Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-04-12


frenzy--dcfeat being signalcd by an
unhorsing, OF even by REIMBURSEMENT
of the grasp upon the loop.
The reader can readily imagine the
fury and danger attending upon such a
pastime, which, while it affords oppor-
tunity for equestrian posings and atti-
tudinizing in comparison with which
the most exciting contest at polo is
tame and spiritless, not infrcquently
results in loss of limb and even life.
The six aycha trials that We witness
ed, however, were fortunately produc-
tive of but one accident, and that not a
very serious one; and at their conclu-
sion we lost no time in joining the great
throng that was beginning to pour along
in the direction of the plateau, about a
mile away, where the preparations for
the great event of the day. the senorita
chase, had been going on.
A wife-hunt is, perhaps, the most APP
propriatc name that can be given it.
The girl-rider is pursued by one or
more of admirers, in proportion to her
good looks and general popularity with
the opposite sex and, though the race
is often an angry and exciting one, she
is mostly supposed to at last facilitate
her own capture on the part of the
sutton whom she really prefers, which
renders it mutual and bona .fIe WOO
ing after all and in this it may be said
to be more genuine affair of the heart
and feelings than many of the wife
hunts that are in vogue in more pre-
tentiously civilized countries.
We witnessed four Of these races on
the day in question, all of them excit-
ing and amusing to both spectators and
participants but | was mostly inter
ested in the last, which involved the
pursuit of Benjamin., the mountain
belle, by the three rivals, who had been
pointed out to me by the wayside pool.
Beniamina was sprightly and pref
ty young woman, Of apparently unmix-
ed Indian stock. Her figure was slen-
der and willowy; her complexion was
clear, brilliant, and amber-tinted. She
had n wonderful grace of movement,
bold, black eyes, and long-howing,
coarse, black hair, which floatcd far
below her lssom waste, as she lightly
leaped into the saddle, amid the laugh
ing good wishes of her female compan-
ions, who seemed rs careless and light
hearted rs she. Indeed, in her pictur-
esque, oread-likc costume, she looked
such tempting prize, as she curvetted
back and forth upon her small and UNI
derbrcd, but mettlcsome stecd, in antic-
ipation for her lovers to start in pur-
suit, that | even wondered at there be-
ing but three competitors for her hand.
"Thcrc would be more after her, but
for the reputation of these three" SAID
my companion. "They are all deemed
by the fellows as wild and desperate
men, and | suspect that they can be
robbers OH occasion, quite as conven-
iently as mule-drivers. But sec! they
arc off,"
1t was true The word had been
given, and away dashed the mountain
maid, having been given fifty yards
start, with the rival lovers in mad pur-
suit.
Never had | witnessed finer horse
manship, even in Mexico. The pursu-
ers were dressed much alike, with all
bravery of gold-colored sombreros,
tight-ftting, hussar-like jackets, and
broadly-fringed trousers of bleached
llama skin, hung here and there with
twinkling little bells, with the single
exception of the broad sashes about
their waists. These were their marks
of distinction, Manuelo's sash being
yellow, Marto's blue, and Vasco's red.
For several reasons it was q most
exciting race In the first place, the
narrow plateau was interspersed with
rocks and clumps of chaparral, which
allowed of any amount of dexterous
dodging- making it sort of hidc-and-
seek on horseback, in fact and in the
next place, though the twin, Mario, was
evidently the worst mounted Of the
three-his brother and Vasco having
about equally good horses-it was pref
ty well understood among the specta-
tors that he, Mario, was the secretly ia
vored, and therefore the one by whom
Benjamin. meant to be captured.
If this was the case, however, it was
evident that she would have to maneu-
yer very shrewdly, for such was the en-
ergy of Manuclo and Vasco that she
more than once narrowly escaped hav-
ing the game snatched out Of her hands
by one or the other of these two.
AT one time lucky clump Of chap
arral alone saved her from Manuelos
clutch; and then again Vasco was so
close upon her, with flashing eyes and
out-stretchcd arms, that she only escap-
cd by finging herself prone upon the
off side of her pony, and bringing it to
such sudden halt that her pursuer