Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-06-01
SHE RODE FOR FUN.

''Jim," said I, breaking in upon his
dirty, "what was the yarn you were 60
ing to tell about the time you engineer
ed that English hunting party through
the Bear Paw mountains?"
Wewere riding along the trail which
stretches its serpentine length at the
feet Of the eternally grand old Rockies
between Forts Mcleod and Calgary OH
a bright, warm afternoon in January.
When they have a "chinook" out there,
sporting in it's rude, boisterous, yet
withal genial fashion, through the deep
defiles Of the mountains from over the
Pacific, with rumble like Niagara at
distance and force which makes you
button your coat up tightly to keep it
from blowing off, the snow soon van
ishes even in midwinter, and the Their
mometer jumps from $40 below" to
temperate" SO suddenly that you Won
der if the sun has not wheeled himself
several degrees out of his normal course
at such q season Or the breath of an ap-
preaching prairie fire is not tanning
your cheek.
The singer gave the wad Of tobacco
in his jaw twist with his tongue and
aimed an amber jet at a bulldog" on
his horse's ear before turning upon me
pair of glistening eyes, with black
points set in saucers Of milk, short,
impudent nose and a rather weak
mouth, round the corners of which
lurked a musing smile. Then, after
pause, he said:
ooh, yes. Well, Littlefeld was the
chief Of the outfit, an he he'd his wife
along-fne, spankin woman, good to
look at. There was another Englishman
"a great shot-called Wells, an Mig
ger cook, big, slashin buck, but with
no mo- sand in him than pusillani-
nous jack rabbit. Lord, how we did
scare that poor critter! His teeth used to
chitter like q squirrel's; it's wonder
he didn't shake 'em out Of his big wool
ly head" Fraid of his own shadder after
night, an he'd make one any time, even
if it was pitch dark, he was so infunal
black. You might as soon git this here
buzzard head I'm a-ridin to stand on
one leg as coax that niger to mosy
outside the flare O. the campfire after
shutdown fer pail O. water or fer any
other pu'pos', fer the matter O. that.
You see, he was pilgrim never been
on layout of this sort afore, an he was
that blamed tender a goat would nibble
him.
"But, I b'leeve, to talk Christian, I
was partly responsible fer his bein SO
extray -ordinary skittish. He stated
oncet or twicet fer water after night to
a crick quite. handy, sho'tly after we
went into camp. I jest stepped off Is
PAGES into the pines all let 'yee-ow'
or two out Of me, an Jumbo, he throw
ed back his ears an rifle, I
tell you-an come prancin up to the
campfire-jest techin high spots, you
nderstand-with his two sighters stick
in out like the knobs ON the horns Of
ornery freight OK, shakin like sick
COW in north wind, an dern a pail in
sight.
CATER that a Quaker meetin ner
cyclone wouldn't bulge him, an if you
asked him to put tree between him
an the blaze after dark he'd weep like
a wolf. An that woman! No-she
didn't laugh none-o-oh, no-oW And
Jim lay back in his saddle and sent a
peal echoing up among the foothills
which shook the few lingering traces Of
soft snow from the branches Of the
spruces.
That Jim was "mule skinner" does
not imply that he was expert at remov
ing hides-in toto. Simply that he be-
longed to that select bunch of frontiers
men whose superlative boast is that
they can drive or ride anything that
wears hair''-that he was passed master
in the craft of tea1nsterism.
He adjusted the pistols in his belt,
gave forward tilt to his broad trimmed
buckskin hat and hitch to his fringed
leather chaps" and kicked his big,
jingling Mexican spurs against his cay
uses TANKS before resuming:
"But ! was a-goin to tell you bout
Mis- Lifted. She was q mighty fine
woman, as said before, all well put up
fond Of out Of door sport an of ridin
in partic lar. Well, one bright, warm
mornin Li'l'fleld an Wells went off
huntin, an got orders Il was teamster
an guide to the outfit, you know to
move camp acrosst the 'divide'-about
20 mile-in the meantime So, after
breakfast ali the dishes he'd been wiped,
we packed up the outfit an struck camp,
but it was well on in the day before we
pulled out.
"Now, Mis- Lifted he'd spankin
bay boss specially fer her own use. I
hedn't no objections to her ridin, Of
co'se, not commonly. But you know it
amt jest nice to be rollin down
blamed co'kscrew lnount'in trail after
dark an gettin into camp late an hevin
to plant yer tents an square things out,
cut yer kindlin an git yer water by cat
light an wait till 8 o'clock, mebbe, fer
yer supper. This was what he'd happen.
ed different times through Mis- LIP
field. She alters wanted to ride when
we shifted camp all follered the wagon
on her bay boss. It was unde stood that
when was goin too fast or he'd got too