Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1893-06-02
A TEXAS LOCHINVAR.

ed, cat manned little beggar, with
blood in his eye and as many devils in
his disposition as there are cookie bu1rs
in his tail.
1 wish some Of the PEOPLE who imagine
that droyc5 Of such little beasts are the
horses generally raised on Texas ranches
could SEQ Jim NcQuoen's Cinco. His
sire was a four mile horse whose Gnces-
try ran vaguely back toward Kentucky,
and no unitea with the beauty, speed,
smooth coat, good temper and larger
size Of this stock the indomitable pluck
and hardihood and the inexhaustible
bottom Of his native Texas blood.
Jim traded five ponies for linn when
he was a raw, slim legged yearling, and
called him Cinco in commemoration.
He is 6 years old now and has never
known the feeling Of a collar. 1t is true
that if some u~niustructed outsider should
insist on putting him into harness Cinco
would probably end by kicking the We
hicle into kindling wood and himself
clean Of every scrap Of harness, but
this would be simply n contemptuous
protest. forcible explanation Of the
tact that he wasn't built to haul loads.
Cinco is the best horse in this, a coun-
try of good horses. His qualifications
and accomplishments are varied. He is
an inapproachable COW horse; a finished
expert in all the horse maneuvers incl
dent TO rounding up, roping and cutting
out; a 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 4 month ago under
circumstances of thrilling interest to 3
romance loving frontier society.
Jim is the junior partner at the
bachelor Gillespie s. Mcqueen sheep
and cattle ranch On Doggy run. Their
nearest neighbor, five miles above, is
the Austell ranch, at Crockett's well.
Miss Chummie Austell, when She came
ont to the ranch a year ago from some
east Texas school, had rs easy q walk
over of the undispu' I belleship of the
whole county as Cinco would have had
in an open race against a field of COW
ponies and without an ounce OF handi-
cap. It was jim with his good looks,
bOyish spirits, and what Wade Keener
bitterly styled his blame winnin ways"
who FIRST gained her maiden preference
and held it so long in tho face Of SO
much and such spirited, not to say des-
perate, rivalry that it looked as though
the urs of truo love might be going
to run smooth once, just to show its
west Texas originality.
But now came upon the scene the
Of discord, misunderstanding
jealousy and ~reproaches, spirited retorta
and secret tears and finally angry sepa-
ration in the person Of a sheepman's
"drifter," from somewhere Up in the
Panhandle. Spur was a most uuro-
mantle figure, about five or six feet in
height and three across, with a sort Of
air Of good fellowship about him, and
giving a vague impression somehow of
great and Astounding wealth.
Now a drifting sheepman is, gen
orally speaking, not very kindly taken
TO by cattlemen or even by sheep ranch
ers. He is a man who may have 10000,
10000 or 10000 sheep, and grow rich of
the wool and mutton without ever own.
ing a foot of land. But old man Austell
and Mrs. Austell were undeniably i'm.
pressed by the atmosphere of wealth
that went about with Spur, and wher
helaid violent siege TO Chummie's affec.
tons he got more or less support from
the family-even the boys, who were
Jim's special friends, standing off neu
trail. Jim, hurt and angry, rode over
to see Chummie and demanded tina.
she give that chump his yamos right
straight.
It's hard for a pretty girl who knows
her power TO accede gracefully anC
promptly TO an order like that, ever
from the man she loves, and the result
was an angry rupture.
For some weeks they never met, ant
oil this time Spur was staying ut Tho
Austell ranch or camping close TO it
pushing his suit with Chummie, ant
Chummie, with the indiscretion Of tn,
weaker sex, thinking to scare Jim into
repentance, allowed herself to be drawn
into a sort Of promise, which Spur i'm
mediately fastened upon, sent to Sal
Antonio for an immense diamond soil
taire, and with the support Of the ole
people hurried on the marriage, So tina.
before she realized where she stood tn,
frightened and unhappy girl was actin
ally putting Oh her wedding dress.
And Jim?
Tho season was bad, thee had beer
no rain for long, Doggy run was rui
out, the grass was dry as finder and tn,
stock was beginning to suffer. Tn,
sheep could do where they were-a wei
regulated Texas sheep can come as neal
dispensing with drinking water as
Kentucky colonel-but the cattle wer.
rounded up and started out on the trai.
for "the territory" Jim, who usually
staid with the sheep. took charge Of the
cattle this year. There was a most un.
comfortable soreness in tho region OF
his heart, which it seemed somewhat q
him might be more or less worked of IN
the toll Of managing u herd Of trail cat
tie, lamming recalcihant steers, fighting
10 keep the bunch 60 the trail ia tho face
Of @ nOrther, or struggling to prevent OF
10 quell an incipient stampede.
They had been out on the trail nearly
aweek and were pretty well MP toward