Litchfield enquirer., 1872-02-29

the sacred quest, the doughty deeds. the
 battery of low churls, the fearsome ride and grewsome perils of the Flower of
 Simpsons Bar! Alack she is dainty. this Musei She will have none of this bucking brute and swaggering, ragged | rider, and must fain follow him in prose, | afooti
 It was one o'clock, and yet he had only
 gained Rattlesnake Hill For in that time
 Joyita had rehearsed to him all her im- perfections and practised all her vices.
 Thrice had she stumbled. Twice had she
 thrown up her Roman nose in straight
 line with the reins, and, resisting bit and spur, struck ont madly across country. Twice had she reared, and rearing fallen
 backward; and twice had tic agile Dick, un- l harmed, regained his seat before she l found her vicious legs again. And mile
 beyond them, at the foot of a long hill, 1 was Rattlesnake Creek Dick knew that here was the crucial test of his ability to perform his enterprise, set his teeth grim 1 ly, put his knees well into her Hanks, and changed his defensive tactics to brisk ag- gression. Bullied and maddened, Jovita began the descent of the hill. Here the l artful Richard pretended to hold her in 1 with ostentacious objurgation and we'll l feigned cries of alarm. It is unnecessary to add that Jovita instantly ran away
 Nor need state the time made in the de- scent it is written in the chronicles of Simpsons Bar. Enough that in another moment, as it seemed to Dick, she was 1 splashing on the overfowed banks of
 Rattesnake Greek. As Dick expected, the momentum she had acquired carried
 her beyond the point of baking, and
 holding her well together for mighty leap, they dashed into the swiftly flowing current. A few moments of kicking, wad- ing, and swimming, and Dick drew long
 breath on the opposite bank.
 The road from Rattlesnake Creek to Red Mountain was tolerably level. Ei- ther the plunge in Rattlesnake Greek had dampened her baleful fire, or the art which led to it had shown her the superi- or wickedness of her rider, for Jovita no longer wasted her surplus energy in want on conceits. Once she bucked, but it was from force of habit once she shied, but 1t was from a new freshly painted westinghouse at the crossing of the coun- ty road. Follows, ditches, gravelly de- posits, patches of freshly springing grasses flew from beneath her rattling hoofs. She began to smell unpleasantiy, once ortwice she coughed slightly, but there was no O two o'clock he had passed Red Mountain and begun the descent to the plain. Ten minutes later the driver of the fast Pio- neer coach was overtaking and passed by "man on a Pinto hoss" event sufi- gently notable for remark. At half past two Dick rose in his stirrups with great shout. Stars were glittering through the rifted clouds and beyond him, out of the plain, rose two spires, flagstaff and struggling line of black objects. Dick jingled his spurs and swung his riato. Jovita bounded forward, and in an anoth- CT moment they swept into Tuttleville and drew up before the wooden piazza of ''The Hotel of All Nations
 What transpired that night at Futile vile is not strictly part of this record. Briefly may state, however, that after Jovita had been handed over to a sleepy hostler, whom she at once kicked into un- pleasant consciousness, Dick sallied out isR igs Saloons sad gssma6lB5nfa,se sa6l5n but, avoiding these. they stopped before sev- eral closed shops, and by constant tap ping and judicious outcry reused the pro prietors from their beds and made them unbar the doors of their magazines and expose their wares. Sometimes they were met by curses, but oftener by interest and some concern ill their needs, and the in- terview was invariably concluded by drink. It was three o'clock before this pleasantly was given over, and with small waterproof bag of india-rubber strap ped on his shoulders Dick returned to the hotel. But here he was waylaid by Beau ty,-Beauty opulent in charms, af1uent in dress, persuasive in speech, and Spanish in accent In vain she repeated the in- vitation in Excelsior, happily scorned by all Alpine-climbing youth, and rejected by this child of Sierras, "a rejection soft. ened in this instance by laugh and his last gold coin. And when he sprang to the saddle and dashed down the lonely street and out into the lonelier plain, where presently the lights, the black line of houses, the spires, and the flagstaff sank into the earth behind him again and were lost in the distance.
 The storm had cleared away, the air was brisk and cold, the outlines of adjacent landmarks were distinct, but it was half past four before Dick reached the meet ing-house and the crossing of the county road. To avoid the rising grade he had taken longer and more circuitous road, in whose vicid mud Iovita sank fetlock deep at every bound. It was a poor preparation for steady ascent of five miles more {; but Jovita, gathering her legs under her, took it with her usual blind, unreasoning fury, and half-hour later reached the long level that led to Rattlesnake Creek. Another half-hour the reins lightly gpQn the neck of the mare, chirped to her aud began to sing. Suddenly Jovita shied with a bound that would have unseated less practised rider. Hanging to her rein was figure that had 1eaped from the bank, and at the time from the road before her rose shad- owy horse and rider 'sThrow up your hands, commanded the apparition, with an oath.
 | Dick felt the mare tremble, quiver, and apparently sink under him. He knew what it meant and was prepared.
 Stand aside, Jack Simpson, l know you, you d-.d thief, Let me past or" He'did not finish the sentence. Joyita rose straight in the air with terrific bound, l throwing the figure from her bit with a single shake of her vicious head, and charged with deadly malevolence down 1 on the impeachment before her. An oath, l a pistol shot, horse and hghwayman roll ed over in the road, and the next moment
 Jovita was 8 hundred yards away. Bnt
 the good right arm of her rider, shattered
 by bullet, dropped helplessly at his side. Without slackening his speed he shifted
 the reins to his left hand, But a few mo l ments later he was obliged to halt and tighten the saddle-girths that had slipped l in the onset. This in his crippled condi-
 tion took some time. He had no fear of
 pursuit, but looking up he saw that the
 eastern stars were already paling, and that | the distant peaks had lost their ghostly wilderness, and now stood out blackly
 against lighter sky. Day was ppon him.
 Then completely abaorbed in . single 1 idea he forgot the pain of his wound, and mounting again dashed on toward Rattle snake Greek. But now Jovita's breath
 came broken by gasps, Dick reeled in his
 saddle, and brighter and brighter grew the sky.
 Ride, Richard; run, Jovita; inges o l-wH 255