Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-11-16
JIM M'QUEEN'S BRIDE
BY ALICE MCGOWAN.

cat manned little beggar, with blood in
his eye and as many devils in his dispo-
sition as there are cockle- burrs in his
tail.
wish some of the people who imagine
that droves OF such little beasts are the
horses generally raised on Texas ranches
could see Jim McQueen's Cinco. His sire
was four mile horse whose ancestry ran
vaguely back toward Kentucky, and he
unites with the beauty, speed, smooth
coat, good temper and larger size of this
stock the indomitable pluck and hardi-
hood and the inexhaustible bottom of
his native Texas blood.
Jim traded five ponies for him when he
was a raw, slim-legged yearling, and
called him Cinco in commemoration. He
is six years old now and has never known
the feeling Of a collar. 1t is true that if
some uninstrueted outsider should insist
on putting him into harness Cinco would
probably end by kicking the vehicle into
kindl ng wood and himself clean of every
scrap of harness, hut this would be sim
ply contemptuous protest-a forcible
explanation OF the fact that he wasn't
built to haul loads.
Cinco is the best horse in this, coun-
try of coed horses. His qualifications
and ocomplshments are varied. He is
an inapproachable COW horse, finished
expert in all the horse maneuvres Incl
dent 10 rounding up, rolling and cutting
out; perfect mine OF endurance and
good spirits on the trail, and always
wins all the long distance and handicap
races at the county fair. He won his last
handicap about a month ago under cir
cumstances of thrilling interest to a ro-
nance loving frontier society.
Jim is he junior partner at the bache-
Tor Gillespie q Mcqueen sheep ranch on
Doggy Run. Their nearest neighbor. five
miles above, is the Austell ranch, at
Crockett's we'll. Miss Chummie Austell,
when she came out to the ranch a year
ago from some east Texas school, had as
easy walkover of the undisputed BELLE
ship of the whole county as Cinco would
have had in an open race against a field
OF COW ponies and without an ounce of
handicap. 1t was Jim, with his good
looks, boyish spirits, and what Wade
Keener bitterly styled " his blame winnin'
ways" who first gained her maiden pre-
ference and held it so long in the face of
so much and such spirited, not to say
desperate, rivalry that il looked as though
the course OF true love might be going to
run smooth once, just to show its west
Texas originality.
But now came upon the scene the cause
OF discord, Misunderstanding, jealousy
and reproaches, spirited retorts and Sc
cret tears and finally angry separation in
the person OF sheepman's "drifter"
from somewhere up in the Panhandle.
Spur was a most unromantic figure,
five or six feet in height and three across,
with sort of air of good fellowship about
him, and giving impression somehow Of
great and Astounding wealth.
Now drifting" sheepmsn is, gem
orally speaking, not very kindly taken to
by cattlemen or even by sheep ranchers.
He is a man who may have 10000, Is, 900
or 1000 sheep, and grow rich OFF the wool
and mutton without ever owning a foot
Of land. But old man Austell and Mrs.
Austell we're undeniably impressed by the
atmosphere of wealth that went about
with Spur, and when he laid violent
siege to Chummi les affections be got more
or less support from the family-even the
boys, who were Jim's special friends,
standing off neutral. Jim, hurt and an-
cry, rode over to see Chummie and de-
handed that she give that chump his
vamos right straight.
It's hard for pretty girl who knows
her power to accede gracefully and
promptly to an order like that, even from
the man she loves, and the result was an
angry rupture.
For some weeks they never met, and all
this time Spur was staying at the Aus
tell ranch or camping close to 1t pushing
his suit with Chummie, and Chummie,
with the indiscretion of the weaker sex, |
thinking to scare Jim into repentance, |
allowed herself to be drawn into a sort |
OF promise, which Spur Immediately |
fastened upon, sent to San Antonio for |
an immense diamond solitaire and, with |
the support of the old people, hurried on
the marriage, so that before she realized
where she stood the frightened and un-
happy girl was actually putting on her
wedding dress.
And Jim?
The season was bad, there had been no
rain for long, Doggy Run was run out,
the grass was dry as finder and the stock
was beginning to suffer. The sheep could
do where they were--a well-reg
Texas sheep can come as near dispensing
with drinking water as a Kentucky colo
nel-but the cattle were rounded up and
Started out on the trail for " the terri
tory" Jim, who usually stayed With the
sheep, took charge OF the cattle this year.
There wasa most uncomfortable soreness
IN the region of his heart, which it seemed
somewhat to him might be more or less
worked of in the toll of managing herd
81 trail cattle, lamming recalcitrant
steers, fighting to keep the bunch to the
trail in the face of 8 norther, or strug-
Cling to prevent or to quell an incipient
Stampede.
They had been out on the trail nearly
Z week, and were pretty well up towards
the State line when Bob English rode
INTO their camp one evening. After sup
per, when Jim's two cowboys were out
sioing around the herd, getting them
bedded down for the nigh Bob remarked
eonfidentialIy to Jim: 1.-The weddin s a.
soming Of next Thursday. You done
the very thing to jest skip. She's sorry
enough-. Good God, Jimi thought
You knew all about it'll"
In turr lin WAS far from /