The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1872-03-07

ledge in the road, clatter in the rocky
cut beyond, and Dick was gone.
# .
Bullen Sing, o Muse, of chivalrous
men the sacred quest, the doughty
deeds, the battery of low churls, the
fearsome ride and grewsome perils of the
Flower of Simpsons Bari Alack she is
dainty, this Muse She will have none
of this bucking brute and staggering
ragged rider, and must fain follow him,
in prose, afoot
1t was one o'clock, and yet he had only
gained Rattlesnake Hill. For in that
time Jovita had rehearsed to him all her
imperfections and practiced' 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 out madly across
country. Twice had she reared, and,
rearing, fallen backward and twice had
the agile Dick, unharmed, regained his
seat before she found her vicious legs
again And mile beyond them, at the
foot of q long hill, was Rattlesnake
Creek. Dick knew that here was the
crucial test of his ability tc perform his
enterprise, set his teeth grimly put his
knees well into her fanks, and changed
his defensive tactics to brisk aggression.
Bullied and maddened, Jovita began
the descent of the hill. Here the artful
Richard pretended to hold her in with
ostentatious objurgation and we'll
sary to add that Jovita instantly ran
| r o1a4 h. l.,
in the descent it is written in the chron-
icles of Simpsons Bar. Enough that
in another moment, as it seemed to Dick,
she was splashing on the overhowed
banks of Rattlesnake Greek. AS Dick
expected, the momentum she had ac-
quired carried her beyond the point of
baking, and holding her well together
for a mighty leap, they dashed into the
swiftly y-howing current. A few moments
of kicking, wading and swimming, and
Dick drew long breath on the opposite
bank.
The road from Rattlesnale Creek to
Red Mountain was tolerably level.
Either the plunge in Rattlesnake Creek
had dampened her baleful fire, or the art
which led to it had shown her the su-
perior wickedness of her rider, for Jovita
no longer wasted her surplus energy
in wanton coneeits. Once she bucked,
but it was from force of habit once
she SHE'D, but it was from a new freshly
painted Westinghouse at the crossing
of the country road. Hollows, bitches,
gravelly deposits, patches of freshly
springing grasses flew from beneath her
rafting hoofs. She began to smell un-
pleasantly, once or twice she coughed
slightly, but there was no abatement of
her strength or speed. By two o'clock
he had passed Red Mountain and begun
the descent to the plain. Ten minutes
later the driver of the fast Pioneer coach
was overtaken and passed by "man on
a Pinto hoss"-an event sufficiently no.
table 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, a flagstaff
and a Struggling line of black objects.
Dick jingled his spurs and swung his
riata, Jovita bounded forward, and in
another moment they swept into Tuttle-
vile, and drew up before the wooden
piazza of "The Hotel of All Nations"
What transpired that night at Tuttle-
vile is not strictly part of this record.
Briefly l may state, however, that after
Jovita had been handed over to sleepy
ostler, whom she at once kicked into un-
pleasant consciousness, Dick sailed out
with the barleeper for tour of the
sleeping town. Lights still CLEANED
from few saloons and gambling-houses;
but, avoiding these, they stopped before
several closed shops, and by persistent
tapping and judicious outcry reused the
proprietors 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 in their needs
and the interview was invariably con-
cluded by q drink. 1t was three o'clock
before this pleasantly was given over,
and with small waterproof bag of
india-rubber strapped on his shoulders
| Dick returned to the hotel. But here
he was waylaid by Beauty--Beauty opu-
lent in charms, afiiuent in dress, persua-
sive in speech, and Spanish in accent In
vain she reapted the invitation in "Ex-
celsior," happily scorned by all Alpine
climbing youth, and rejected by this
child of the Sierras-a rejection softened
in this instance by a laugh and his last
gold coin. And then 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 ad-
jacent landmarks were distinct, but it
was half-past four before Dick reached
the Westinghouse and the crossing of
the country road. To avoid the rising
grade he had taken a longer and more
circuitous road, in whose viscid mud
Jovita sank fetlock deep at every bound.
1t was poor preparation for a 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 Greek.
Another half-hour would bring him to
the creek. He threw the reins lightly
upon the neck of the mare, chirruped to
her, and began to sing.
Suddenly Jovita SHE'D with bound
that would have unseated less-prac-
ticed rider. Hanging to her reins was a
figure that had leaped from the back,
and at the same time from the road
before her arose shadowy horse and
rider. Throw up your hands" COM
4 manded this second annarition with an