot and the other end to a. big rock. I though at first that I'd got full and some of the boys had played a Joke on. me. Then I begun to remember 'bout the stampedo and 'bout me and Bill and my three-legged horse. But I couldn't remember get tin to Arkansaw'a "'Hey, Arkansaw! 1 yollsj 'Arkan aw, you rcdnosed booze-slingcr, come In here. " Hello, Dick Arkansaw drawls, com in slow. 'How do you feel? What do you want? ' 'Never you mind how I feel. Just give me that knife of yours for a minute while I unhobble myself. That rock's hurtin my leg like the devil.' " 'Now, Dick, you musn't tech that.' he says. "'Well, I wilt touch it.' I says. 'Didn't Bill tell you my leg was broke?' " 'Ya-as. 'Well, what In the name of Sittin' Bull do you want to tic a rock onto It for, then? If you wanted to have some fun. Swhy didn't you get hold of somebody that J and looked as though he was at peace with all the world. He snapped up sev eral flies, blinking his eyes with satis faction, when a yellow-Jacket again ap peared on the scene. This did not s?eem to disturb Mr. Lizard, but he continued to watch Mr. Yellow-Jacket carefully and with a good deal of Interest, and when he lit on a crumb close by, here Ig where the intelligent part comes in, grabbed him In his mouth and vindictively pro ceeded -to rub Mr. Yellow-Jackcfs busi ness end In the sand until he had dulled the point of the sting, when he swallowed him easily. No bad effects seemed to follow and he acted as though he was accustomed to be served with yellow jackets and rub off their stings every day In the year. A Concatinatcd Hoo Hoo Tale. I HAVE been mixed up with cats sev eral times in my life. I remember one black old Tom especially. One season I had a lease on a. placer mine on Whisky Creek. It has always been a conundrum to me why this was called Whisky Creek, for It was 3) miles to the nearest saloon, and the trail leading out was the mdst Infernal-ono that a burro ever packed a cook stove over. So It must have got Its name from the scarcity of the article. However, that Is neither here nor there. My wife was with mc then to cook. as x nau uiree or iour men wonting about all the time. A couple of them piping nights while I helped pipe dur ing he day, and the way we tore Into thai gravel bank w.as a caution. Tills cat I started to tell you about came to U3 in the Spring and was great company for my wife. But he devel oped a. horrible habit. Hardly a week passed that he did not bring a big rattlesnake into the cabin. The snakes were always dead and he did not eat them, but it made my wife nervous and it bothered me considerably to fig ure out where he got all his dead. Snakes, xou would see him coming down the trail, high stepping and dragging a three-foot snake and look ing as proud as Cuffy. One morning as JJ was getting ready to go to work I noticed Master Tom up on a ledge of rock of our cabin walking 'round and 'round In a circle. This excited ray curiosity ' and after much labor and scrambling I got up on a level where I could observe the proceedings. Here It was all plain the black cat had corral ed a biz rat tlesnake and was slowly circling him. keeping" his eye on the snake all the-T time. The snake was coiled ub with head upraised, watching the cat as he slowly circled him, and I could see the snake's tense pesitie . ready to pcg at the trat opportunity. Bat the. eat kaet hie distance apparently " 'Now, Dick, he drawls, 'don't git ex cited. That's to keep your leg from bcin shorter than the other when it gits well. Want anything?' " 'Yes. I want agalIon of whisky, six teen dozen eggs and a whole ham. Order 'em quick and come back here. "Arkansaw goes out, and I heard him tellln the chink to cook me some 'ham and. Pretty soon he saunters back. " 'Where's Bill? I asks. ' 'Over yander,' he says. ' " 'Over where? I asks. " 'In that bunk. " 'What doln'? Sleepln?' " Ya-as, been sleepln IS hours. Ever since he saw tho boys fetch you In and found out you was all right. " The boys brought me in? Didn't Bill and I como In together?' " 'Wa-al, I reckon not. He left you back on the trail 'bout 32 mile and walked In, and the boys went back fer you. " "Then Arkansaw told mo how Bill had come staggerin Into the saloon, near dead, and told them whero to find me. The horse had give clean out and couldn't go another step. Bill had let me down on the ground. Then he shot the horse, and puttln njc close up to tho horse's belly and coverin me with the blanket and slickers and heapin snow on top of us both, he bad walked on to Medora. He wanted to go back with the boys, but they wouldn'jt let him. And he wouldn't go to bed or do nothin' till they got back with me and he found I wasn't dead. Then he keeled over. " 'Ana jest to think,' Arkansaw said. 