Middletown transcript., 1897-10-23

dOiQ Oil" stopping the reV0lVinR Dat
and closing his eyes, he saidsin ve:y
low voice: tOh, Lord, doh' know as
ore cow~puncher is much oil 'ctteyou,
you got 80 many, but | never did much
dirt, only to Billy, and he was 81 mean
himself it served him right. II you
will help me out Of this ecrape and
make the hat stop at the right place
IN never forget it. Amer"
Very earnestly then he balanced the
bat set it turning. After several revo-
lutians it came to a stop, with tbs hole
toward the mountains.
"The water-holes it is, them" said
he, and carefully noting the direction
indicated: "that's rather more to the
lef; than l would choose, but if you
say so, it goes"
Without delay, Tut without haste,
he made his preparations foI the great
effort. Before deciding on course he
had whimpered little; the shock and
pain had .unDerved him. There was
now no more Of that. He had pur-
pose, and meant to execute ii. With
bandages made from portions of his
clothing, he bound up the leg 10 give
it some support. He set his teeth down
hard in q. strip of leather cut from
his shoe, then fixing his eyes upon a
landmark in the distance, which should
remain in view as he moved over the
plain, he "pulled his freight"
1t would fatigue you to follow this
mans trail, as foot by foot and hour
after hour be painfully progressed to-
ward the water-holes-Lortured with
thirst, beset by doub, whether he
should not End them dry. Upon the
desert man, for lack of Water, may
peri sh in few hours. In the cattle
country they can and do live and suf-
fer for days without it. This man did.
He was only common fOrty-dOllar-a-
month man. If he did not get through
another would take his saddle aud his
bunk. To the company it mattered not
at all whether the name on the payroll
was John Doe or Richard Roe. He had
lived meanly; not always temperately.
But be had trait cUmnun TO co" boys,
a splendid American grit, aud he got
through. On the third day he dragged
himself to the first of the water-holes.
1t contained small amount of brack-
ish and muddy water. Beside it grew a
stunted willow bush. Beneath the
bush lay a sleeping calf. Here were all
the elements necessary to insure his
safety. To work it out was matter of
detail.
The man does not remember whether
he first shot the calf or first slaked bis
thirst, nor when the idea occurred to
him of the perambulatury splints. But
by the time he had eaten his second
meal of veal-which followed very
closely on the first-his plan was COM
plete. He thinks he devoted about "a
hours to refreshments. During that
time he kept the leg in wet bandages,
greatly reducing the swelling.
1t was O work Of time to cut down
the loW-branched willow with his jack.
knife and to fashion cane from the
portion. From smaller branch
es he made number of splints, and
these he bound about the broken leg
by rawhide thongs cut fIom the calf
skin and well soaked in The pool. The
contraction of the rawhide in drying
made very strong and rigid support,
from the foot 10 the knee,
and upon this, with the help Of the
cane, he would walk. II was Lot
springing, it was slow and painful mo-
tioD, but by contrast with the three
miles achieved in tire, days ou hands
and knees it seemed both rapid and
easy. He covered the di>tance to the
ranch in one day and night, coming in
just when the foreman was calling,
'Roll outl"
The first thing he asked, after the
boys had put him III bed and cut off
The rawhide. was Tor somebody to
shave him.
He had hard enough lime for sew
eral weeks, but the doctor did not am
putate the leg, as he at liIst threatened
to do. We never convinced this SAN
bones, though we showed him the raw
hide splint, of the fact that the man
walked eleven miles on u broken leg.
"Humbug!" said he. mo such case
on record. The thing is preposterous.