The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-04-07

potatoes, bread and cottee thrice u aay
to the forty hungry men,
II wonder" said the captain one day,
as he was dlseiplining this pachyderm
for snealSlng into the feed-corral, why
God Almighty ever made horse when
a mule is so much better every way.
Now, a horse will break down If he
don't have the best of feed, or go lame
just when you want to rush the work.
But you can rely on a mule. Hard
work and hard fare exactly suits them.
They'll pull a scraper all day and be
fresh enough at night to kick driver
With a chance to roll over couple of
times when they quit work, and plenty
Of water to drink, they will never wear
out. I never saw a man that ever saw
mule die"
AT this time camp was ten miles from
water, upon a dry plain carrying no
vegetation but sparse sagebrush and
tank-wagons, and the old horse, not
getting all he needed in camp, had
learned to follow the teams to the
spring.
One morning, after the gang had
breakfasted and gone to work on the
grade, and the tankwagons could be
dlmly seen through their own dust on
| the road to the spring, Gregg's little
three-year-old son came out of the
mess-tent and crossed over to the corr
| raj, where he often played. The old
horse was there, noslng through the
hangers, and the child presently
climbed upon its back as it stood rub
| bling against a wagon. The horse paid
no heed to his little rider, and soon am
| bled off up the road after the water
wagons. The child held on tightly, at
first laughing, then crying, until he
| had been carried several miles, when
he fell off and wandered away from the
road through the brush.
| Jimmy was not missed until the men
came In from the grade for dinner.
| Then there was a hurried and unavail-
| ing search through the camp. After
dinner Mahem laid off ten teams and
sent the drivers out to make a general
search. BY mid-afternoon they re-
| turned and reported failure. Mean
| while Mrs. Gregg, who said she was
perfectly sure Jimmy would not leave
camp, had been through every tent and
overhauled every bedroll, believing
| that some man for a joke had hidden
| the boy. Mahem now took the whole
force of forty men and joined in the
quest. Under his direction the camp
was circled twice, at q distance of one
mile, and every yard of the way care
| fully examined for footprints. None
were found and Mahem said to his
men: Now your work is cut out for
you. Before dark you've got to look
under every bush inside this line, and
you're bound to find him, for he could
| not get outside without making
| tracks"
This search also was of course fruit
| less; some men came to camp at night
| fall, Others kept moving about the plain
| all night, hoping to hear the child cry.
| At daybreak the captain was in the
saddle, mounted on his fayorite mule.
! the circle, If that had been properly
made; to clear up that doubt, he meant
to make the entire round alone and out
side of the line made by the men. To
reach the starting point he rode out up
the road toward the spring, his eyes on
the ground, his mind on the problem of
| how Jimmie could get out OF camp and
| leave no trail.
by God, I've got it," said he, sud
denly, jabbing both spurs into the mule,
which responded with a gallant attempt
| to pitch him into q cactus bed '"Thut
| boy rode out on a waterwagon. His
mother Is off wrong in thinking he was
in the tent when the wagons pulled out.
He must have hung on to the tail of
the last wagon, and lay low for fear the
driver would see him and send him
back. After a while he got sleepy and
| fell off, and shall find his tracks some
where in this road. Damnation! Why
couldn't think of that yesterday"
The captain confidently urged his
mule along as fast as a scraper- mule
could be made to travel. And his con-
tidence was justified by soon picking up
the boys trail at the point where he
fell from the horse.
Abandoning now his mule, Mahem on
foot followed the torturous trail as rap
idly as he could locate it. AT times this
was quick work; again on hard ground,
it was a slow and difficult task To-
ward noon he entirely lost it on a rocky
hill and was delayed some hours, so
that it was near night when he at last
found the boy curled up beside bush.
Jimmie was very much alive, but too
| ,a11 tpy liz lnTI 10 ,N6,H
him up in some of his own clothing and
put a few drops of whiskey in his
mouth. Whiskey straight was too
strong a beverage for the child and he
choked MIX, mix" he cried family.
Mahem had brought no food with him
and had nothing to offer but whiskey
MIX" said Jimmie, again.
"All right" said Mahem, drawing a
claspknife, you shall have milk" and
he tapped a vein in his own arm,
caught the flood in the cap of his Whis-
key flash, added a little Bourbon and
gave the starving child liberal
draught. Jimmie was much strength
ened by this potion, and by midnight
was safely home again, and transferred
from Mahem's to his mothers arms.
The boy was able next day to tell
| something about his adventure, but the
captain then and always disputed the
boys story that he went out of camp on
the back of old Barney.
"a horse is low-down enough to do a
| trick like that" said he; but a horse