Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1900-06-13
SPIDER s CHAPS.
By woIooTT LIE CLEAR BEARD.
GCopyrish,. 1899, by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
CHAPTER /.
CHAPTER I.
IN WHICH SPIDER AND THE BALLET GIRL

wagon, near which Spider was busily
engaged in securing an iron soup kettle
so large that it nearly concealed him.
Perhaps I would better explain that the
Ballet Girl was gray bearded man,
cook for the field outfit of the Circle NJ
ranch. The cowboys had given him this
name because, as one of them explain
ed, the cook had wooden leg and was
therefore unable to dance.
The Ballet Girls statement that
Spider had no head was libel. He had
a head, and, though it was small and
not at all beautiful, it was very good
one and was covered with heavy
thatch of extraordinarily red hair.
AS Spider worked among the pots
and pans he certainly was awkward. l
had been watching him all the morn
ing. I had nothing else to do.
1t was but very short time since l
had acquired an interest in the Circle
NJ brand. Just before this large num-
Der of cattle had been sold and driven
away overland toward the railway,
where they could be shipped to the east,
and had at once been sent forward to
overtake the herd in order to assume its
management. Now, herd Of cattle
that has to pick up its food as it goes
along does not travel rapidly, and l
had overtaken it without difficulty, but
the horse was riding Immediately eel
ebrated that event by stepping into a
badger hole, breaking his leg and at the
same time spraining one of my ankles
and wrist. In a bed made up in one
Of the springless wagons had been
painfully jolted for couple of stages
over the half desert plain. Then we
reached the Rio ella and stopped, for
the river was full from bank to bank
with rushing, brown water, far too
deep and too swift for us to attempt
crossing it with the cattle. We could
only wait until the river fell.
"What's the matter with the boyf 2"
I asked. Cant he cook2"
"You don go for ter s'pose I'd trus'
i'm ter try, do you9" replied the Ballet
Girl disgustedly. "No, he can't cook,
an if he could he'd be alwus tryin some
er them monkey shines er his, SOS you
wouldn't dare eat nothin he'd touched.
Why, it was only week back that he
took some salt an saleratus an stained
it with coffee, SOS 1t looked like brown
sugar, an give it ter the boys ter sweeten
ther slumgullion (tea) with. They said
l was a-tryin ter pizen 'em, the boys
did, an they said if did it some more
they'd hang me on the tongue or my
own cook wagon.
"But you know they wouldn't have
| done anything Of the Sort" inter
posed.
"Dunno," replied the cook obviously.
"Them boys, they gets mighty playful
sometimes Course they oughter "a
knowed I wouldn't do no such fool
thing as that I foun' out who twas
that done it an toll 'em."
GLOW did you find out3" inquired
curiously.
"Asked i'm. I said he wouldn' lie.
The boys. they licked him good fer that.
Sod I, you bet you.
"What did he do then3" I asked.
Chilled my boot up with m'lasses.
When got it off-an 1t was er mighty
long time frs my foot looked as
though I'd vanished it an the varnish
hadn' dried. kicked him with it fore
I took it off, an then I hung it on the
wagon ter dreen. It's dreenin yet.
Sect"
He pointed as he spoke to cowhide
Of generous proportions that hung over
the side of the mess wagon. From the
straps that were intended to pull it OF
by there slowly dripped stringy, brown
stream Of molasses.
can that ain all he DONE, the cool
went on. HE took some spuds what ht
knowed / was a-gonter bake in the
ashes, an he loaded 'em up with powder
When put EN- in the Goals, they bust
ed in little while an filled a mess el
biscuit was a-mixin plum full er burn
powder an raw pertater. Some of i
went down my neck inside my shirt. /"
"Did you whip him againa"
"Nope. Icouldn', not that time. 81
cut away an didn' come back till wa
ersleep, an then he got my timber lait
an saw an said he'd saw the laig ii
two if didn' say wouldn' do nothi1
to him fer them there explosive spuds
l couldn' chase i'm, 20 had ter prom
Use. But sayl l clean forgot you wa
one er the bosses-I wouldn't "a toll ye
else. The boy, he ain t none SO bad. 81,
don mean nothin wrong, an he wouldn
do low down thing, not ter save hi
neck. ain got no kick comm, so 20,
won have i'm fired ner nothin, will
you!"
| The cook stood boring his wooden LEI
into the ground. looking at me witt
genuine concern. l speedily reassure,
him. If he wished to retain so eccentri
an assistant. it was he. not l. who woul
have to suffer. Personally l was mucl
interested in the small "cookee, as TIL
cook $ assistant is called, and would no
have had him leave if could have HELM
ed it,
1t was tedious work, or rather idle
ness, lying on my cot under the shad
of my tent fly, watching the hungr,
looking cattle, If they happened to be Ii
sight, as they wandered about lookin
for something to eat. l could never Sc
how they managed in the course of
day to gather meal, even though the
should sprint from one bunch of til
hard, wiry grass to another. They di
manage it somehow, though. and thei
ordinary gait when feeding was yer
far indeed from being sprint.
The cattle, however, were seldom i
sight, and at the best they were no
very interesting, SO took to watchin
the cook outfit instead, more especial
that part of the cook outfit where Spide
happened to be. 1t was not at all diff
cult to see that SPIDERS work was es
tremely distasteful to him, and reall
it was hardly to be wondered at. Wash
ing greasy tin dishes and securing pot
and kettles are not tasks that woul
commend themselves to the averag
BOY. 1t was through this dislike, prof.
ably, that most of his awkwardnes
arose.
After hurrying through with his wor
he would extract from the cook WACO
a bundle of leather and go to the ten
porary corral, shaded by big cotton