Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1888-08-11

long whips could be heard. Behind
them came the cook wagon, or grub
outfit" drawn by a pair of slow-mov-
ing, mOuse-colored mules.
This was Dock Walters herd Of
Texan broad-horns on their way to
the railway shipping point in Kansas,
Dock Walters, lniun Bill and the
Yankee rode close together some dis
lance in the rcar of the herd, lnjun
Bill, with a quick motion of his sun
Drowned hand, threw back his mop OF
jetty hair rs stif almost as a horses
name.
Dock" he asked, time fer ante
LOPEZ"
"Rcckon So" answered the proprio-
tor of the herd. Were in the grang-
crs' country"
I'm tired NV salt JUNK growled
Bin.
me, too!n chimcd in Yankee.
Same hcre,' added Dock Walters.
'Inj, you an Yank kinder shassay
around a lcctle. If you II onto any
antelope, you know what to do,
reckon
"Gou bet yer life"
That was the extent Of the CONVEX
satjon, but each thoroughly understood
it.
Away the two won't, their ponies
bounding along at the top of their
speed and the brims OF their broad
hats, that had once been white, flop
ping up and down at every bound OF
the ponies. The jingles on their great
spurs ratified and clanked merrily.
Suddenly lnjun Bill, the half-breed,
drew so quickly on the horse-hair rein
OF his bride that his pony stopped al
most in its tracks.
Bill had spicd the sleek, sharp
horned heifcr that Liz had been watch
ing before she fell asleep. "Antlopc,'
he said, briefly.
Then they raced away again toward
the heifcr calmly standing by the
'branch.'
A long-continued fcud exists be-
tween the cattle men of the plains and
the squattcrs, or grangers, as they
call them. The wire fences of the
grangcrs ]cncroach, year by year, upon
the land that the cattle king, have for
seasons without number been wont
to consider their own. The grangerS
pillow up the pasture and their barbed
fences cut off the trails. The cowboys
retaliate in many ways. They cut the
wire fences, burn an occasional outly-
ing haystack and do any damage that
seems not likely to be proven on them.
The few cows of the squatters they
consider their lawful prey, and many
a "moolcy" that has strayed from her
owners corral and watchful care is
never seer again. About the same
time there is "antelopo' for dinner at
the cowboy camp, They know moth
ing of the fate Of the granger cow; not
they, The flesh they are eating is 'ante-
lope," and that is all the satisfaction
the farmer gets.
The sleek hcifer threw up her head
and ceased to push away the offending
green heads. lnjun Bill had coiled his
hair lariat neatly and vas swinging it
rapidly about his head as they adj
vanced. The animal turned as if to
flee. The lariat shot toward her and
the loop fell about her neck, The
half-breed's pony stopped short, obe-
dent TO the touch Of the cruel MeXi-
can bit. The hrtfcr was brought
around with Il turn that almost dis.
jointed her neck. The next instant
she lay on her back, with her sharp,
black-tipped horns digging into tho
earth at the roots of the iron weeds.
Casting his bride to Injun Bill,
Yankee rushed forward on foot.
There was a twice repeated CLEAN o.
steel, and the sleek Cherokee heifei
lay dead with a knife-thrust entering
her brain, just behind her little sharI
horns.
Five minutes sufficed for them to cut
out the choicest bits of the antelope
beef,
So quietly vas the whole thing done
that Liz, asleep in the shade of the
scrubby oak, did not hear a sound.
Then, as the half-breed mounted
with the beef strapped on behind, 1
sw~iit-footed jack rabbit dashed by to
ward the north with prodigious leaps
In an instant, Yankee sprang on hi,
pony and was racing away after thu
fleeing rabbit, while lnjun Bills pony
ploddcd off to the southwest TOWARD
III, diCtupt harl