San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-05-11
BATTLE WITH A MAD COW.

Ration Mountain Herder's Tale of the
Worst Shot on Record.
One afternoon while at Ration mountain
I went over to the ridge between the Red
river and the Caliente to look for deer. |
spoiled ones running, and being afoot-for
| was less than a mile from camp-I hung
it to the branch of a pine tree, and after
cutting its throat and performing some
other alterations in its makeup suggested
by the gentle art of venerie started to pro-
cure a pony TO pack the carcass to camp.
A seventy pound deer is no trivial pack
age in a rough country, and had no in
tention of carrying it myself.
While so returning | was walking down
little valley, the damp bottom of which
was free from trees and just springing, in
the cold, clear rays of the April sun, to
short grass.
Ahead some ten yards l beheld an old
COW, emaciated to degree and whose far
ing eyes betokened the insanity which
seizes on starving cattle. She was marked
with our ear marks--a swallow fork in
each ear-and concluded to drive her up
to camp, where was fodder and feed, and
with three or four days of that l thought
she would pull through to grass.
But | never had a chance to put my be-
nevolence into effect. The moment she
espied me she danced out in an uncertain
and staggering way, fairly bristling with
rage.
l watched her, supposing it would come
to nothing more serious than an attempt
to bully, which failing, she would come
along sedate enough. l was mistaken.
Bracing herself on her four weak legs
l. n L 4
pected a halt, but she came on to within
fifteen feet, staggering and stumbling, at
considerable speed and fairly afire with
bloody intentions. l snatched of my big
sombrero and sent it sailing into her face.
The only effect was to bring her head up a
little and abated nothing of her headlong
gait.
AS / fully realized that the old she vii
lain meant business I flashed into rage,
and pulling back the hammer of the Sharp
rife carried resolved to bore her through
her addle head ana correct her disposition
to guietuGe for all time.
Matters were coming too fast to allow
me to take any aim, and l banged away
with the Sharp as it lay in my hands.
The irate COW was not three feet from the
muzzle of the rife, but how missed her is
more than can tell. But did.
As it was she was so cross as to appear
to gather the smoke of the gun and bring
it along in her frontlet, and realizing had
missed l just had time to escape her horns
by quick twist, getting, indeed, a smart
Jolt from her shoulder even then.
1t took a tenth part of a second to put
another cartridge into the rife, and / re-
fected with ferocious satisfaction that it
would be my turn now, as had no idea of
making a second miss of it.
OF course / confidently counted on her
turning and charging me again. To my
surprise, however, she kept straight on up
the slight and pine covered hill toward the
divide and never seemed even to cast a
thought behind at me.
/ overcame an impulse to pump bullet
into her anyhow, and no one having sus-
tanned injury, CO I'd the battle draw.
The irony of fate was shown by finding
this old COW who had escaped my bullet
by a miracle, dead with her calf, in a bliz-
card which struck the hills two days after.
The existence of this calf hid over on the
divide, and my being directly between the
infant and the old COW when she saw me,
was no doubt the whole cause of the war.
l left the two stark in their drift of
snow, and make no doubt they were highly
appreciated by the buzzard and the raven,
who that day tapped their wide wings in
those skies-Kansas City Star.