Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1897-11-04
WOODBURY., N J, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1897.


toward home, and if it turns to the
mountains, will hunt the water holes.
Hold onl'' stopping the revolving hat
and closing his eyes, he said in a very
low voice: 80 Lord, I don't know as
one cowpuncher is much object to you,
you got SO many, but never did much
dirt only to Billy, and he was SO mean
himself, it served him right. If you
will help me out of this scrape and
make the hat stop at the right place,
I'll never forget it. Amen.
Very earnestly then he balanced the
hat and set it turning. After several
revolutions it came to stop, with the
hole toward the mountains
The water holes it is then, said
he and carefully noting the direction
indicated, That's rather more to the
left than | would choose, but if you
say SO it goes. /"
Without delay, but without haste, he
made his preparations for great effort
Before deciding on course he had
whimpered little. The shock and pain
had unnerved him. There was now no
more of that. He had purpose and
meant to execute it. With bandages
made from portions of his clothing he
bound up the leg to give it some sup
port. He set his teeth down hard in a
strip of leather cut from his shoe. Then
fixing his eyes upon landmark in the
distance, which should remain in view
as he moved over the plain, he pulled
his freight.
It would fatigue you to follow this
mans trail as foot by foot and hour aft
er hour he painfully progressed toward
the water holes, tortured with thirst,
beset by doubt whether he should not
find them dry. Upon the desert man,
for lack of water, may perish in few
hours. In the cattle country they can
and do live and suffer for days without
it. This man did He was only COM
mon $40 month man. If he did not
get through, another would take his sad
die and his bunk. To the company it
mattered not at all whether the name
on the pay roll was John Doe or Rich
ard Roe. He had lived meanly, not al
ways temperately. But he had trait
common to cowboys, splendid Ameri-
can grit, and he got through. On the
third day he dragged himself to the first
of the water holes. 1t contained a small
amount of brackish and muddy water
Beside it grew a stunted willow bush.
Beneath the bush lay sleeping calf
Here were all the elements necessary to
insure his safety
The man does not remember whether
he first shot the calf or first slaked his
thirst, or when the idea occurred to
him of the perambulatory splints. But
by the time he had eaten his second
meal of veal, which followed very close
ly on the first, his plan was complete.
He thinks he devoted about "a hours to
refreshments During that time he kept
the leg in wet bandages, greatly reduc-
ing the swelling.
It was a work of time to cut down
the low branched willow with his jack
knife and to fashion cane from the
stoutest portion. From smaller branches
he made number of splints, and these
he bound about the broken leg by raw
hide thongs cut from the calfskin and
well soaked in the pool. The contrac-
tion of the rawhide in drying made a
very strong and rigid support, extend
ing from the foot to the knee. and upon
this, with the help of the cane, he
would walk. 1t was not springing 1t
was slow and painful motion. but by
contrast with the three miles achieved
in three days on hands and knees it
seemed both rapid and easy. He covered
the distance to the ranch in one day and
night, coming in just when the foreman
was calling, 'Roll out. =
The first thing he asked after the
boys had put him in bed and cut off the
rawhide was for somebody to shave him.
He had hard enough time for sew
eral weeks, but the doctor did not am
putate the leg as he at first threatened
to do. We never convinced this saw
bones, though we showed him the raw
hide splint, of the fact that the man
walked II miles on broken leg.
"Humbug, said he. No such case
on record. The thing is preposterous. .
-G. B. Dunham in San Francisco Ar
gonaut