Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-07
rcoHRrsroNDENcE OF THE prspArcn.I ]

| necked, low-headed, narrow-chested, cat
hammed little beggar, with blood in his eye
and as many devils in his disposition q.
there are cookie burrs in his tail.
wish some of the people who imagine
that droves of such little beasts are the
horses generally raised on Texas ranches,
could see Jim McQueen's Cinco. His sire
was four-mile horse whose an.
cestry ran vaguely back toward
Kentucky; and he unites with
the beauty, speed, smooth coat, good temper
and larger size of this stock the indomitable
pluck and hardihood, and the inexhaustible
bottom of his native Texas blood. Jim
traded five ponies for him when he was a
raw, slim-legged yearling, and called him
Cinco in commemoration. He is six years
old now, and has never known the feeling OF
collar. 1t is true that if some unin-
structed outsider should insist on putting
him into harness, Cinco would probably
end by kicking the vehicle into kindling
wood, and himself clean of every scrap OF
harness; but this would be simply con-
temptuous protest-a forcible explanation
of the fact that he wasn't built to haul loads.
Cinco is the best horse in this, a country
of good horses His qualifications and ac-
complishments are varied. He is an unap-
proachable cow.horse, finished expert in
all the horse maneuvers incident to round
ing up, roping and cutting out; a perfect
mine of endurance and good spirits on the
trail, and always wins all the long distance
| and handicap races at the county fair. He
won his last handicap sbout a month ago,
under circumstances Of thrilling interest to
q romance-loving frontier society.
Jim is the junior partner at the bachelor
Gillespie & Mcqueen sheep and cattle
ranch on Boggy Run. Their nearest neigh
| at Crockett's Well Miss Chummie Aus
tell, when she came out to the ranch year
ago from soma East Texas school, had as
easy walkover of the undisputed BELLE
ship of the whole county as Cinco would
have In an open race against a field of cow
ponies, and without an ounce Of handicap.
1t was Jim, with his good looks, boyish
spirits, and what Wade Keener bitterly
styled "his blame winnin' ways" who first
gained her maiden preference, and held it
so long. In the face of so much and such
spirited, not to say desperate rivalry, that
it looked as though the course of true love
might be going to run smooth once, just to
show its West Texas originality.
An Unromantic Drifter Arrives.
But now came upon the scene the cause
of discord, misunderstanding, jealousy and
reproaches, spirited retorts and secret tears
and finally angry separation, in the person
of sheepman, a drifter," from somewhere
up in the Panhandle. Spur was a most
unromantic figure, about five or six feet in
height and three feet across, with a sort of
air of good-fellowship about him, and Civ
ing vague impression, somehow, of great
and abounding wealth.
Now drifting" sheepman is, generally
speaking, not very kindly taken to by cat
tlemen, or even by sheep ranchers He is
a man who may have 10000, Is, 900 or 20, 900
sheep, and grow rich off the WOOL and NUT
ton without ever owning foot of land. But
old man Austell and Mrs. Austell were un-
deniably impressed by the atmosphere of
wealth that went about with Spur, and
when he laid violent siege to Chummie's
affections he got more or less support from
the family-even the boys, who were Jim's
special friends, standing off neutral Jim,
hurt and angry, rode over to see Chummie
and demanded that she give that chump his
vamos, right straight
It's hard for pretty girl who knows her
power to accede gracefully and promptly to
an order like that. even from the man she
loves, and the result was an angry rupture.
Spur Was an Aggressive suitor.
For some weeks they never met. and all
this time Spur was staying at the Austell
ranch or camping close to it, pushing his
suit with Chummie; and Chummie, with the
indiscretion of the weaker se1-thinkina to
scare Jim into repentance-allowed herself
to be drawn into a sort of promise, which
Spur Immediately fastened upon, sent to San
Antonio for an immense diamond solitaire.
and, with the support of the old people,
hurried on the marriage, SO that before she
realized where she stood. the frightened and
unhappy girl was actually putting on her
wedding dress.
And Jim?
The season was bad, there had been no
rain for long, Boggy Run was run out, the
grass was dry as tinder and the stock was
beginning to suffer- The sheep could do
where they were-a well-reguIated Texas
sheep can come as near dispensing with
drinking water as Kentucky colonel-but
the cattle were rounded up and startedS out
on the trail for "the territory" Jim, who
usually stayed with the sheep, took charge
of the cattle this year. There was a most
uncomfortable soreness in the region of his
heart, which it seemed somewhat to him
might be more or less worked off in the toll
OF managing herd OF trail cattle, lamming
recalcitrant steers, fighting to keep the
bunch to the trail in the face OF a norther,
or struggling to prevent or to quell an in
cipient stampede.
Jim Quick y Took the Homs Trail,
They had been out on the trail nearly a
week, and were pretty well up toward the
State line, when Bob English rode into
their camp one evening. After supper,
when Jim's two COWBOYS were out riding
round the herd. getting them bedded down
for the night, Bob remarked confdentially
to Jim, "The weddin's a-comin' off next
Thursday. You done the very thing to lest
skip. She's sorry enough-Goo dc cd, JimI
I thought you knew all about itl''
In two hours time Jim was far from his
camp and Bob's, headed for Boggy Run on
the best pony in the saddle band aud leading
another, cursing his folly for thinking Cinco
too good for so hard trip. Four days later,
on Thursday, he rode up to the ranch
house door at Boggy Run about noon
and threw himself upon the bed without a
word, while Gillespie, equally speechless
with amazement, arose from his solitary
dinner and attended to the usel up horses
That evening Jim was saying to Gillespie
Gan older man and q hard-headed Scotch
MANI, while he blacked his boots vigorously,
turned the little ranch house upside down
and dragged out al his own and Gillsspie's