The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-02-15
REGION OF THE PECOS.
THE Widest SECTION OF IVES
TERN TEXAS DESCRIBED.


Miss MacGowan's Account OF q Typi-
cal Rancheman's Expedition for the
Entertainment of His Guest-The
Lady Drops Lao Poetry, Inspired by
the Plains.
Ross Rancho, CROCKETT COUNTY,
TEX. Feb. live left the rancho q week
ago, upon a morning that seemed to have
strayed out of October into February.
We were three good men and true''-the
rancheman, his mother and myself-not to
mention the four buckskin colored mules,
High, Low, Jack and Game, that hauled us
and our camping outfit, and the saddle
ponies trotting along behind, taking surrep-
titious nips of anything they could get out
of the wagon, and exchanging occasional
amenities with their heels.
We were headed for the Pecos, bound on
a camping and hunting expedition. We
had heard that bear were plenty down here
in these canyons and we were loaded for 'em,
land not a man afraid. We were pre-
visioned and munitioned for rash and dar-
ing excursion, and felt that it would be well
for the game in our vicinity to look to
themselves and seek safety in flight
My ow1 preparations and get-up were es-
pecially desperate. wore, for the sake of
the broad brim, a regular Mexican SOM
brero, glorious with tinsel and straw orna-
ments. IL did not rest on my shoulders,
because it rested on my ears, and l was
thereby mercifully permitted to see where
was going. l never entirely appreciated
my ears before, but now know why kind
providence gave them to me, and placed
them Just where they are / was
provided with a clanking spur which
fitted an angle in my pony 'sdisposition, and
without which he was totally unavailable.
Large bucksxin gauntlets of the cowboy
style protected my aristocratic hands, and a
red silk handkerchief was knotted high
about my neck. These accessories, being
grated on to black tailor-made habit of
metropolitan cut and style, produced
novel and pleasing effect.
From the first we saw strange sights, and
had adventures. As we drove across a
broad prairie we suddenly discovered
LARGE WOLF
standing beside the road When we got
near enough to see plainly, we found it was
wolf that had been killed and skinned.
The flesh, In this light atmosphere. had
dried and mummied, and some grim humor-
ist had set up the grisly object literally on
dead" run, with the tail and one hind
leg sticking straight out, and one fore foot
reaching forward toward the land of
shades
We made our camp that evening In
stony canyon, and with more reference to
our own comfort than to the well-be;ng of
the ponies, for there was almost no grass.
Little Wilson was discovered, after fifteen
minutes Of suspicious quietness, eating my
sombrero out of the mesquite tree where /
had hung it, and was with much difficulty
driven away from the tempting morsel
Presently Mr.. Ross went over to a neigh
boring hunters camp to learn what luck
and what prospects.
After be had gone Mrs. Ross and had a
visitor.
There suddenly materialized out Of the
approaching dusk a handsome, well-made
CAvALIER-LooKING FELLOW,
with suspiciously well-fltting clothes, and
the amazing appearance of having been re-
Gently barbered. A well-groomed fellow,
such as, but for the neglige shirt and soft
hat, you might have expected to meet on
any city promenade.
He inferred, incidentally, that he had
been acting as Buffers sheep boss" But he
was not clad in the garments of a sheep
boss neither did he talk nor walk nor rise
up nor sit down as a sheep boss.
While he made himself as gallant and
| agreeable as possible, his keen, dark eyes
| seemed, from force of habit, to be taking in
every detail of his surroundings.
He inquired with feeling interest whether
the head of our party knew a man named
| Reynolds; but he left upon my mind the
| impression that the "man named Reynolds
was purely hypothetical party; and that
while our visitor might possibly boss sheep,
| if he tried. it was not his business
l soon learned that my shrewd suspicious
| were well founded. When Mr.. Ross came
| back to camp he gave us some further
details of a murder that had been recently
committed in that portion of Pecos county,
and told us couple of rangers had been
sent from Austin to trace the murderer, and
they were somewhere about, though repre-
senting themselves as sheep men. Our Wis
itor was undoubtedly one. We had enter
tanned ranger unaware. regretted this /
have always felt great curiosity in regard
to this irregular dashing calvary of the Lone
Star state. Now that | come to think of it,
he quite filed my ideal of the character. II
had known he was a ranger | would have
looked at him more, and would have asked
him a number of things.
The next day, on our way down to the
Pecos, Mr. Ross showed me
CURIOUS TABLE MOUNTAIN
on whose fiat top was rich pasture of
probably ten or fifteen acres. The sides
were every where so rough and precipitous
that horses, cattle or sheep could not scale
them. There was but one narrow, stair
like path, partly natural and partly made,
up and down which O horse could be
dragged with difficulty, and the pasture,
thus secure from intrusion. was used by a
rancheman for his saddle ponies.
This take to be the kind of thing meant
when the term mountain fastnessn is used,
and made up my mind right then that If
the world should ever treat me as badly as
l see it treat some people / would go and
sit on top of that mountain and sulk, and if
1t didn't come around and make amends
pretty promptly and gracefully, should
kick the top stone down from the path, and
stay there, making mouths at it for the rest
Of my life, where 1t couldn't possibly get to
me.
THE SECOND DAY
after we got to the Pecos we killed our first
land last bear. 1t wasn't so exciting or
thrilling and terrific as I had anticipated;
but. perhaps, this was owing to the amount
of lurid juvenile literature on the subject
which, despite my sex, had devoured in
my youth. There was no hugging, no
hasty grasping of my trusty knife, or
snatching it from between my teeth, no
sickening sensation of his hot breath in my
face, no glaring Of his red eyebals into
mine, while felt for his heart and plunged
my highly recommended blade into itup to
the handle.
We simply found some tracks, the hounds
followed them up to their author, who was