The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-24
DICK ROGERS.

Ndru over twenty miles of unbroken prairie,
Is pair of mountains of such regular shape
that mans handiwork and the pyramids are
the ideas suggested. After stop at the lit
tie town at the foot of the pass. where the
heavy mountain engine is discarded for one
or lighter build, the traveller soon gets
view of these twin mountains that dispels
all idea of their having been built like
Cheops As the train whirls by under their
very shadows he sees their massive rock
formation and that the dark. irregular
streaks down their sides are jagged can
yons, heavily timbered with pine and cedar.
nave more than passing acquaintance
with these two peaks. One Westerner could
accurately describe them to another by say
ing that they are two sugar loaves on
mesa" Their common base is a tableland,
edged with the usual rim rock This makes
of many tableands in that part of the coun-
try natural pastures. Part of this mesa
forms a perfect pasture of ten or twelve
thousand acres and it's slightly rolling sur
face is only broken by these two sugar
scaves that rise abruptly like the center
piece in a cake pan. A canyon opening out
on the prairie to the south and one opening
out to the north almost separate the two
peaks and form the most accessible road
for travelling horsemen. A kindly disposed
way through the rim rock with giant pow
der, incidentally to afford nearer road to
town for those living on the south side,
but principally to keep them from going the
regular road around, which invaded the pri-
Vacy of his own ranch. / tried the blasted
road once with an empty wagon, but after
that was content to take the longer way
and brave my unneighborly ranchmans
frown. He was an ex-carpet-bagger from
''Arkansaw." anyhow.
1t was while 1 lived at the head Of the
canyon that opened out to the south that
] became acquainted with Dick Rogers.
Charlie Granville and / stationed there
one winter to look after neighboring stock
In general, and stock confined on the mesa
pasture in particular. Water was scarce,
and it was part of our duty to see that all
water holes were kept open during cold
snaps and that new stock now and then put
on the mesa were introduced often enough
to the water troughs to become acquainted
with their whereabouts. These troughs
were fed by springs and were easily kept
free from ice. 1 said part of our duty"
but, to tell the truth, 1 would be seriously
embarrassed if asked to tell the other part.
All can say to those who have not lived
on a ranch is that you will never find a
ranchman who has not lot of work laid
out to do"
l did not become as intimately acquainted
with Rogers as 1 wished, for l left the coun-
try abruptly while he was still in our neigh
borhood, and when 1 returned 1 learned,
much to my disappointment, that his de-
parture had been even more abrupt than
mine. Granville and / had scarcely got set
tied down in our winter quarters, which
consisted of a slab-sided shanty made of a
wagon load of lumber and a roll of tar pa
per, when rumor reached us from the lit
tie town at the foot of the pass that gem
tlemanly desperate had dropped in on the
inhabitants from seemingly nowhere and yet
everywhere, and was holy terror to evil
doors We knew what that meant. The
town had more than the average Western
towns share of gamblers and bad men. She
did not have BAT" Masterson, but she had
his brother; she did not have Mace" Bow
man or CLAY Allison, for they had al
ready passed in their checks but she had
plenty of the stripe, and her own sheriff
was proprietor of a faro layout, and his
deputy was selected from the gamblers
The business men of the little town were
playing second fiddle to the gamblers They
were growing tired of it, but they lacked
organization and leader. Rogers dropped
in and limited around among the merchants
that he had it in" for about half the gam
blers In that town, and If they would give
him little countenance he would clean
them all out, just for the fun of it. Rogers
was man who inspired confidence that
is, If he said he was going to do a thing
you had only to catch a ray from his eye
and glimpse at his tightly drawn lips to
be confident that he would do what he said
he would do. No one seemed to care to scan
III IL o1xry
drop in the scanning business. One could
not look curiously at him without fear of
offending him or of being looked to the bot
tom a spring. During the month or six
weeks that he lived with Granville and me
In our shanty-which was a temporary hid
ing place he sought on account of his hav-
ing been little forward in killing one of
his men before he had quite organized the
crusade had a chance to get many de-
taehed looks at him. He was trifle below
the medium height and squareiy built, with
out being too heavy. His eyes were rather
small, dark and piercing. His nostris were
slightly pinched and his mouth straight.
with thin lips and short black mustache
Withal, his features would have admitted
him into the ranks of the handsome had
MS expression not been sinister He was
considerably provoked over the indscretion
Aie'uc IL dQNlSdDlG lOf MIN TO leave
the town before he had fairly accomplished
his object, but he took his exile in a fairly
good-natured way. He said the trouble
would soon blow over and he would go
back to the town again. He sought harbor
in our neighborhood because he happened to
know cowboy who lived near us. along
with his father and mother. sister and
brother. This was an old Virginia family
that had moved out into the West soon
after the war had left them bankrupt They
We're full of Southern fire and hospitality.
They sympathized with anybody that had a
grievance. Their ranch was out on the
prairie. where distant view could be had
in any direction, and this just suited Rog-
ers During the week he stayed with this
family his vigil was constant and untiring
No living thing approached that ranch but
that Rogers was the first to know The
whole family recognized in this man one
who was entirely unacquainted with fear.
And while they admired him and his I'M
doubted courage, they were i'll at ease dur
ing his stay. They feared that in the event
OF posse coming to arrest him they them
selves would be endangered. The mother
and father were chiefly solicitous about
their daughter comedy young girl. whose
sympathy easily enough went out for their
daring visitor and who did not thank her
parents for their hints that he had better
leave them. He was asked once what he