The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-06-12
ants niece thu hiiek bBard was iii sight

by = O'Clock the long, tRlM procession
of bucks and sluaws which had been
the fence 81 black WING IS corral. The
dusky heads capped the Pointed birch
slabs us if they were spiked. Excepting the
M0notOnOus lMuMhling of 1000 gutteral
voices, the crowd was remarkably quiet.
Some of it was squatting indolently OH
sleepy ponies, but most. Of it was afOOt
IN yellow aud gray and red blankets and
lil-httlng cNtAwAy coats ind buckskin
hreeches, and cast-off cavalry raiment.
Against the fence, near the long bar gate,
the post ambulance was drawn mp, and
i on top of it, in camp chairs, under red
and white parasOls, sat the colonel and
his wife, and the post adjutant and Mrs.
urquhart, the suffers wife-and n black
eyed girl. under a big leghorms hat. She
looked down with studious tranquility
along the rows of ugly faces sturned to-
ward her, or watched the dozen steers
that We're grazing lazily in the center of
the corral. She was getting some more
of that experience which her parents had
told her would be unconventional and
already she was thinking how much of it
she would send them on grayish blue
paper in Il small square envelope that
strong smell of Indian that was every
where in the the air. e =
Presently: the mumbling along the
fence grew louder, and as the bar gate
was slowly showed open and six bucks
rode in bareback Oh q lope, it swelled
into lusty shouting. Two of the riders,
in tight, Bonded buckskins and flannel
and toed In. Another, the brawniest of
the batch, had three speckled feathers
in his hair and sat his pony asif he were
posing for a photograph. That was
According to custom, the riders swung
to the right and ca1ltered down around
the corral and buck to the gate, waking
up the herd and saluting the, party OIL
the ambulance with waving of hands,
along the fence. Then there was d
lnll, which fell to dead silence while
Black Wing raised his broad bowie as
high as lie could reach, uttered piercing
coyote cfys and charged into the herd,
He btre down OH the beast with the
longest h6rils; aid ,ded1t it d. sWb6ping,
savage cr9hSghing blow behind the, sheul-
little, brandished his dripping knife, did
sprang in again.
The show had now beguii: A mighty
hurrah went up front the crowd along
the feice us. all the riders closed hi fol
the fight and slaughter; and while they
punched and slashed Din left Aiid right;
and spattered themselves with hot blood;
the applause broke into frantic screech-
ing, aid the 1000 spectators JUMPED ip
and down and waycd their hands and
dug their dirty nails Into the fence fuf
JOY:
Two steers dropped on their knees and
toppled over. The crazy herd SEEMED to
understand, and made furious dish
for the lower end of the corral, cariie to-
gether, Rugged the fence and stampeded
in sheer terror, with the ponies on \ run
at their Gathering heels i'll a cloud of
dust. If YOU have iiever seen uletding
Texas, cattle sfampedt, With THEFT; lohg.
horned heads shaking frahtically close to
there is at least one kind Of EXCITEMENT
You haven't experienced. The herd was
rounding. past the gate; we'll punched;
when suddenly there went up from a long
the fehce d fell .that split the aif. Ole
of the bucks with red cdlicB bh his head
had been pitched ffoni his Ioiiy: Sand.
ham had warned Mix that sHis tick1ish
pony might throw him; and WhaH be
saw the boy lying DIT tie lower end of
the corral ,ih q heap, iiotionless, with
the frenzied herd aimed straight DIT him,
paint. AS he swung away from the
bucks and kicked his poiiy iht6 d, dead
run, the crowd quit screechifig; aid with
jaws set watched him race 10 beat the
plunging herd. At seventy-fve yards
he passed it. Six .leiigths farther he
threw himself full length half jff his
pony's back, swooped out and down,
snatched a. handful of Mix's shirt and
took up the race again, Juggling 155
magnificent showing of skill and nerve
and the crowd said so at once with an
outburst of shrieking that increased to q
panic when it realized that both bucks
were white inch. Snndhn1ii's shirt was
ripped to his waist, anil Mix's bioiide
head was bare, to say nothing Of the
plaster of sand and grass Oil his face
where the paint wasn't rubbed off. Tie
willing little beast that bore them was
badly frightened, and Sandman :,ould n't
stop him until SOME time litter Mix had
been dropped in Il lump near the aribu=
lance
The boy was unconscious. He was q
hard-looking case. lying there Hat on his
back. with clcnched fists. The colonel
felt him all over, swearing violently; and
said that his left leg was broken below
the knee: They turned the seats over in
the ambulance, and laid him but Oil the
rubber mattress, with the suffers wife's
shawl for a pillow. When he came tt
his senses Miss Corliss. was wiping his
face with one hand, and holding d bottle
of smelling salts to his hose with thu
other.
"Y9u're good creature" he said
weakly. "Where are we? Where's
DorrieY'
Hes on the box with the driver
Miss Corliss answered. There was q
slight quiyering in her voice. "He said
that l would know best how to take
care Of you. We are about half way t.
the post, l should think" i
There was a look of surprise on the
face of the sentry at the guard house as
the colonel and his party rode into the
post in the suffers blackboard, behind q
pair Of steaming mules. And by the
at the hospital. and the ambulance had
arrived, everybody knew the story and
accounted Sandman hero. In the mes,
room Of ID Company he was voted fiji
for a brevet captaincy, and Miss Cor
liss and her smelling salts were unani
mously Recommended for the Red Cross
After twenty. days the post surgeon
on the hospital veranda. During the
long, balmy June evenings, when the Biz
moon shimmered down across the parade
ground, Sandman used to sit beside hin
i'll the shadow. and they would listen II
the banjo ditties that .foated up the bill
from the barricks of the Ninth.
One evening Mix was dwelling Al
length on the excellencies Of the girl
and wound UP. 50: -
'Do you. Know, Dorrie,' he said. 81
really like that girl. What would 70,
say, if-wcll-if should take three
months leave and marry: her!' 4 -.
~ shouldn't think much Of the girl
Sandman answered II found out to
day that she WAS engaged" =. - =
Mix eased his leg a little and ex
claimed: -
.'The devil, you say" -
Fact" said Sandman. = ''She's en-
gagged to e."-The Black Cat. y
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