The suburban citizen., 1900-07-21

III
Wv er's Landing, Montana on
his ranch about twenty
miles northeast of Glendivc, 1 was
young man twenty years old, fresh.
from the East-I mean Wisconsin-and
/ had brought from home n pair of
blue-topped boots-I mean long
boots,' the kind that come up over the
shns almost to the knees. OF these
boots I was perhaps n little vain, for
they fitted me to a dot, and the tops,
which were pieces of fine blue morocco
going down the front about five inches,
were unusual as such tops were then
generally Of red or yellow. Nixon told
me, the first morning l put the boots
on, that l couldn't get lost in this here
county in them" but the true story
I'm going to tell you will show that he
was near being mistaken
When he rode away toward Glendivc
and left me in charge of the ranch
was standing on top Of a haystack,
forking down fodder to a small bunch
of heifers that he wished to bring on
fast for a dairy he was then thinking
Of starting. They stood outside the
stoutpost-and-railf which guarded
the stack, and 1 tossed the hay down
over the fence to them.
The day was in early April Things
had been shut up tight by a hard frost
following rain, and although a little
fresh snow had fallen in the night, I
could hear the gathering OF their
T,,4.a1a 1,of l nation n
them-I mean the men coming on the
road from the river. Ny back was to
them when first / heard them, and /
did not turn round, for a good many
lunches Of men had been passing that
way in the mornings of the two days !
had already been working for Nixon.
The first I saw of the men they were
abreast Of me in the road, about sey-
enty yards away, and 1 don't suppose
I should have turned to look especially
at them if they had not pulled up sud
denly. Then l saw they all had Win.
chesters. And they were staring hard
at me.
The moment I turned full front to
them they yelled in a sort of confused
chorus, as Of recognition, and l made
out some cries Of That's nlmr He's
the manw We've got him. At the
same moment as if they had arranged
it all before, they broke into two
wings, ana came loping on both sides
of the stack and heifers. As turned
round to look for their man, thinking
they saw him up near the corral.
big voice yelled: stay right there.
Blue-tops, or you'll be full OF lead in
winkw
"Blue-tOpsw | looked down at my
boots. They meant me. But | was
not scared. 1 thought they intended to
play some practical joke on me, he
cause my boots were so beautiful and
unusual and conspicuous, had been
told many stories Of the boylshncss Of
Montana cattlemen The question was
whether TO keep them playfully off
with the pitchforls or surrender good.
naturedly, and let them have their way
of course they would not really hurt
me, although they might haze me, as q
tenderfoot, a good deal Or were they
thieves who meant to run off the hoif-
ersF This seemed most unlikely
While these easy reflections were in
my mind, the tips Of the wings Of the
cayalcade met on the other side of tho
haystack. The thirteen riders halted
at about even distance apart, all facing
inward, and so the stack and | were
completely surrounded by men with
guns held ready to lift for shooting.
But the heifers had bolted through the
circle, and the men gave them never a
look. Clearly their business was with
me.
l took a iocular expression of conn
tenance' for it seemed the judicous
thing 10 do, although the men looked
anything but pleasant. Of course they
wouldn't let on that they were in good
humor, ! reflected, IL hazlng was their
game
Come down and ont Of that" q big
graybeard commanded.
mot muchw said ]. grlDninr.
Oh what's the use" cried a voung
man, impatiently, and lifted his rifle.
Let him have it right now.
None Of that, Jake" cried the big
man, grabbing the uplifted barrel.
There's been shooting enough. Hang.
ing is the thing We've engaged 10
fetch him to the big oak, toow
by gracious, it's his Internal fool.
grin l can't standw shrieked the gaunt
young man. "Come down out Of that
or I'll plunk-Oh-Woww
7 heard this last expression, which
sounded llge a great guflaw, while I
was coming down, which was quite
unprecedented by me. for l had been
brandlshng my pitchfork at the gaunt
young joker as / thought him, when n
RATA came over my head and my jocu.
lar forearm. In the next two seconds
] was jerked down violently from the
haystack, fell hard on the ground. and
lay half stunned, with all the wind
knocked out Of me.
Before l could even try to spring Up,
three or four-I don't know exactly
how many-strong men had grasped
me; my hands were tied together be.
T,fVI mr. hoclr .s-ikb ,,,I,oA FoIA IfI-a vr-fVo