Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-08-16
ELI PERKINS.
ROMANCE or A RIATA.
How a Boston sophomore Became a
Cowboy and Won Bride.
From ne San Franeisoo AHd.


From the San Francisco 4 Hd
The movements Of real cowboy on
Kearny street attracted attention yester-
day. lie stood nearly 6 feet IN his boots,
and his regular features and dropping
blonde mOustache gave his face an aspect
Of beauty fully In keeping with his hand
some proportions. His attire was that Of
the vaquero, consisting Of buckskin troTs-
ers, wooden shirt fastened at the throat
with carelessly knotted silk handker-
chief, a coarse chinchilla sack coat and
broad-brimmed felt hat of the sOmbrero
pattern. a reporter learned his name and
his history. His name was Edward N.
Willets and six years ago he was at col
lege, when he received peremptory orders
from his father, wealthy Boston mer-
chant, to enter the theological class and
fl himself for the ministry. The COM
mand came like a thunderbOlt TO the hap
py-golucky young fellow, who had al
ways believed himself destined TO follow
his father in business when the latter
should be ready to retire. A quarrel
with his ''pere' was the result, and the
! young fellow suddenly left for the West.
AT Cheyenne he laid over for a short
hunt on the plains. The wild life of the
cowboys caught his fancy. Salary proved
little object, and he had little difficulty in
attaching himself to a big ranch until he
had mastered his new vocation. Finally
he drifted through portions of Montana,
Nebraska, Dakota, Idaho, Nevada, and
finally into Oregon and California. The
opening OF the summer found him en-
gagged with three or four comrades in
driving a small band OF steers over the
Santa Cruz mountains. Cattle in the
mountains are not pleasant objects 10
deal with. Every unruly steer that
broke from the band required an hours
chasing up and down steep slopes, over
rocks and fallen trees, and through the
spiteful brush.
Toward the end Of the drive the steep
bluffs that line the road on either hand
kept the steers in fairly good order, and
only occasionally did an unusually juicy
bunch Of grass tempt some hungry one
| TO bolt up the slope or into the canon be-
low. 1t was an occasion of this sort that
sent Willetts careering among the brakes
and ferns on the slope above. A chase of
\ half q mile had seen the truaut return to
/ the road, and Willetts was skirting the
/ edge OF the bank some distance in Rd-
/ vance OF the drove in search of a safe
/ place 10 descend, when in the middle of
+ tue narrow road he saw lovely girl.
/ The drove was laundering down on her
/ and promising to soon crush her young
! life out beneath their p0nderous weight.
/ Escape for the girl seemed impossible.
/ From the road to where Wiletts' horse
! stood was a wall of rock fully 20 feet in
height, and below TO the bed of the stream
/ was sheer descent ot double that dis
lance. For only a second was the horse =
man inactive. Then with the speed born
of long practice be lifted his trustv raw
4
threw IL. "Put that under your arms,
Miss" was Willetts' hasty injunction. IL
was Obeyed, and not moment too soon
the girl was lifted above the heads and
horns of the oncoming cattle.
When they were we'll by, Willetts slow
ly Stacked down until his "catch"
dropped softly to the earth. Five min
utes later, when he managed TO find a
pathway down and reached the subject of
his daring bit Of hOrsemanshlp, she WAS
/ lying in the dust in faint. When she re-
covered he learned that she, too, was from
Boston, and with her father and mother
was spending the summer amid CalifOr-
MAS most favored spots. The old gentle
man, her father, was highly delighted
when he learned OF Willett's identity, as
he soon did.
His daughter foollshly placed a high
value on my little service explained
/ Willetts blushing, "aud when saw how
she had oyerestimated it, | meanly de-
manded tue largest reward I could think
Of The details were settled Yesterday and
came up by the evening train TO dt my
self for her society. She swears that look
like an angel In my wooden shirt and
buckskin trousers, but | will try and get
her used 70 me in civilized garb, for a
yaquero's dress Is hardly the thing for
| aesthetic Boston,"
"Are YOU going backg"
"Ye-, IN september. We shall tour
I Yosemite as man aud wife, aud then 60
back home. My father-in-law says that
my father has long been anxious TO have
me come home, and that he will set me up
II the old gentleman doesn't, so 1 think /
had better 20"