Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-06-20

O little alarmed at such news, though
we hardly knew whether TO credit the
fellows word OF not. He might be try
ing on the cowboys or miners favorite
pastime-that of "stufling," 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
-as. indeed, aftcrward proved to be
the fact-in good faith.
Having accepted his invitation to a
shelter for the night, we were soon cs-
tablishcd in one of the long, cool
adobes. Our horses had been picketed
as close to the stockadc rs the grazing
limit would allow.
you'll have to take resk OH 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 rcsks. but reckon there's no
danger to yerselves in here. They
Cheyennes caught us mapping here
once, as | was a-tellin' yc, and they
won't calc'late on dom it again.
"Tell We about that If We like.
Twas kind o. scaly time for Gowan an
me, but there was heap o. fun in it,
too"
OF course, we were only too glad to
listen to his account
at was jest about year ago now,"
he said, "when Ed Gowan an me was
keepin' the ranch alone, while the
other three boys-there's gener'ly five
of us stays here-was up river a-help-
in brand a lot of new steers just druv
in frum Texas.
"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 year. We stayed close
round the ranch here, though, for a
week after the boys went on. Then we
begun to feel mighty restless.
"Then, too, we was expectin' the
boys back ev'ry hour. We calculated
'twouldn't be no harm to leave the
ranch for half days hunt We was
tired of beef an bacon, an we knew
where to go to lind plenty of ante
lope.
"Wo 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
lope. 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 tho big corral, and
got us some breakfast; then we piled
on to couple of hunks, and was soon
sleepin'.
81 was woke up by punch in the
ribs, an when I'd 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 ut us. Isaw,
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.
81 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 trapeze perform
OF along with Montgomery Queens big
show. lie was all muscles an siners,
up to all sorts Of tricks, and as spry as
a cat.
oval, sir, soon us Ed saw how twas,
he reached out his hand to the nearest
buck, an says, says e: How do brud-
derP'
"'How,' says tho Injun, an all of
ON gruntcd an grinncd.
"But jest then there was terri
BILE commotion and a-yellin' outside,
an two or three of the Injuns rushed
out The other wanted to see the rum
pus, too, / 'xpect, for they turned to
us, and motloned us out of the door.
We got up. and walked out, with an
Injun in front an two behind us. AS
we got outside the door, we heard a
frightful yellin' outside the stockade.
There were six or seven Cheyenncs
dancin' and screechin' like they d gone
plumb crazy. But the biggest fun was
what was goin' on inside the stock COR
raj, and we soon saw that the dancin'
bucks was a-laughin', though yo,'d
never guess at that by jest listenin' to
'em.
"You see one of their fellows, think
in of course, he'd have an easy Job,
had rode into the corral to drive out the
stock-there was thirteen ridin' ponies
and three or four colts. But there was
customer in there that the Cheyenne
hadn't reckoned on. II was big mule,
jest the ugliest, orneriest critter ever
you set eyes on. He never lowed any
strangers inside that corral If he could
help it, an he gently could, an that
was one reason we KEEP him.
wal, he'd got after Mr.. Cheyenne,
an he was goin' for him most saw
agely. When we first saw the race,
the Injun was clear up on his pony's
neck, a-clingin' for dear life, and the
mule was right up alongside, with his
jaws wide open. The Cheyenne had
lost holt o his reins. an was jest hang
in over on the opposite side of his
hossc's neck, an there they was, go
in round and round, tho jack grab
bin an bitin' at the Injun, an ARRAY
In an squcalin' till you could a-heerd
him mile. An tho best of it all was
that them Cheyennes outside all
seemed to think it was the biggest
kind of fun.
Talk about an Indian not laughin' /,
why, fellows they nigh busted their
tbroats. They clapped their hands on
to their stomachs an doubled up like