Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1892-06-18
THE UNDRESSED KID.

Hank Barr, the veteran COW puncher
on the range, gave the youth his desig-
nation. The Kid, who was also referred
to as the Brat, the Infant, and that
Young Cub" had been playing some
prank ON the grizzled and testy Mr..
Barr, and Hank, by way of delicate
reference to the palpable fact that the
parental bed slat or trunk strap had
been allowed to get dusty between
"whalings," when the Infant had been
of yet more tender years, bestowed upon
his tormentor the sobriquet by which he
was every after known.
1t was not that the Kids years were
so few-he was stwenty-two-but he was,
oh! such a "kid" He had evidently
mingled with men for several years, but
the association did not seem to have
rubbed off any of the marks of extreme
youth, at least in his behavior, and no
one ever thought of smiling, even when
Shorty Fleming, the boss's youngest
brother, aged eighteen, addressed the
Kid by any one of his numerous diminu-
tives.
One could not help liking the Kid, in
spite of his pranks, for he was always
SO good natured and obliging If he was
ready to cut up hair brush and scatter
the bristles in some tired fellows bunk
about bedtime, he was just as ready to
do double duty in case his victim hap
pened to be i'll.
There were few chickens at the
ranch, and one of the Undressed's chief
est joys was to feed them corn with a
string and stick attachment, and laugh
himself almost to death at their frantic
efforts to kick themselves loose. But if
one of those same chickens happened to
be hurt or i'll he would nurse it Just as a
woman might.
On the occasion when he stuck shoe
makers wax on Hank Barr's saddle, and
Hank came into supper without the base
ment of his jeans and made sarcastic re-
marks, the Kid felt himself born hui
morist, and one would have thought that
capers of this sort were his highest aim
in life, but it was he who, after a cold
hard days work, rode twenty miles ON a
stormy night to get surgeon to set the
leg Hank had broken in the evening.
But pranks are pranks and the prankee
seldom takes the same view of them as
does the prankist; and thus it came that
the Kids lightmindedness. together
with his everlasting jokishness, brought
upon him the scorn of his fellow labor
ers at the "HX." They all liked him
well enough, but that was all. They
never considered him or included him in
their plans, except when there was some
uncomfortable duty to perform. In
fact, they paid very little attention to
him. Briefly, he acted like fifteen
year-old and was so treated.
The next spring Miss Mary Brooke
appeared on the scene as a visitor to
Colonel Hanford's, six miles south of us.
She came, she saw-and the rest of it.
Women were very scarce in our vicinity,
especially young and pretty ones, and
to our unaccustomed eyes Venus, and
the three Graces, and all the rest weren't
in it with Mary Brooke, and we bowed
down and worshiped like a lot of half
fiedged idiots,
We were all serious too. 1t was re-
markable how many business transac-
tions Boss Fleming had to talk over
with the colonel all of a sudden, and
how |, the Scribe, took such fancy to
reading and discussing Browning with
Mrs. Hanford, who was slightly deaf
and therefore not easy to converse with.
1t was not long. however, before Boss
Fleming and had the running all to
ourselves. Fleming, as near neighbor,
a big ranch owner and wealthy man,
had strong hold on the colonel, and l.,
the Scribe, having stuck to my desk in
early youth, and being therefore able
to talk little on such subjects as inter
ested Mrs. Hanford, had quite captivated
her, and the boys, perceiving this state
of affairs, discreetly withdrew and spent
their evenings as of yore.
All but the Undressed Kid. He. being
from Boston. Miss Brookes home, also
came i'll for a share of her smiles and
conversation, but as he showed no signs
of change in his youthful ways we
cept to consider him much in the same
light as one might u nuisance in kits.
He was in the wsly, of course, but he
didn't cause us any worry.
To be sure, we wondered how it was
that Miss Brooke could tolerate his nom
sense and chatter, for she was somewhat
staid in her ways and person whom
one would hardly suspect of liking for
levity. The boss and | were both sure
that the Kids constant presence would
begin to pail very soon-briefiy, he
would make Miss Brooke tired. and we
two could fight it out solely between
ourselves.
But, somehow, this state of things
didn't come to pass. The Kid managed
to get in as many calls MS did the boss
and !, and what was worse usually had
Miss Brooke pretty much to himself,
worse luck to the old folks; and it made