Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-09-07
THE CHRISTENING
|, OF RATTLES.
BY Carlos Pilgrim.

"You haven't got anything special
this morning, Hen, have your asked
the ranch boss, as the Circle-Oarlock
boys were struggling over toward the
horse-corral to saddle up.
The man addressed was long, lean,
bow-legged young fellow-"the very
type of Rough Rider" as a famous
correspondent said who saw him in
1898 with Roosevelt pressing up San
Juan hill. But this was in '97, and
''Hen' was at that moment whistling
a rQllicking air.
'Nope;" he said, breaking the Jig for
an instant. fss;2a1EEsan:,.
A"Well," continued the foreman,
"Dutch Yorike was here yesterday,
and he says he saw a bunch of our
cows working into the Gap. Suppose
you take Blue to-day and go over and
head 'em off. There's no water on the
other side, to speak Of"
Hens Jig turned comically into one
long drawn, high note. 1t was mid
summer, and the day gave promise of
fierce heat. The Gap was a good thir-
ty miles away, and therefore Hen
whistled his disapprobation! You
might whistle whatever and however
you pleased on the Circle-O arlock;
only, to preserve your friendly rela-
lions with the outfit, you must waste
no time in doing the thing you were
told to do.
So the long cowboy had picked his
pony from the cor allied band and was
eff. The more miles he had behind
him by the liue the sun got overhead,
the better it would be for man and
beast. The horse he was riding-the
one indicated by the foreman-was no
beauty; on the other hand, it had that
which, in Western horses, at all events,
is to be desired above physical beauty
"a fair character. 1t was n small blue
roam cayuse, as wiry and enduring as
horsehes h well can be.
Lope, lope, lope, lope. Blues nose
pointed straight for the Gap, which
opened lazily into the distant hills. The
burning sun cast his rays more and
more directly on the back of Hens in
differently-clean cotton shirt and made
The cowpuncher involuntarily twitch
his shoulders beneath it, and shift
about in the saddle. His face and
neck, being regularly exposed to many
weathers, were Of fine mahogany,
and invulnerable to sunbeams.
Blue had covered some fifteen miles
of the lonely, wide expanse of range,
when Hen stumbled upon the incident
which branded him, literally as well as
figurately. They were crossing a wide,
barren, sandy bench, with here and
there a sickly graygreen sage-bush,
and the prickly-pear cactus scattered
abroad in profusion.
j. was a most inhospitable spot for
man and horse, but paradise for rat
tleslakes.
Now there was a hard days work
before Hen. If the cattle had drifted
far, or were refractory, he would have
to camp somewhere and give two days
to 1t. He was pushing his pony ruth
lessly But in riding across tlat bench
his eye happened to light on the big
gest rattlesnake he had ever seen-and
he had seen many. He was interested
Mt once. AS he afterward explained,
he never liked to pass RATHER with
out some little salute; and this was a
special important-lookin' varmint-a
blessed dock, at least" So he drew UP
alongside the 'dook," who took no
Pains to evade him, but promptly
Coiled for fight, and after an apprecia-
tive glance at the fine string of rattles,
hic al
and fred.
The bullet tore up much sand with
cut seeming to annoy the lordly reptile
In the slightest. 1t was a close. easy
shot, and Hen looked down IN amaze
mcp' at his missing. When he had
looked enough, he tried again. This
time the big revolver merely clicked.
and Hens contemptuous berating of
himself might have softened almost
anything but rattlesnake. That he
should have come out on n trip like
this, where he would in all probability
have to shoot for his supper, with one
cartridge! Yet there were the plain
facts-an empty revolver, and no cart.
,idge belt!
lieu lost his temper. Inc snake was
oI,enly defying him; and besides, he
had taken fancy to those rattles. He
led Blue to one side and hung down his
bridle-reins, which signified that the
roam pony was anchored there until
further orders; and then he start
ed out to seek hand-ammunition.
Among the many things not readily
to be found on that bench were stones
and Hens search was disappointing
for some time; but after much impa.
tient casting about, he managed to
pillow up few sandy little rocks, and
hurried back to where the snake was
still lying coiled. Probably 1t had re
garded the pony as a threatening en-
envy.
Hens scanty rearing had been n
Missouri on a backwoods farm. where
"a boy did not have to play baseball FOL
1.-THE sake OF its beneficial exercise. Con
sequently his throwing-nrm had nevel
been properly developed or trained, and
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