The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-07-03

longer sustain the enga cement. Drip
ping with blood and sweat, nearly dead
with fatigue, and entirely shorn of his
pride. he finally succumbed, and per-
mitted himself to be guided about at
the riders will. A heavy-throated cheer
burst from the crowd, and Curlew,
rather pale and weak, but ever Smil-
ing, was rapturously dragged from the
saddle and carried into Dillon's, an in
ert monument of glory to his merry
and demonstrative friends.
After the hero, his worshipers, the
antagonistic party, and all outsiders
had been duly refreshed which reQuir-
ed some little time, we bent ourselves
again to the matter in hand, and pre-
pared to witness the second bout of
the man against horse battle.
] There was almost as wide q difference
in the appearance of the two riders as
between the bay and the buckskin. The
/ south valley champion was much short
! er than Curlew, and better knit. If l
had not seen the confusing dexterity of
the lanky, red-haired boy, should have
esteemed this the likelier man. His
movements were alert, and he showed
much experience; in complexion almost
! black, with bearded and somewhat
sinister face-"Charley Rawlins, late av
N'Mexico, an bad whin he's drinkin', -
as Dillon catalogued him.
The buckskin pony remained in his
downcaSt posture and allowed the New
Mexican to straddle him INTERESTINGLY,
merely cooking his hairy ears-one for
ward and the other back-and watching
behind through the tail of his Slitted
eye. l was standing alongside old Joe
during this peaceful overture, and not
ed the old mans chuckle, grim and
ominous.
Charley led his mount out from the
corral to the fiat, and jamming his
firely worked Mexican hat down over
his eyes, vaulted cleanly to his seat.
The yellow pony walked up Immediately
and took the buck, not wildly and fe-
rociously, as the bay had done, but in
calm, matter-of-fact sort of way that
convinced one it was his natural gait.
Just as another horse might have gall
lored or trotted, so did this beast buck,
and for two blessed hours maintained
the pace without a falter. Nor in all
that heartbreaking period did his lineal
progress exceed 100 yards 1t was most
astonishing, not one Superfiuous move
ment was made, he simply kept on and
on, each jump being almost semi-cir-
cular, that is, landing with his head
where his tail had started from, and
vice versa
This is what the cowpunchers call
changing ends, and it is not difficult to
imagine the effect of such a protracted
merry go-round sensation on the rider
The bucking was neither high nor fierce,
but the strain of that continuous swirl
must have been racking. There was one
slight variation which the scrubby
bucksl5in allowed himself in his sys-
TEN, though this was of such nature
as to be rather disconcerting to rider
with head already far from steady. 1t
was to turn in the air after the usual
fashion, but instead of alighting on
stiffened legs, to fall clumsily on one
side, the pony saving himself by bend
ing foreleg back under him. 1t was
an ugly trick to evade, and the black
New Mexican must have been clear grit
to hold his own so long. His face grew
pallid and drawn, and after a while his
stomach revolted.
At the close of the second hour he
was helpless; his will was still in the
thing, but his body was limp and inef-
fective, and the blood trickled from his
nose and ears. The pony still worked
with the monotonous regularity of a
steam exhaust, and. the end was I'M
cUestionably near.
When it came, the man sprawled to
one side, and the horse Immediately
lapsed into his usual dropping attitude
of watchful sleepiness. Some of us ran
to assist RawlinS, who lay just as ne
had fallen, too weak to rise. But he
waved US back; his face was malignant
with shame and anger. and distorted by
pain; altogether, with the pallor and
the blood-streaked beard, he was not
an exhilarating sight. Rolling over to
his side, he raised himself partially on
an elbow. and before We could close in |
on him, had drawn his Colts and fired. |
The big gun spoke, sharply, and with !
a moan that was almost human the |
bucksIin pony lurched heavily to the |
ground
We reached Rawlins in time to take |
the smoking revolver from his nerve
less grasp, but, as he fell back again, |
l heard him mutter, thickly: There, |
curse We; y mud-skinned hell-houndl |
Yell wear no more men out!"
The PROSTATE bronco busters friends
had taken him up, and Dillon was in
the midst of a brilliant address, award
ing with much ornate language the
purse to Curley, when an incident in