The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1900-11-29
"MEDICINE" HOG.
BY Bourbon Wilson.


vice of Horace Greeley to go west, and
] have since grown up with the coun-
try, but it was due to hog that this
growth was not ended terribly almost
in its beginning. went to Silver CITY,
New Mexico hoping to get work there,
but was disappointed; and after idllng
about until the latter part of Febru-
ary, joined young fellow OF ABOUT
my own age, and started for the noun
tains on a prospecting trip.
Twas 'tenderfoot," and knew moth
ing Of mining, but Billy, my partner,
during several years spent about the
mines had learned much Of ore and
'Geads" and prospects and such
things, and he promised to teach me all
that l needed to know. Walking be-
bind and driving the two little ourros
npon whose backs our effects were
packed, q three. days march carried
us to the range Of mountains where
Billy meant to prospect for silver. The
slopes Of this range, and the surround
ing country for hundreds OF miles IN
every direction, are an all but water
less desert; but the summit is broad,
level tableland which has an elevation
so great that it catches the few CLOUDS
which drift that way, and thus obtains
such a rainfall that it is covered with
a growth Of juicy grass and splendld
pines. The summit is now the range
of large herds of cattle, but in the time
of which / am writing the periodic
raids Of Apache Indians made 1t
dangerous place for cattlemen.
There being no water elsewhere, we
climbed to the summit and had begun
making our camp when we heard a
crashing of dry branches in thicSet
not far away, and loud "Woof! woof!
woof!' Dropping everything, we seized
our rifles The next moment, to our
amazement, q black hog Of medium
size. gaunt and long-legged. gailoped
toward US, grunting and "woohng" as
he came. Instanty,xwe lowered our
rifies-we had nothing 10 fear from
this familiar friend Of the barn-yard.
The hog ran toward us, frisking,
capering, grunting and talking to US
necessarily, showing in every way pos
sible that he was wildly delighted to
see us. We responded by scratching
his back and talking to him, and after
a while he contentedly lay down, still
grunting with delight.
We were glad to have him with US;
he gave the camp homelike air, and
it occurred to us that our slender store
Of provisions might give out. But
soon became so attached to him that
could not have eaten piece of his
flesh had l been starving.
How q hog, and such a gentle one,
came to be in that wild place, we could
not imagine; his actions showed that
there were no other hogs on the noun
tain, that he was lonesome, and that he
had been used to regard men as friends.
Later we learned that while pig he
was carried to the mountain by his
owner a cattleman, who made pet OF
him, and who, becoming alarmed by
reports of an Apache outbreak, moved
his herd away in so great a hurry that
the shoat was forgotten.
We called him Dick. Seeming to un-
derstand that we were going to stay
at that camp for some time, he. rooted
q hole beside log and filling 1t with
leaves. made himself comfortable
bed. But it was plain that he lived in
Constant dread of being again left
alone on the mountain.
He would follow at our heels, goine
with us to and from our work, never
letting us get out of his sight for an
instant; and at night the slightest noise
would bring him galloping into camp,
grunting inquiringly, to see If we were
getting ready to leave. Thus he dis
turbed our sleep so often that sug-
gested building a brush fence round
our camp to keep Dick out, but Billy
would not listen to the proposal. He
looked upon Dicks making friends
with us as an omen Of good luck, and
insisted that were we to restrict his
freedom in any way the charm would
be broken.
''You can't bring US good luck If we
don't let you come in, can you old hog
gy:" Billy said, scratching the ami
mails back with one hand, and pulling
his ear with the other. mo, no, Of
course you can't; and you are goin' to
bring US the very best kind Of luck,
aren't you:'
To this Dick responded with series
of chuckling grunts that Billy inter-
preted to mean, Sure thing. l don't
-pardner' with any outfit without bring
ing it good luck And so the fence
was not built.
But day after day passed by without
a trace of silver being found; our pro-
visions ran low, and 1 proposed that
we give up and go back to Silver City.
Billy laughed at me; his faith in Dick
was rs strong as ever, and We con-
tinued pecking away on the mountain
SIDE.