The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-07-21
THE OLD WOMAN'S
WARNING.
sXKTHEN the hair blows loose from
wv the Old Woman's head-take
BY Sidford F. Hamp.

hXNTHEN the hair blows loose from
wv the Old Woman's head-take
care!' So say the Mexicans of San
Pedro valley--not without reason.
The "Old Woman" is the most north
erly, the highest and the toughest point
of the long serrated range which shuts
off the valley from the eastern world.
On rare occasions, usually in the late
fall, one may see a streamer of mist
drifting away like a thin cloud of smoke
from the summit of the mountain. Is
suing, apparently, out of the mountain
itself, its motion athwart the glittering
blue sky is clearly visible; and yet,
though it may thus steadily drift away
for 12 hours at stretch, it's volume
neither increases nor diminishes. The
cloud ends in midair, vanishing from
sight. Nothing comes of it. Its appear
ance, in short, though interesting, is
without signifcance-to the uniniti-
ated
The cause of this phenomenon is,
believe, that a warm breeze, striking
the slope of the mountain and being
thus detected upward, comes in con-
tact with cold stratum of air above,
when the moisture in the former is con-
verted into vapor. Then, as l suppose,
the mist, settling down again into the
lower stratum, is restored by the
warmth to it's original state and is no
longer visible.
Whatever may be the cause, however,
it is certain that the hair does some
ans head, and that when it does SO it
behooves one to take care"
Francis Allen, my uncle, had pur-
chased a ranch near the head of the San
Pedro valley. and. there | had been
spending the autumn months, when,
early in November, my cousin, Francis,
the younger, after much brooding,
Matched out an alluring plan for our
joint entertainment, namely, that we
should go off together and try for some
mountain sheep, which were known to
haunt the Businesses of the great peak.
Accordingly, with full permission from
the household authorities, away we
drove one brilliant morning, expecting
to be gone four days-one day going,
two days hunting and one day coming
back.
AS we traversed the valley we OBJ
served that a stream of mist was blow
ing away from the summit of the peak,
but, knowing nothing of the local
adage, we paid 10 attention to it until,
having arrived near the foot of the
range, we met an old Mexican sheep
herder tending one of Uncle Francis
focks, who, when he saw the rifles and
guessed our object, began to talk MeXi-
can to us with great eagerness; point
ing to the summit of the peak, shaking
his head and motioning with his hands
as though he would prevent us from
going on.
For myself, | could not understand a
word he said, and Frank. though he
did know few Spanish words, was not
much more enlightened; SO, as we could
not make out what the old man was
talking about, we passed laughingly on,
leaving the herder still waving his
hands and calling after us some seem
ingly senseless remark about the hair
blowing loose from the Old Woman's
head.
Having driven that day as high. as
we could possibly attain with wheeled
vehicle, we went into camp near creek
of ice-cold water, whose source was one
of the great permanent snow-beds far
ther up the mountain, and very early
next morning, even before "the sentinel
stars" had gone off duty, we set out over
the ridges of rock and the fields of old
snow which still interviewed between
us and the distant peak.
We had been sitting for some time
upon one of these ridges, spying about
the country through the field glass, and,
incidentally. getting our breath again,
when Frank laid his hand upon my
arm and whispered:
Tied; sheep!"
"Where? ?" asked, lowering the glass
and gazing about in all directions.
That's more than l can tell you," he
replied; but can smell en-"
i had been vaguely conscious myself
that there was familiar odor in the
air, but as soon as Frank made that re-
mark recognized that 1t was the smell
of sheep, strong and unmistakable,
We quickly arose, and, turning our
faces to the wind, walked cautiously
along the ridge, picking our way with
great care over the loose stones and
peering round the projecting corners
of the rocks as we advanced, until we
arrived at q point where a little preci-
pice barred our way. From this coign
of vantage we deserted, about 200 yards
away, band of ten "big-horns" walk
ing one behind the other across the
snow, making for the pine woods.
Ted" whispered Frank, excitedly,
"lct us try a shot from here. It's no use
following them over the snow; they
can't help seeing us. Let us both shoot
at the first one. AS soon as you are
ready I'll count three and We'll fire to-
gether."
The two rifles went off like one; the
wind blew the smoke aside, and we had
the satisfaction of seeing the sheep we
had aimed at fall forward upon its head.
1t was up again directly, however, and
the whole band, whirling about, fled for
the almost unscalable heights of the
Old Woman mountain. AS they passed
below us we saw that the wounded one,
which was rapidly being left behind by
the others, was going upon three legs;
Frank and |, therefore. scrambling
down hastily from the ridge. set off as
fast oS we oould run over The hard