The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-08-19

lot of lean, worn-out horses, wicked,
sore backed mules, and the most thor
oughly disguised, science-hating lot OF
cavalrymen in the service; soldiers
who believed that surveys were simply
official schemes for torturing men into
insanity. Baby arrived with the outfit,
and with a reputation of being the
meanest broncho mule In the Rocky
mountains.
She was pointed out to me by limp
ing packer named Bill Stebbins, who
looked at her solemnly, and said:
Young Teller! Thar's an internal lit
tie mule, that's meaner'n Apache,
tougher'n dry camp, quicker'n chain
lightnin', an fer all roun' cussedness
can beat any rattlesnake tween Win
gate an hell. She can kick higher'n
the stars, an bite lake wolf, an You
can see she looks milder'n a Moki
squaw. kinder TUX shine to her at
fust an sorter put coincidence in her,
an now I'm limpin' round with busted
knee; consarn her Greaser hide"
Later on Baby and her sore-backcd
companions were sent to Sante Fe,
under the charge of Corporal Jack
Doyle and fonr men; but somehow
Baby got lost on the road, and though
stout affidavit took her off the quar-
termaster's accounts all right, public
opinion in the cavalry quarters at Win
gate limited that Corporal Jack had
traded her to a Greaser in Las Lunas
for whisky and other commodities.
When the troops at Wingate were
ordered into the field in Texas to CO
operate with Miles in the Panhandle,
we camped en- route at a water hole on
the trail not far from the Tucumcafi
mountain beyond Fort Bascom, where
some Mexican carretas were corralled.
The Mexican stock was herded not far
from ours, and as was on herd guard
that day, kept moving between the
two cavalcades. When at shutdown the
orderly trumpeter blew the recall for the
herd, saw mule dash away from the
Mexicans and come squealing and charg-
ing into our camp. 1t was Baby, and
doubts as to her identity were quickly
dissipated by the way she appropriated
the lions share of the feed grain of the
pack train to herself, and the vigorous
manner in which she beat tattoo on
the ribs of a big shave-tail Missouri
mule that was foolish enough to dis
pute her rights She was formally
identified and gravely ella lined by Jack
Doyle as the mule stolen from him in
Las Lunas, and, as her Mexican owner
left camp hastily that night, it was
only right to suppose that he had stolen
Baby from the person who had bought
her from Jack.
Baby resumed her irritating and
vicious career just where she left it off
when she left the army at Las Lunas,
and before we were well of the stalsed
plains and into the grassy valleys of
the panhandle she had earned the
hatred of every packer in the train.
When her pack had been carefully ad-
justed to her aparejo, she had knaci
of rolling ON the prairie and wrecking
the whole fabric. driving her packer
into paroxysms of profanity; she had a
social way of visiting round camp at
night, when she ought to have been
hitched to her picket line, keeping her
packer awake from his rest and soaring
the wits out of sentries with her heels,
when they attempted to secure her.
She was always in trouble; everybody
dubbed her as freely as she kicked all
men and mules. her grain was stinted.
but she grew fat; her pack was over
loaded, but she simply rolled it into
wreckage, driving her masters insane;
and she lived and thrived, feared by
her kindred, detested by man. She
was transferred experimentally from
the pack train to Tim Daily's six.muls
team, as q matter of discipline; for Tim
was known as mule tanner, and as the
one teamster who could work and fog
anything on four legs into obedience.
But the baby was unconquerable; and
after she had chewed his harness into
pulp, had eaten the hair off the names
and tails of her companions in the
team, and had broken one of Tins
ribs, Mr.. Daily returned her to the
pack train in disgust Then Slim jim
Billings took her in hand and tried her
under the saddle; but with her the un-
expected was always happening, and,
as Jim had only one neck, he sent back
the uncertain Baby to her aparejo and
pack.
became closely associated with Baby
in q camp we made in lovely spot in
the grassy bottom of the Palo Durc,
after hard, hot ride over the plains.
1t was my ill-luck to be detailed for
guard, duty which kept me many
hours in the saddle, guarding our graz
ing herd. The animals were tired and
hungry, and content 10 crop the rich
green grass over q small area. But not
so Baby. She hungered for the brown,
withered. juiceless grasses of the hills
and kept edging off there. followed by
all the fool mules In the herd, who re-
gsrded Baby as miracle of wisdom
and wickedness. II was annoying and
irritating, for was kept on the move
driving her back, and my own horse
was tired and hungry I mada nm INV