Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-10-24

VAO A0iu AuCUS VI CtIC C0SCs
As l said before, these college
grounds are on the QUEER edge of the
city. The ocean shuts ont the world
on the west. but the huge chaparral
hills roll in on the east, and out OF
these hills the jack-rabbits come
down in perfect avalanches at night
and devour almost everything that
grows
Wolves howl from these hills of
chaparral at night by hundreds, but
they do little or no harm In COMPARE
son with the innumerable rabbits
For these big fellows, on their long,
bent legs. and with ears like those of
q donkey, can cut down with their
teeth a young orchard almost In a
single night
The new college CT course had new
grounds, new bananas. oranges, olives,
all things. indeed, that wealth and
good taste could contribute in this
warm, sweet soil But the rabbits
You could not build a fence so high
that they would not leap over it.
''They are sort of Jumbo grass
hopper" said a smart boy from Bos-
ton.
The head-gardener OF the college
campus and environment grew des.
perate.
'Look here, SIR" he said to the
President ''these big cared fellows
are lazy and audaclOus things Why
can't they live up in the chaparral, as
they did before we came here to plant
frooS and try IN yDoko tho xuorld hoou
tiful? Now, either these Jack-rab-
bits must 90, or we must CO."
Every WE'LL" answered the Presi-
dent. ''Offer a reward for their ears,
and let the boys destroy them"
GLOW much reward can l offer?"
give cents apiece, l think, would
do" answered the head Of the college,
as he passed on up the great stone
steps to his study.
/ The gardener got the boys together
that evening, and said, II will give
you cents apiece for the ears of
these dreadful rabbits"
''That makes 10 cents for each rab-
bit, for each rabbit has two ears!"
shouted the smart boy from Boston.
Before the dumbtoundcd gardener
could protest, the boys had broken
into shouts of enthusiasm, and were
running away in squads and in
couples to borrow, beg, or buy fire.
arms for their work.
The smart boy from Boston, how
ever, with an eye to big profits and
a long job, went straight to the ex-
press office, and sent all the way to
the East for a costly and flrst-class
! shotgun.
The little brown Aztec Indian did
nothing of that sort: he kept by him
self, kept his own counsel. and so far
as any of the boys could find out,
paid no attention to the proffered re-
| ward for scalps.
Bill Peterson borrowed his older
brothers gun, and brought in two
rabbits the next day. The Boston
boy, with an eye wide open to future
profits to himself, went with Peter.
son to the headgardner, and holding
up first one dead jack rabbit by the
ear, and then the other. coolly and
deliberately counted off four ears
The gardener grudgingly counted
out two dimes, ana then, with a
grunt of satisfaction, carried away
the two big rabbits by their long
hind legs.
AS the week wore by, several other
dead rabbits we're reported, and de-
spite the grumbling of the head
gardner, the tumultuous and merry
students had quite a revenue. and
their hopes for the future we're high
- especially when that artillery
should arrive from Boston!
Meantime, the little brown Aztec
boy had done nothing at all. How
ever, when Friday afternoon came,
he earnestly begged. and finally Oh
tanned, leave to go down to his home
at Tia Juana He wanted very much
to see his Mexican mother, and his
six little brown Mexican brothers,
and his sixty more or less, little
Mexican cousins.
But 10! On Saturday morning,
bright and early, back came the little
Brigand, as he was soon to be called
by the boys, and at his heels came
toddling and tumbling not only his
six halfnaked little brown brothers,
but dozens of his cousins
Each carried a bundle on his back.
These bundles were long, tlnely-woven
birds nets and these nets were made
of the fibre Of the misnamed Century
plant, the agave.
This queer-looking line of bare
footed, bare-headed, diminutive be.
ings, headed by the silent little
Brigand, hastily dispersed itself along
the outer edge OF the grounds next to
the chaparral abode of the jack
rabbits and then, while grave pro-
fessors leaned from their windows,
and hundred curious white boys
looked on. these little brown fellows
fastened all their long bird nets to-
gether, and stretched two wide wings
out and up the hill.
Very quiet but very quick they
we're, and when all the nets had been
unwound and stretched out in a great
letter V far up the hill, it was seen
that each brown boy had a long,