Evening journal., 1899-06-14
II Race HmcnO Border TcIk

A WOMAN is considered by the or
"A binary Indian as he would his Guy
use or dog. That is mistake, The
woman sometimes asserts herself.
Then there is trouble.
1t was the first week in July. In the
broiling hot sun of a northwest sum
mer there had come across the Battle
river the Blackfeet, the Sarcees, the
Piegans, and their cousins from Mon
tana, with the swiftest horses of the
south, to try conclusions on the race
track with their hereditary enemies,
the great Cree nation, as THIS Lad Gone
in other daysin bloody foray and fierce
" fought battle before the white man
came. And the white man was there,
racing, betting and haggling over con-
ditions in the Lingua Franco he had
picked up from the half breed. And the
half breed found, perhaps on that race
track the only place where his dual ma
ture gave him an advantage over both.
For four or five days there had been
racing from daylight to dark, handi-
caps, private races, tribe races. races
according TO the programme. races Of
all kinds and at all times. Anyone
wanting race could be accommodated.
and many wanted. The fever of the
race possessed white, red and mixed.
1t was a saturnalia of sport.
All night long, in the hundreds Of
tepees throughout the bluffs which sur
rounded the beautifully level plain that
did duty as the course. the games of
skill and chance. from the legerdemain
of the Cree stick game to draw poker.
went on to the accompaniment of the
tom-toms.
Lying in a shack, half a mile away,
on the outskirts of the settlement, the
American could tell by the time of the
monotonous Indian drums whether the
stakes were high or the play was fast
and furious. The Englishman dropped
in after midnight. lie had bought him
self out Of the mounted police a few
weeks before; said barracks were dull
that the Canadian Pacific railway had
knocked all charm out Of western life,
and that he was going cast. lie knew
the American and made him get up
he wanted to talk TO him. When the
Englishman talked. which was seldom
he was worth listening TO, and The
American got up. Before the English
man had finished, he had dressed him
self
And then they went out and stole q
horse.
The fact that the horse was the prop
erty Of the major commanding a trooI
of the Northwest mounted police added
piquancy to the theft. The American
who was a lawyer and had legal con
science. called it borrowing" Th'
Englishman said he didn't care n RAJ
what 1T was called. the majors hors'
was the only thing in the district OF
four legs that could beat Grey Wolf
Pinto mare. and they had to have him
Grey VOLTS Pinto was known far be
yound the Blackfeet, and the American
suggested that even the majors trool
horse hadn't speed enough. grain-fe'
though he was, and he limited some
thing about doping the mare under tn
circumstances. The Englishmal
loved a horse, and as they strobe alonl
in the moonlight toward the gate o
the palisaded police fort. he said tina
doping a horse was worse than murder
that he wouldn't be a party 10 1t, an
that the girl wouldn't do it for 5
Pierres, anyway; she had been brough
up with the Pinto, andh he believed love
the pony.
Then the Englishman went and lie
to the sergeant of the guard. and hint
ed mysteriously about an Indian risin
and his secret mission, as an old police
30. Il
patches to fort 80 miles away. An
the sergeant felt fattered at bein
taken into the confidence of his chic
and was duly impressed with the ide
of an Indian rising; the said hope h'
ing the something that keeps the rec
coated riders of the plains alive; an
he told the gate and stable sentries nc
to say anything about the absence {
the majors horse or the major woul
be mad.
The Englishman and the America
then took the majors horse away an
painted out a beautiful white star
his forehead and the three white stool
ings and the brand mark. The Anne
Jeans artistic temperament w;
aroused. and he wanted to paint
white star on his breast and throw
a few flourishes on the hind quarter
but the Englishman said he only wan
ed him disguised enough TO pass on,
through q crowd, and then If the m
ior found out he didn't care-an e
ceedingiy small amount. The maj;
wouldn't miss him until after the rae
as there was no parade in the mornir
and the sergeant was impressed Wi
the Indian-rising idea.
1t was late in the afternoon when Il
race between Grey VOLTS Pinto al
the Englishman's unknown was Gale
Every other event had been dwarft'
into insignihcance; for wasn't Il
swiftest pony of the south at Ia
matched? And there was a strani
story being whispered around regar
ing the stakes. The Englishman. so
was said, had wagered ten gallons
IL donc mot orprar~ s1hiaf nv ~ 4