The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-26
JACK-RABBIT CoURsING.
HOW the LOng-Legged Dummy" is
Hunted with Hounds in the West.


How the LOng-Legged Dummy, is
Hunted with Hounds in the West.
Il. S. Garfield. in Chicago TTmes-Herald.
A man on horse is twice a man. He
way more formidable. European officers
Know this; In clearing the streets of Paris
only cavalry are used. We call out the in
fantry of the militia and have to shoot
people. IN Europe they use the fiat of
s sTnond b hedd by IA mounted man. No un-
pact or horses. They melt before the charge
ike snow. It is the uncomfortable instinct
as possible. Some day we will grow wiser
on TINS side of the Atlantic. Just now we
nave nfty infantry companies Of militia to
one OF cavalry. Many of our militiamen
are unable to pay for the keep of a horse,
which is expensive, even If a man does the
currying and bedding with his own hands
Many others of them would not know what
70 do with horse if they had one. This is
pad, put With the trolley and the bicycle
closer to the wall there is not much chance
that It will be bettered. Five hundred
neIaded college professors, with piano-leg
calves and eighteen Inch chests, will be
lecturing upon an extinct animal and re-
constructing him for the benefit of students
from a piece of stife and front tooth.
believe that the horse is the swiftest ami
NAL in the world. One hears strange tales
of the speed of the antelope, the white
tailed fawn, the springbok, the elephant
the jack-rabbit and the wolf The fastest
of these is the American antelope, and ]
have never seen one that a good pony could
not best. AS for the rabbit or any kind OF
deer, the horse will simply run over him
Taking into consideration the fact that the
horse generally carries more than $50 pounds
or rider saddle and gun, one gets an idea
or now much superior he is. A speedy pony
Will outrun greyhound. I have seen this
tried. 1t is customary among men who use
them to give the dogs all the law possible in
order to avoid riding over them In hunt
ing with brace of very good coursing
hounds five years ago it was found that
IN fhn RoTfxr ,ioI,
would outfoot the dogs, and one of them,
gray of undoubted mustang ancestry if
given the bit would do his best to run over
them and kill them. He did not like them
They belonged to his owner and he was
jealous.
This brings me to one of the most HARM
less and exciting of American sports
coUrsing jack-rabbits with greyhounds. 1t
Is taXor1te amusement in certain parts
of the West, and the man who has tried it
never tires of it. Such mildly diverting
be recalled only with wonder that one
could ever have found anything in them.
For little while railroads and telegraphs l
and morning papers and stock reports and
promlssory notes are swept out of exist
ence Man is once more a man., escaped
from pent-up UTICA, and the whole bound
1t is early morning. The air. light and
cool. blows from the east The prairie is
starred with flowers. Far in the distance
rises lonely butte blue and ominous like
q cloud. A line of trees stands almost upon
the horiz 1ns edge, showing that their roots
are washed by a shallow stream that be-
comes deadly torrent ir, the raintime
The yellow-breasted lark carols keenly
from the grass The sparrow hawk cuts
the air with Zigzag wing. Seven are in the
party-fve men and two women. They are
we'll mounted. The horses are the small,
RE. They do not stride so far as the big
horse of the cities, but they pick it up fast
er-with marvellous swiftnesS in fact They
shall carry you at top speed until they
drop and be nothing the worse for it in a
day or two. They get little corn, which is
hTTf a how ~ flnA
nutritious grasses in the world.
The dogs are coupled-sleek graceful
beautiful creatures-and their owner holds
them by a stout cord which passes around
his wrist. Their slender limbs are CULVER
ing and thsi- eyes blaze with excitement
The greyhound IS probably the least intelli-
gent of our canine friends, but he knows
when he is wanted for the chase. 1t is his
chief dissipation. A hundred and fifty yards
ahead and slightly to the right a jack-rabbit
springs from a clump of weeds. AS he
hounds away in long, slow leaps at half
speed, he looks not unlike a fawn. His ire
mendous ears point straight upward. He is
travelling upon three feet, holding the other
and are off like a bolt from a crossbow.
simultaneously the rabbit lengthens his
stride and begins to get down to business. /
With backward glance of his prominent
dark eye, no has seen them and knows that
the race of his life is on. The pursuers are
fifty yards away and going like the wind
loosed +
The turf is springy and level as a. floor.
the quick leaps of the horse, but the eyes
are fastened upon the chase. 1t is all in
plain view. 1t could be seen two miles
away. The dogs do not give tongue. They 7
run wholly by sight Their chase is as silent
as the grave and as relentless as death.
They have put half mile behind them and
ere warmed to their work. The quarry leads
them by seventy-tive yards. They can hear
the roll of the twenty-eight hoofs behind.
Wild halloos come to them, varied by the
shrill call OF n woman; These girls OF the
West are sitting well back. with the knee
firmly crooked and the hands low. One of
them has lost her hat and her tawny hair
streams behind her like a flag.
Another quarter mile and the jack begins
TO feel that the game is worth his undivided
attention. His ears come straight back upon
his long brown body and lie puts down the
is in him, and there is a great deal. He
lengthens the gap by five yards and the
chase steadies itself. At this rate he is just
holding the dogs; The light weight on the
ten yards behind the dogs and wants to
move up and do some trampling.
-Four hundred yards in twenty seconds
and the pace is telling upon the doomed
one. His white belly is close to the ground
and he is desperately striving. but he
makes less speed. The hounds are gaining
fast They are within ten yards of him
five-three, Suddenly he whirls at right
angles. One of his foemen overturns, but
the other, older dog, whirls with him
and is hot after him. Ten more spaSmodic
leaps each shorter thar the last. ac-
curate bound by the dog, a pitiful squeak
and ali is over. Well DONE Maida! The
other dog comes up feeling ashamed and
wants to take it out on the corpse The
girl who has lost her hat drops the reinS
to twist up the tawny hair. The other,
with flushed face, is laughing wildly at a
quarter. The girthS are looSened and the
mea light cigarettes. Everybody talks dog
and talks at once A half dozen chases
make the mornings sport, but there is an
appetite for luncheon in one such ride as