The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1896-11-04
BIDDY'S ADVENTURE.

that Henry Howard Burke could be
more kinds of a fool than any other
man in Carson County. Robert, be-
ing the only man on that range who
answered to no nickname nor sub
title, is an authority l feel bound to
respect.
When young Mr.. Burke, fresh from
an Eastern school, came westward to
grow up with the country, tho live
stock interest was just then paramount,
and all the boys expected to become
cattle kings. SO, some weeks after
closing his school-books, Henry found
himself taken on trial ns horse wrnng
ler on cattle-ranch, where his nsso-
ciatcs promptly dubbed him 'llen.
He did not like t,and said 80. Where
upon Robert informed him that if
Hen didn't please him, he should he
called Hen no more. "Your name is
Biddy." And Roberts decision was
final.
Like colt in harness. Biddy
thrashed about good bit before he
became somewhat adapted to his en-
vironment. Ho was the butt OF all
the old jokes, the victim of the usual
impositions, until greener man APP
peured, when he settled down to the
routine of his work like the other
men, except that he usually did the
unexpected thing, and reached his
ends by devious and difficult ways.
1t was on tho occasion of his taking
n short cut over rough mountain,
with the horse herd, to save couple
of miles of smooth road around the
point, that Robert first made the re-
mark set down at the beginning. /
have an idea that Biddy's versatility
in folly was the result of his greater
intelligence. Robert himself prob
ably knew just enough to be fool in
two ways; while, with no more effort,
Biddy had the choice of half dozen.
But never mentioned this Wow to
Robert.
The chief work of the horse wrang-
ler is to Craze the saddle horses at
night and bring them into camp at
dawn, where each man selects his
mount for the day. One. early even
ing thunder shower caused the bunch
to drift away from camp, and as the
clouds began to break, and here and
there a star showed through, Biddy
realized he had lost his bearings.
Robert said afterward that any other
man would have held the bunch right
there until morning and turned them
into camp half au hour late. But
Biddy had another way. Catching
sight of Antnres through the clouds,
he recognized it for the north star,
and knowing he had drifted south-
ward in the rnin, he drove his herd
for half the night toward the South
Pole, and was half the day getting
| back.
And that was the beginning of his
carrying compass. On his first trip
to town, he bought pocket compass,
| nd ha Il hA
veyor that the local variation of the
needle was thirteen degrees east. Thus
armed and equipped, he felt himself
equal to any emergency, and he got
along smoothly enough until Robert
broke his leg.
1t was "mighty bad break" the
foreman said; Stocked like tue bone
was crushed"
Biddy was sent off post haste for n
doctor. He took hurried lunch, he
took the best horse in his string, he
took his compass--and that was the
last seen of Biddy until the third day.
His orders were to ride forty miles to
town, get the doctor, and be back in
eight hours.
think Biddy might have made ii
in that time but for the compass and
his saddle. Experimentally, he had
used the compass with success. and he
now had no doubt that it would lead
him into the town by midnight.
But the saddle he rode had broken
iorn, which was mended with soft
iron. AS Biddy rode along, he lit a
match from time to time, and con-
suited the compass. The night was
windy, and to protect the light he held
1t and the compass close down along
side Of the saddle horn, where the
iron deaectcd the needle six to ten