The Negro world., 1900-03-17

TWAS not pretty story; /, wns more.
II was fraught with that primi.
tive rugRedness one gets nn impress.
sion OF along with cutting prairie
winds, bucking broneos. the crack of
a revolver. the whiz OF a bullet
The fellows nnme was Thompson.
and he could handle bunch OF steers
with the best Of them. but there was
an mir Of metropolItnnism about bin
that assorted III with his surroundings.
And although he drank harder. swore
better. and went rougher than any man
OF them. he had never been able 10 live
down his nickname of East Side"
Thompson. Under the influence of roll
ing prairies. the buundless sweep of
cloud and sky, an intimacy with the
elements, and reliance upon nothing
but his own wit and courage. "A man
grows TO be a strong. sagncious. vital
creature, No different from our cir.
rnmacrihet idenA OF a man that. for
want of o better term. we call him a
s'cow-puncher."
The ThrceN outfit OF cow.punchers
had been on the trail more than n
month, and. according 90 all precedent
and reason, the rains should have set
Ia weeks before. but they had not, The
grass that had sprung up with the FIRST
early showers had scared and died he.
fore the next rain came 20 keep Il
alive. The shallow, sluggish little
streams of braekish water that crawled
along the bottom OF their beds, which
the year before had been swollen be.
yond their banks, finally gave out Mt
terly In every direction the white
alkali plains glistened away 20 the
meeting line Of the sky Ia an intinitude
of isolation. The oldest inhabltant In
all the country round could not recall
winter that squaled this in dry
ness.
Howbeit Nevada was then new state
aud the population migratory. VIII
son, the boss of the outfit, had hoped
ca get out of the sagebrush country
and strike the California line some
where above liodie by the end of the
first month out, but there was no rain.
no water, and the plains lay in open
cracks. Day after day the sun arose,
smiled down upon the parehea little
bunch OF men and cattle IL long hours
as he sailed across a eloudlees sky. Sc
renely unconscious of the maledictions
hurled against him. while the bare,
burning prairie stAred back in un-
blinking defiance. There were gor-
geous sunsets every even ng moments
when the great tlery bah seemed almost
60 stand still To give long backward
glance before dropping out OF sight,
and with Midas touch turn all the
world 10 molten gold. hut TO the
played-out cow-puneher sunset means
nothing but bedtime bedtime after a
hard, parched, hopeless day. There
were clear, ehaste moonlight nights
of wondrous radiance. too. hut the
moon was seen only In the early morn.
Ing, when they rose to another day.
more hard, more parched, more hope.
less. The cattle mere anatomical
charts by this time went staggering
about In crazy circles. TOO weak Co
need watching, the three Ns on their
Hanks reduced to half the original size
by the Nhriyeling of the hide. or fell
heavily to the earth 60 rise again. after
many seasons OF sun aud shower. az
prairie flowers aud salt grass. Their
believing WAS reduced to moan al.
most human in Its misery. for the one
voice common 90 all created things,
animal or human. 10 the voice of suffer.
ing.
The Missourian. great. hnlkinr
young fellow. was first OF thu men "a
show signs Of weakening. That Is this
most terrible moment In all like expert.
enees, when the men who have held or
grimly and endured together see ons
Of their number losing his grip. Thi-
had been an ill-assorted outfit whel
they started out with the cattle acres,
the plains. but standing together
shoulder TO shoulder. defying dealt
against fearful odds knits d man deep
ly into the life of his fellow. Amont
these men there WAS 40 spoken avn.
pathy, no overt act of kindness, bn
Ia their very sullenn~ss was thai grim
NEST of all sacrifices. each man en
during In stole silence In order that h
might not iutrude bis own suffering
upon his already osererowded Ecigh