Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1892-01-02

lenge. The vaqueros told him that
was all right, that they didn't expect
him 10 back up all his whisky talk.
He wouldn't have il that way. No
body could sly that he was buffer
or q gutter, drunk or sober. and what
he said he would back to his last bean.
The younger brother, who was sober,
tried to dissuSde him. 'Come now,
Bill" he said, 'don't be blasted fool
These boys don't mind what we said
yesterday. and they don't want our
money. I've had enough and want to
60 home. Quit your foolishness and
come along. I don't want to ride any
more mustangs"
Whereupon the elder brother became
noisier and more insistent than ever,
and abused the other outrageousiy,
calling him a coward and . tenderfoot,
until the young fellow could endure his
taunts no longer
'.All right said the young man. "f
you want to blow in all your stuff, go
ahead. Nobody's holding you. You
sha'n't say I'm coward if you are
drunk, and I'll tackle any plug you
point out But don't blame me If you
pack blankets back to the ranch You'd
better get long odds in your betting.
though"
The vaqueros were very willing to
give odds of two to one, and upon that
basis they put up all the money they
had or could borrow. When the bets
were made. the vaqueros rounded up
q band of horses, drove them into q
corral and pointed out a vicious,-
Romau-nosed plug, at least ten years
old, that had never had a saddle upon
I, =, al % I.~
lessly cussed from his forelock TO the
tip Of the longest hair in his tai:
The youngster from Arizona, looking
very glum and disgusted, climbed 20
the top of one of the gate-posts Of the
corral, to the great amusement of the
.vaqueros, who knew that it was useless
to attempt to put saddle upon the
Roman-nosed horse. They thought the
young fellow was afraid, and they
laughed joyously until he began to peel
off his clothes and fling ther, on the
ground. Coat, vest trousers and shirt
were flung aside, and upon the top of
the gate-post stood 1.-the, athletic
young man in tights, with a few yards
of rope coiled around his waist. Then
the vaqueros rolled cigarettes and
wondered what he would do next
The elder brother opened the gate just
wide enough to let one horse pass out
at time. and began driving out the
band. When the Roman-nosed brute
came along and jumped through the
opening the man in tights dropped
upon his back from the gate-post like a
panther 1eaping from a tree upon a
deer, and like deer the astonished
horse bounded across the plain. Away
'.s re.t distancing the vaqnsroas YRa
minutes minutes the flying horse passed out OF
sioht the man in tights still sitting
upon his back. And then the vaqueros.
returned to the corral, rolled cigarettes,
smoked, and waited.
In half an hour or more the Roman
nosed horse loped heavily up to the
corral, wild-eyed and foam -hecked, and
the man in tights sat upon his back and
controlled him easily with a hacka-
more, roughly fashioned out of the coil
of rope that he had worn around his
waist when he started. There wasn't
kick or a plunge or n buck jump left
in the old horse, and his wind was all
gone. He was covered with dust and
sweat and mud, and it was evident
that he had been down sideways and
backward half a dozen times, and had
rolled over on the ground in vain at
tempts to crush his rider. He would
have smashed a saddle all to pieces,
and probably have driven the horn of
it through the breast Of a rider in some
of his wild backfalls, but the man in
tights always landed upon his feet, and
when the horse got up the man leaped
lightly upon his back.
The man in tights was champion
bareback rider from McMahon's circus
! and the drunken elder brother was a
gambler from Tucson. They carried
away all the money on the Rance Te.
! jon. and the vaqueros aren't saying
much about suckers from Arizona
butchers wrapping paper doesn't m Ike
| very good cigarettes, but it is all the
boys can get just at present.-Sar
| Franc isco Examiner.