Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1896-05-29
SHE RODE FOR FUN.

"Jim," said /, breaking in upon his
ditty, 'what was the yarn you We're GO
ing to tell about the time you engineer
ed that English hunting party through
the Bear Paw mountains2'
Wewere riding along the trail which
stretches its serpentine length at the
feet of the eternally grand old Rockies
between Forts Mcleod and Calgary on
u bright, warm afternoon in January.
When they have "chinook" out there,
sporting in its rude, boisterous, yet
withal genial fashion, through the deep
defiles of the mountains from over the
Pacific, with rumble like Niagara ut
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 il the sun has not wheeled himself
several degrees out Of his normal course
ut such season or the breath of an up.
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 bulldog" on
his horses ear before turning upon me
q pair Of glistening eyes, with black
points set in saucers Of milk, short,
impudent nose and rather weak
mouth, round the corners Of which
lurked musing smile. Then, after q
pause, he said:
"Oh, yes. Well, Littlefield was the
along-flne, spanl1in woman, good to
look at. There was another Englishman
ii great shot-called Wells, an Il mig.
ger cook, u big, slashin buck, but with
no mo- sand in him than pusillani-
nous jack rabbit. Lord, how we did
scare that poor critterl His teeth used to
chitter like 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
il ii 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 II pail o. water or fer any
other u'pos', fer the matter o. that.
You see, he was u pilgrim never been
on layout Of this sort afore, an he was
that blamed tender goat would nibble
him.
"But, l b'leeve, to talk Christian, l
was partly responsible fer his bein so
extray- ordinary skittish. He stated
oncet or twicet fer water after night to
crick quite handy, sho'tly after we
went into camp. 1 jest stepped off 10
PAGES into the pines an let IL 'yee-ow'
or two out Of me, an Jumbo, he throw
ed back his ears an yelled--tee-riffic l
tell you-an come prancin up to the
campfre-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 u north wind, an dern pail In
sight.
"After that Quaker meetin ner u
cyclone wouldn't bulge him, an IL you
asked him to put u tree between him
wolf An that womanl No-she
didn't laugh none-o-oh, no-or" And
Jim lay back in his saddle and sent q
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 IL that
they can drive or ride anything that
wears hair"--that he was passed master
in the craft Of teamsterism.
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 fanlus before resuming:
But was a-goin to tell you bout
Mis- Lifted. She was II mighty fine
woman, rs said before, an well put up
fond Of out Of door sport an Of ridin
in particle Well, one bright, warm
mornin Li'lfleld an Wells went of
huntin, IN ] got orders U was teamster
an guide to the outfit, You know to
move camp acrOsst the 'divide'-about
20 mile--in the meantime. 50, after
breakfast an 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- Li'l'feld he'd spankin
bay hoss specially fer her own use. l
hedn't no objections to her ridin, Of
co'se, not commonly. But you know it
amt Jest nice 10 be rollin down q
blamed co'kscrew mount'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 an follered the wagon
on her bay boss. 1t was unde's stood that
when was goin too fast or he'd got too
fur in the lead she would wave her
handkerchief. an was to slack up or
stop till she ketched the wagon. 30 I
lest natterly lowed I'd give her song
an dance, hevin pretty smart day
ahead o. me an wantin TO git into camp
early. Consistently told the niger
who rode with me-not TO look back.
when we stated, Of co'se the fust
ten mile or 30 was up hill mostly, an /
couldn't travel extra fast, 80 it was
bout when we hit the summit an
everything he'd went lovely. Then we
he'd a little hand out, an the descent
begun
~ didn't lose no time. The mules
Htepped ont 0ay' me a-poppin the buck