St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-03-31

der, and the stockman flung himself
down into the circle about our OIL
cloth, was helped to a pint cup of
coffee and some tomatoes, and helped
himself literally to biscuit and fried
antelope.
Got nothin' but cold grub in the
ranch" he explained between mouth
fuls, San it's too mighty hot to make
fires now. Nobody here but me; boys
gone up on Lodge Pole to run in
strays. Ben asleep all the afternoon.
Ratified the gate, did We? Wal, now,
l must be a snoozer! Curis what risks
a man'll take in this country Now,
here's you fellows trailin' about all
alone, the four of ye, an me here a
sleepin alone in 'dobe, an six hum
dred Cheyennes turned loose on the
country above!
'*Fact," he said, coolly, noticing our
looks of surprise, not unmixed with
alarm. ''Yes, sir; runner come down
from the ranch above N warned me
yesterday. They've Quilted Ole ranch
up there, killed cowman, N run off a
lot o stock; expect 'em down here any
time. A lot of 'em come down here last
year, and caught us sneozin', right in
broad day noon, too. +"
The reader may be sure we were not
a little alarmed at such news, though
we hardly knew whether to credit the
fellows word or not. He might be try
ing on the cowboys rminer's favorite
pastime-that of '"stufing,' or fright
ening; ''tenderfeet;'' but he gave us
further particulars in an honest, mat
ter-of-fact way, and after supper invit-
ed US to haul our wagon inside the stock
corral. and to spend the night with
him in one of the adobes. So we
concluded at length that he was acting
las, indeed, afterward proved to be
the fact-in good faith.
Having accepted his invitation to a
shelter for the night, we were soon es-
tablished in one of the long, cool
adobes. Our horses had been picketed
as close to the stockade as the grazing
limit would allow.
You'll have to take resk on the
stock, in course" said Briggs-he had
given us his name in the course of our
conversation. 1--WE all have to take
them resks. but l reckon there's no
danger to yerselves in here. They
Cheyennes caught us mapping here
once, as / was a-tellin' We, and they
won't calc'late on dom it again.
Tell We about that, if ye like.
Twas kind O. scaly time for Gowan an
me, but there was a heap O fun in it,
too"
Of course, we were only too glad to
listen to his account,
sit was jest about year ago now"
he said, when Ed Gowan an me was
keepin' the ranch alone, while the
other three boys-there' gener'ly five
of us stays here-was up river a-help-
in brand a lot of new steers just druv
in frum Texas. ..
s.There wasn't nobody along the
river a-thinkin' of Injun trouble then,
an as for Ed an me, we hadn't seen
one for nigh a year. We stayed close
round the ranch here, though. for a
week after the boys went off. Then we
begun to feel mighty restless.
4 Then, too, we was expectin' the
boys back ev'ry hour. We ca1c'l lated
'twouldn't be no harm to leave the
ranch for half a days hunt We was
tired of beef an bacon, an we knew
where to go to find plenty of ante
lope.
eve saddled our ponies an struck
out that afternoon. We rode up into
the rocky country bout twelve miles
north O. here, 'mong the big canyons
an cuts, an we found plenty of ante
1ope. We'd killed five by dark, but by
the time we could gather their saddles
an pack our extra horses, which we'd
took. two. an get back to the ranch, it
was nigh daylight next morning.
The boys hadn't come, SO. as we
was mighty tired an hungry an
sleepy, we turned our ponies in with
the other stock in the big corral, and
got us some breakfast; then we piled
on to couple of hunks, and was soon
sleepin'.
Il was woke up by a punch in the
ribs, an when Id come to myself
'nough to get my eyes rubbed open, I
saw that there was a half-a-dozen
naked, greasy Cheyennes in my room,
standin' around GRIMM at us. lsaw,
too, that Ed was awake, an that they'd
gathered up all the shootin' irons, an
that we was both pris ners, in our own
shanty.
II needn't tell you that we both felt
mighty foolish an badly scared. though
we put on as bold face as we could.
Ed was the bravest though, an the
coolest. He'd been a trapeze perform
er along with Montgomery Queens big
show. He was all muscles an siners,
up to alOsorts of tricks, and as spry as
a cat.
..Wal, sir, soon as Ed saw how twas,
he reached out his hand to tifa 2eareet
buck, an says, says e: How do brgh-
der?' 4oA. CD
.. How, says the AGun, an ya Of
'em gruntcd an GRIMM
But jest then thAse N.aI5terri-
HE domination and a-V4Ain' a11tside