The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-29
PLAIN TALES OF SCARS.
THE ACT THAT SAVED THE BoTsS
oWN STONY WRITER'S FAME.

% sav the returned Cow Puncher. for the Texas
chnnter Of his career closed last umin or and
nothing remains of It now save memories and
,oars. Both are valuable TO a social man.
"Great Scotti' exclaimed the Boys' Own,
terminating over his steak. "Some of those
mass plays made you scrooge in your seat,
didn't thcy7 :"
The Poet and the Cow Puncher "scrooged"
with n puckered smile of consent to the notion.
"They'd make quick work of n man that'd 60
in there without training" said the Poet.
The Boys Own shrugged his shoulders.
"Don't 1 know that 2" he said %ruefully. See
that fngerf 1 contributed that finger nail to
nv reputation. It was painful. but necessary.
Didn't 1 ever tell you about it2 That's funny.
I thought I'd worked that tale off on everybody
I know. We'll, It was this way: rye been
writing stories for q boys paper ever since I
left college,. you know. I've done baseball
stories, and football stories, and ~boat:rnce sto-
ries, and almost every other athletic variety Of
story. Naturally. my heroes were as full OF grit
ARIZONA sand Storm" suggested the Cow
Puncher.
THAT'S right They never missed q liner;
they never made q iuke: they dropped In their
tracks at the end of q boat race-but never be-
fore the end. They were made Of iron and steel
springs. Well. by Georgel two or three years
ago, in a wild moment of enthusiasm, 1 let my
| BelI 10 pub II U u Dbll BuhlO u hGEo III JoT-
sey. and. bless mo! IL my admiring young read
ers didn't como from miles around to sec mo
play. Imagine tho situationl The youngsters
sat out on the bleachers and waited for mo to
live up to the heroes I'd been giving them. and
there wasn't a thing for me but to try to do it.
There never appears to be any Providence
that watches over the fate of MS poor writing
devils. but there was one looking out for me that
day. Possibly 1t was all n mistake and was
faEaD in ChnrOa an an athlAtA- mt an n at0rv
writer. At any rate l got on fairly well until
the game was about half through. when the man
at the bat struck q liner my way. Gee! Talk
about seeing your whole past life in q flash
What I saw, in about two seconds of time. was
my whole future life II 1 didn't catch that ball.
l knew l would be a prophet without a shadow
of honor with those little lemons over on the
bleachers. My literary life was at stake.
"Of course, 1t didn't take me this long to think
it out. 1t came over me like lightning-which 10
the only thing l know of that is quicker than
that liner-that l must stop that ball. l put up
my hands mechanically, although I'd have
given anything except my reputation to dodge.
BY some luck. good or bad. as you please. my
hands did happen to stop the ball. but IL
knocked that finger nail of in revenge. That
settled my standing as o story writer for boys.
They adored me. 1t was a painful process Of
winning fame. but successful. Luckily. too. it
was my left hand. you see. that was hurt, so that
! went right to work and turned out q baseball
story with so much local color in 1t that l 90,
500 more for it than I'd had for any Of my
others. The finger cost me $50 in DOCTORS bills.
so that made n gain of an even fifty, besides the
brace to my reputation. That wasn't bad, eh 2"
Il should say mott" remarked the returned
Cow Puncher. II wish I could see my way
TO making expenses and $50 out Of every one Of
my scars. Feel that bullet in my hand ?"
The Boys Own and the Poet pinched and
prodded until they felt a lump.
Its only a piece of a A." said the Cow
Puncher airily. Got it chasing horse thieves.
and It was the only thing l did get except o
scare. The Sheriff down there didn't have
deputies enough to do business with: SO when
ever he ran short he used to press the fellows
into service. / hadn't been there long when re
Came around for me to go out with him and
chase some thieves that had run OF some horses
the night before. Most of US were green. and
I'll bet a good deal l wasn't the only scared one
in the lot. never had seen any shooting, and I
wasn't hankering to see any. either.
I'VE came up to the fellows early in tho
morning. The Sheriff halted us and called on
them to surrender, but they got behind their
horses and began shooting instead. Did you
ever hear a bullet sing through the air and
know it was coming your way? PinR-R-g! 1t
makes YOU want to duck your head. The
Sheriff spread US out in a wide circle and told
rs ~ ehS AASs III wac lhO Iuluk L
was most anxious to do, next to running away.
l had my Winchester up just ready to fire when
a bullet struck the rifle barrel. A piece OF It
went into my hand and is there yet. The rest
plouGhed through the inside OF this arm. Tvea
Ia beautiful scar there. Sorry I can't show It to
you, but l can't get at it."
Capture the thieves ~ asked the Poet.
DO you mean me personally ?"
"Why-er-al of YOU"
"Well-perhaps ia better say that the thieves
we're captured. wasn't really in at the death.
We did kill one of them. by the way. My horse
always had q fondness for him after that. It's
ALI right for a man to tell about being so big and
anybody ever enjoyed his FIRST eSperiie Deas' of
the sort, unless the other man didn't have q
Well" said the Poet. slowly. when It comes
to beauty OF, outline and comprehensiveness OF
least -anythine to be com pared with this and
ne drew his finger along n Jagged red line which
THAT is a corker!" observed the Cow Punch.
er admiringly. How the dickens did you get
mat It looks like the track of a bit Of forked
That's ABOUT what it felt like. too. when I
his face as he refieeted. "@Annd to think that Il
never ,d Paid Z for Itself; either !" he added 49,.
isn't any proyidenee to watch over tho ways Of
But wasn't writing then. was at college
And you didn't marry her know that"
You didn't marry her and yet You say there
wasn't a providence watching over you, oh.
ingratitude :"
"ol, stop that said the Cow Puncher. dis
gustcd. Three years in Texas and Arizona alter
a mans Jokes as we'll as his complexion"
T4e Poet paid no attention to either OF them.
1t was a glorious winter night" he said.
Not a moonlight night. People MAKE a mis-
take when they go about always raving about
moonlight In winter. Give me a clear, frosty
Ar, with the stars glowing in a blue-biack sky.
ns on the river. The woods were shadowy
Along the banks. and even the ice seemed dark,
lNd come late, and the crowd had scattered be-
! got there. Two or three fellows were sitting
the fire kicking holes In the Ice. had
skates on IN a jlfy. and then l stood around
mlnute trying to get my pluck up TO asking
Nhere she was. One OF the fellows looked up
ma began TO gny me. He said she had gone up
ne river with u fellow who, by the way. was
The Boys Own winked in return Of the Cow
'uncher's annie