'Bill went and done all that with four of his slats busted! " 'What?' I yelled. 'Bill hurt, too, and he doin all that work and not tellln me?' ".'Course ho didn't tell you. He didn't tell us neither. And we wouldn't havo knowed it neither if we hadn't have took his wet clothes off and saw that ropo wound round him, and every bit of skin from his waist to his arms rubbed clean off. And, what's more. I'm kind of ex pectin that when he wakes up and learns that we've found It out he'll be some mad.' "And he was. He cussed worse than Foul-Mouth Bill did when he set down on the fly-paper in the saloon at Dickinson. "3o that's the reason, boys. I say, you needn't worry nono 'bout Bill bein out In a little April shower like this." During Dick's recital, the wind had gradually died down, "and the rain had almost ceased. Only fitful gusts of wind and occasional dashes of rain came is reminders of the storm. Presently our attention was caught by the sound of horses galloping toward U3. The next instant, as wo went hurrying from the tent. Bill came rushing up to the very tent door, set his horse back on his haunches and swung himself out of the saddle. "How many, Bill?" Dick asked. "Eight, and a sucklln'." Bill answered. "Hen, you throw 'cm into the herd, will you?" Dick said, "and spell George a while." Bill unsaddled his horse, threw the ."ad dle on tho ground, covered It carefully with his slicker, and! shuffled into tha tent. We expected an explanation, but he seemed to think none necessary. "Pretty wet. Bill, today," one of tha. younger fellows suggested. "Ah, not much," he replied Indifferent ly. "Pretty; windy and cold, too." "Not very. Got any chuck. Gunny?". "Not much.' Gunny replied In the same manner. "Wonder you wouldn't come to your meals on time," he squeaked, as he set out enough provender for three men. "Rode my horse down. Picked up old Lone Wolf over on Beaver Crick, roped him and rodo him, but had to go slow 'count of my horse and! the sucklln'." "Why," -exclaimed Lcppy, "Beaver Crick's 40 mile and more from here! And you rode from there in the face of this storm?" Bill was busy with bacon and potatoes and deigned no reply. x "This wasn't nothin like the storm you and I went through once, eh, Bill?" .Dick asked. Bill looked up quickly and scowled hard at Dick. Then seeing the admiration that shone in our eyes, he gulped down a mouthful of potato, and said feelingly: "Dick Morrison, for a man that weighs as much as you do, you're the littlest sun-of-a-gun I ever seen." unconcerned, yet all the while stick ing to his circle, and In a few minutes in apparent disgust the snake relaxed, dropping his head had started to crawl away. This wa3 what tha cat had been waiting for, and with a quickness that was surprising he pounced on the snake, and with one bite at the base of the head ended the affair and started for the trail with another three-foot snake. This solved the mystery as to where the snakes had been coming from, but sdon after this the bank caved in oc poor Tom and he went the trail to th Happy Hunting Grounds. MAT.CUS W. BOBBINS. Grant's Pass. Or. Automobile Doa'ts. Outing Magazine. Don't allow your chauffeur to drink liquor while in charge of your car. IS running your own car, avoid rum your self v Don't run on the wrong side of the road except at narrow. Intersecting streets. Don't try to. see how close ydu can run, to pedestrians. Give them even more room than they require. Many walker have heart trouble. Don't take any kind of turn or curve at 20 miles an hour: better go four mile and be able to do it again. Don't? put oil on your registration num ber and throw dust on It. An honest mac. isn't afraid of Identification. Don't toot your horn In passing horses unless approaching from behind, and then not unless absolutely necessary. There still are some spirited animals. Don't blow your Gabriel horn continual ly in a city street. A little of It Is music; too much Is a disagreeable, irritat, Ing racket. Don't forget to light your lamps one hour before sunset; then you will hav more chance than the wagon ahead with out lightsand be withjn the law. Don't grab at tho things that concern the chauffeur, and don't take a passenget again who has grabbed once if you evet, are able to go out again. Don't run away after running down any body; you'll stand a better chance if you stay. Don't ever act like anything but an ia- telllgent gentleman. It Was Gulls Iiunch Day. Exchange. Seagulls invadeda. boatful of- herriKT an the British Columbia coast while. the !un fishermen were away. When the fisher-3 " men returned, 99 of the gulls had ea ten se much, that they could not fly wsr" The nehermea. Mf ted them into the water? and the gulls iust managed, to swim t&l the sttere, wnere they iy dewm. to re- - leever frem. their (Manor. mm
