Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-07-13


! tougher'n dry camp, quicker'n chain
] hghtnin', 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 Molki
squaw. I kinder TUX shine to her at
| fust an serter put coincidence in her,
| an now Pm limpin' round with a busted
knee; consarn her Greaser hide"
Later on Baby and her sore-backed
| companions were sent to Sante Fe,
| under the charge of Corporal Jack
Doyle and four men; but somehow
| Baby got lost on the road, and though
a stout affidavit took her of 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 Tucumcari
mountain beyond Fort Bascom, where
| some Mexican carretas were corralled.
| The Mexican stock was herded not far
| from ours, and as I 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. It 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 We're we'll off the staked
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 knack
| of rolling on the prairie and wreclzing
| the whole fabric. driving her packer
| into paroxyslns 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; every body
| OH 11,haI ho, bo l.; oil
men and mules; her grain was stinted,
but she grew fat; her pack was over
| loaded, but she simply rolled it into
| wrecllage, driving her masters insane;
| and she lived and thrived, feared by
her kindred, detested by man. She
was transferred eXperimentally from
| the pack train tC Tim Daily's six-Inule
| team, as 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 I'M
| 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 a camp we made in lovely spot in
the grassy bottom of the Palo Duro,
after a hard, hot ride over the plains
It 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 to crop the rich
green grass over a 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-
garded Baby as a miracle of wisdom
and wickedness. It was annoying and
irritating, for was kept on the move
driving her back, and my own horse
was tired and hungry. 1 made up my
mind to give her a lesson and sur
prise, and approached her cautiously,
swinging my lariat with an iron picket
pin on the end of it. L intended to
break her ribs with that continuance,
and she apparently did not observe my
dppTOdCu. 1HdI > where mace MIS-
take. A mule can see in seventy differ
emit directions at once, and 1 am con-
vinced that Argus was a mule Baby
knew was coming and was laying for
me, so to speak. When l was within
striking distance Baby appeared to
stand on the tips of her ears, her hind
legs famed the air for brief moment
and then shot out straight, striking my
booted leg like combined thunderbolt
and meat ak, giving me a shock that
made me faint and sick at the stomach.
Then she squealed gently and moved
into the thick of the herd.
rocked in the saddle nursing my leg,
filing the valley with language, and
then in an agony of pain rolled from
the back of my horse to the grass,
while Tom Mulhan roared till the tears
rolled down his face watching me- L
thought my leg was smashed, for the
sharp hoof had cut through bootleg,
trousers, socks, and underclothing into
the bone. I was lame for a month, and
the many clubbings I gave her seemed
to affect Baby very little and did not
take the pain from the wound. With