Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1893-10-27
JONES' YARN.

bpCtlhLhE VI gums oAAu ShSAA AO "ouio ASSA
off his gun story for the next 30 minutes.
Fathers or mothers side, Jackson?"
you are in uncommonly high spirits,
JONES'" replied Jackson Peters. Perhaps
we are to be favored tonight With the exact
facts in regard to your encounter with the
blue racer, having taken month since you
promised it to construct them. Ny refer
ence to the ingenuity of man was legiti-
mate and was prompted by the subtlety of
the waiter in whisking away an imaginary
fly with his napkin in the hope of aug
nenting his tip. From that was about
to tell of Texas horse thief I had just
read of, who 10 years ago had the operation
of tracheotomy performed on himself and
a silver tube inserted through which he
could breathe. He has been lynched %
times since that, but as the rope always
comes above the tube"-
The young man was interrupted by a
CHEEKY laugh from Jones. Really" broke
in this individual, that was an ingenious
idea Do you know, Jackson, believe you
come of clever family"
THANK you, Jones'"
Extraordinarily clever family. Iknew
as soon as gathered that the fellow was
another uncle of yours that he'd do some.
thing bright, but l was hardly prepared
for this. Friends have in the past been so
kind as to say that I am myself ingenious
in getting out of difficulty, but never rose
to anything like that. remember little
brush had with wolves in northern Wis
consin before the war. The wolves there
were Of the large timber variety, and it be-
ing hard winter they were constantly
hungry"
but, JONES'" interposed Robinson,
somebody mentioned the blue racer story"
'Not tonight, Robinson; not tonight.
have got to look up certain facts and fig
ures which I noted in my diary at the time
before l can trust myself with that.
would not deceive you about that blue racer
for anything in the world. There are al
ways temptations in blue racer story
which must guard against. Those wolves,
repeat, seemed always to have gnawing
sensation in the stomach. They were fierce
and dangerous and would readily attack a
man even when there were no more than
two or three of them together. One day in
January l was going from Ojibway City to
Pomme de Terre river on foot, accompanied
only by my dog, which was named Bones,
from his fondness for this article Of diet.
He was good dog, but he had read some.
where that discretion is the better part of
valor.
Bones was not dog that would ever
go about the country asking folks in his
poor, dumb way where be could probably
find large pack of wolves. If a wolf ever
succeeded in meeting Bones, he had to
bring good letters Of introduction from
mutual friends. When about Is miles from
Pomme de Terre, I noticed that Bones was
becoming uneasy. Five minutes later
observed that he was wearing the hair on
his back pompadour. suspected wolves,
and was right. They soon came up, not
30 yards behind. There was at least 100 of
them-large, gaunt, hungry, savage wolves.
Their fierce howls reverberated through the
startled forests like the diabolical shrieks
Of frenzied demons in torment. I saw that
a hand to hand contest with them was out
of the question. Flight was my only hope
Picking up Bones by the nape of the neck,
tucked him under my arm and started.
'For 40 minutes, gentlemen, ran like a
cat in dog show. suppose covered 10
miles, Notwithstanding that the snow was
deep in some places and in others the un-
derbrush interfered. The wolves kept close
behind. When turned my head, l could
feel their hot, venomous breath on my
cheek. They leaped up and nipped at the
tail Of poor Bones, which was waving and
tossing behind on the terrific wind which
my flight engendered like the plume of a
knight of old going into battle. Their
howl, weird and hideous as the sinking wall
Of 10, 900 lost souls, shook the pine needles
from the trees and tore the nerves of the
unfortunate Bones in a way which was
painful to see.
"At the end of 10 miles began to tire.
A large spruce tree stood in my path, and
climbed it. Perching myself on lower
limb some so feet from the ground and ty-
ing Bones in place on another with bit of
string, looked down on the angry. surg
ing sea of wolves below. felt safe and lit
my pipe and gave my dog ham bone which
l had in my pocket But soon, to my sur.
prise, the wolves began most extraordinary
taotios-nothing less, gentlemen. than
gnawing down the tree. One hundred sets
Of ravenous fangs tore and bit the trunk. l
saw that the tree could not stand half an
hour. knocked the ashes out of my pipe
and began to look at the situation serious
ly. noticed on the branches about me
chunks of raw spruce gum about the size
of my fist. Taking my pocketknife, pried
one off and dropped it to awolf below. He
snapped his jaws upon it with famished
greed. He never opened them again, the
resinous mass holding them firm as vise,
At the end of 20 minutes had the jaws
of every wolf welded together past all hope
of opening. / then descended with Bones,
who now barked savagely and attacked the
wolves with great spirit. With his assist
ance drove the baffled, helpless creatures
to Pomme de Terre like flock of sheep.
There was at that time $40 bounty on
wolves. We rounded them up in the court
house yard, and I drew $1,000 from the
county treasurer, after which repaired to
the LIE Grand Monarque hotel and ordered
supper, not forgetting to bespeak the lar.
gest soup bone in town for my trusty dog ]
returned to Ojibway City the next day, but
saw no wolves. That is all, gentlemen.
Pardon the tameness of my narrative,
doubt not our time might have been better
employed"
"Jones," said Jackson Peters, "you 70
fused to tell US the blue racer story because
you had not yet looked up the exact facts,
did you not?"
Yves, jackson. What Of it,"
Nothing. "-Harper's Weekly.