The Portland daily press., 1884-12-24

pened? Her foot was all tangled in the
rounds. She could only paw with her arms
in the snow.
"Silasl Silas! Miss Shepardv' No an
swer.
The brave girl raised herself on her elbow
She made SNOWFALL from the snow her
water slops had softened. She fred it skill
fully through Mrs. Shepard's window.
"Miss Shepardr' for the last time
This time-and very quickly-Mr. Shep-
ard appeared.
"Who's there9'
"Pm here--Mary Martin. The house is
a-fire, and l can't put it out. I've got the
laddea round my legs, and can't stand"
Mr. Shepard made scant toilet. Mr..
Bangs made as little. Silas made none.
In sixty seconds poor Mary was relieved.
George Bangs ran up the ladder and pro-
nounced that her work had been thoroughly
done. Nothing hut steam ascended now.
And, as he cleared the wreck, few hand
fuls of snow were enough to extinguish the
embers he found in the roof below.
AS tenderly as if she were baby, Mr..
Shepard carried Mary to his wife's room.
1t was only too clear that her leg had been
broken in the fall.
But she never shed tear. And when ST.
las came in with the glad news that there
was no danger, she only said: "Mr. File
brown said that when the roof was atlre we
must not waste our water"
Silas was fitted out in the cntter to bring
DR.. Woodward to set the broken leg.
AS for Mary, she fell asleep, really feeling
but little pain.
When she awoke, there hung over Mrs.
Shepard's chimney-piece long red stock
ing crowded full.
The girl lay, quietly enough, as DIR. Wood
ward fastened on his splints. And when he
said to her good-naturedly, "We will not
keep you in bed very long," she said very
PRETTY, "Pm glad | was not shut up before
the fire came"
''Doctor," would it hurt her to have her
Christmas presentsY'
"Hurt her? No! Indeed 1 should say
she had earned them"
''Do you think it was Santa Claus's pipe
which set fire to the shingles T'
y
''Sally,' said Mr.. Shepard, as he cut off a
slice of the turkeys heart to send up stairs
for Mary's dinner, ''that girl is awful spry."
''She is, indeed said Mrs Bangs. ''Do
you think that perhaps she learned how to
use her hands and feet in the same place
where she learned to swear?'
Maybe said George Bangs
"Well," said Mrs. Shepard, "we can't
have everything. | told Mrs. Metcalf / did
not expect an angel"
81 don't know as angels know how to
handle axes, though they can 60 up and
down ladders"
War Against Wild Horses.
Wild horses have become SO numerous on
the plains that some of the stockmen in the
vicinity of Cheyenne have organized hunt
ing party whose object will be to thin them
out The hunters are provided with long
range rifles, feet ponies, and supplies and
forage enough to last all Winter, and they
will endeavor TO make clean job of it, These
horses have existed on the plains for many
years. but of late they have been increasing
very fast. They are quick to scent the ap-
proach of foes, feet as the antelope that may
often be seen browsing in security at their side,
and as unmAnageable as the wind. Native
animals when turned loose on the prairie soon
become wild, and if allowed to run without
being disturbed breed very rapidly. Horses
continually break away from their owners and
join the wild horses, and this is the reason
why etockmen are aroused over the subject
tered many wild horses, and for many years
afterWard they must have increased rather
than diminished. Horses stand the Winter
much better than cattle, and unless the
weather is unusually severe will come out tat
in the Spring.
Every year large numbers of domestic
horses escape from the settlers Some of them
are found, but when mares escape they are
never reclaimed. In wandering over the plains
they encounter the wild bands and from that
- for.n I'd ox7{1d fhn 9TH
wild stations are the guardians of the bands.
Always on sentinel duty, they give the alarm
when any enemy approaches. In moment
the stragglers are rounded in, heet-footed
stallion leads tine van. and with others at the
fanks away they go in laundering charge.
Nobody has yet been able TO overtake them.
Sometimes they are laSsoed or shot, but such
thing as heading them off in race is out of
the question.
The range of the wild horses at present OK
tends from Texas to the Southern Dakota line.
They are more numerous in Northern Colora-
do, Wyoming and Western Nebraska than
any where else on the plains. On the Republi-
can River, ON the divide between the South
Platte and the Lodge Pole and the North
Platte, and far east the heads OF the
Loup and Dismal rivers the horses range at
will. Five or six years ago they could be
found on the divide between Sidney and
Sterling III bunehes of fifty or seventy five, but
now bunch of twenty-five is considered large.
Sometimes there is more than one stallion in
band, but one of them is always acknowl-
edged as chief, winning this distinction by
many hard-fought battles with his rivals.
The wild horses compact little animals
weighing from 800 to HOO pounds. The major
ity Of them weigh about 800 pounds and stand
about fourteen hands high. In color they are
usually brown, sorrel or bay. A gray is sell
dom seen, unless it is horse that has strayed
away from civilization. Their tails grow
long, frequently dragging the ground but
their names are like those of other horses, and
not flowing to the knees as they are repre-
sAnted in some books. The eye, probably
from being constantly on the watch, is larger
than the eye of the domestic horse, and even
when tanned the eye remains distinctive
mark of the horses origin Wild horses, when
captured and trained, are superior to any
other horse OF the same size. Many OF them
are used by the cowboys, and others are
broken to harness and driven as carriage
horses, being entirely trustworthy. Cor
respondent New York Times.
ParSon BrownlOw.