,-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