The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1892-02-17
GINGER.


Of the Cottonois, thinking to herself how
beautiful everything was. and how
strange It was that all her friends should
conspire to keep her shut up in that
gloomy ranch house back under the
hill, when such strange and delightful
places were to be found just on the out
side Of it.
The sun was high in the cloudless
northern sky: but the soft breeze.
which came laden with the spicy breath
Of pines lightly lifted the golden curls
under the brim Of the old sun hat and
tempered its MONDAY heat.
The short season OF summer bloom
was at its height. and lilies and wax
flowers were being crowded by golden
rod and the tall spikes of the yucca,
while the slgebrush exhaled. under the
heat Of the sun, that pungent odor that
reminds you Of old New England gar
dens, shut in by picket palings and
filled with beds Of sage. thyme, rue, Law
ender and all the aromatic herbs our
grandmothers knew and valued--yet Il.
withal. wild. sweet perfume quite dis
finctly its own.
A little way out on the level which
topped the cut bank at the right lay the
foothills Of the Antelope mountains.
rising and rounding against the dark
blue Of the sky, while on the other side
they fell q gradually into the plain be-
low. Between ran the road along one
OF those lodges which, forming the top
Of one and base Of another group Of
hills, wound it, way down into tho
canyon below. and was gladly accept
"a - highway ready to hand BY
the jewellers 10 these mountainous re-
Eions; and upon this wild trail the little
anaid. having slipped away from her
mamma. who was busy In her own room
writing letters. and the housekeeper.
who was deeply absorbed In the manu-
4acture Of burberry jelly in the kitchen,
had set out upon her travels.
Papa Jacki Papa Jackl' she sang 1t
tine top Of her clear little voice, a. she
wandered on, "Goldy's comm to wide
% big toby along wild you. Papa Jackl'
The prairie dogs came out and sat on
zhe roofs Of their houses and chartered
back at her; big '.rattlerr raised him
a6k into few lazy coils and then sank
back under the protecting shadow Of
,greasewood; lynx cat, stretched In
crevice Of the ledge above, opened his
half shut eyes and blinked sleepily at
Aer; and the soft wind, soughing through
the tops Of the big pines that stood ee-
-erywhere among the hills. caught up
! tho refrain-.tPap Jack!"
And 30 the words came lust in time
70 the ears Of Jim, who was hazing a
long horned steer back to the bunch
which was being held for the work OF
the round mp, half mile away on the
other side Of the Cottonois.
Jim was cowboy OF the Crescent ont
at and Goldy's papa's right hand man,
and though he was what Jack Fordham
sometimes called q ..sulky brute no
better cowman ever cooled rope or be-
STROBE q broncho. Jim-the name by
which his few and far between" letters
came addressed to the Oreana postofice
was Charles Arthur Stakes" but q
cowboy must needs be rechristened into
his rough calling, and since Charley, a
good name, and one well liked among
the boys. was ruled out of court by the
fact that it belonged to him Of right, he
was called Jim, and the name suited
the man, and the man answered to the
name and no one demurred thereat.
Jim and his horse Ginger were worth
more on the round up" than any other
two boys or three ponies on the Cottonois
or the Bijou, and Jim knew it as well as
everybody else ON the river. He had
more than once been offered "big money"
to take charge Of some rival outfit, but
Fordham had picked him mp years be-
fore away south on the Canadian when
he WAS dead broke bucking against his
luck at faro in julie Towards place
in the Old Adobe Walls. and they had
zstaid together ever since that old time.
Ginger was the pride Of Jim's heart,
the very apple Of his eye No common
broncho. but a clean built little mus
tang, with record rs q cow pony
brought from the wild Texas country
where Jim found him. What he wouldn't
do at Jim's command you might be GER
tain that no horse could do. Rear till
you'd swear he was bound to fall back
ward and crush his rider; walk at a nod
from Jim into saloon and knowingly
wink an eye ct the man behind the bar.
Aand IS for cows holding, driving, haz-
ing or cutting out-he knew it as well
as his rider, and great deal better II
his rider happened to be q green hand.
4 And now, As said, horse and rider
were on top Of the cut bank some twenty
feet above the road, along which trotted
little Goldy, lifting her small voice in
- - A = NJ = - 100
crashing along in hot pursuit Of big
Texas steer that had broken away from
beneath the branding iron. wild and
savage with pain and wilder and more
savage for the rough hazing given him
BY Jim and Ginger.
The round up had been working that
morning half . mile away across the
Cottonois; had just made camp, and ct