River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-10-10

dOubtcdIy NICE place, but she rs only
a poor, mutilated thing compared
with the California old Fernando
knew before the gringo came. Cali
fornia, with her wastes of primeval
forests, boundless valleys stretching
away to the vanishing point, mighty
rivers. and sun-kissed mountains, be-
fore her fair proportions were torn
by hydraulic monitors or disfigured
by dirty cities; when San Francisco
was still colony Of happy sand-hills,
and the bay sparl1ed in its pristine
blueness unsullied by deposits of
Relationships was the California old
Fernando knew. Then the rolling
plains of the Sacramento were ami
mated only by Indians and antelope,
and al! the broad valley was one mag
nifcent grazing range, with Fernando
monarch of all he surveyed. From the
New Helvetia grant of Gen Suffer, on
the banks of the Feather river, to his
fastness in the Buttes, Fernando's
brand was seen. He was fond of say
ing that the Creator had him in His
mind when He created those noun
tains, for there was not a corral in
all the world so fit as the Butte Pass.
There were other ranchmen who
recognized the merits of this range,
too, but it was not to their advantage
to cncroach upon it, as they inyaria-
bly, found after one season. These
buttes jut up in the heart of the
plains, and in their center lies a val
ley, or pass. hemmed in on two sides
by high bluffs and at either end by
narrow opening. Fernando's yaqueros
were skilled in their business, and
every pair of horns on the plains were
rounded into the pass and branded.
In this way his herd increased with
wonderful rapidity, for any brand
might be lost under Fernando's which
was of the ''hog-pen" style.
Even Fernando's daughter was not
far behind his men in feats of daring
and skill. and she filled the only warm
spot in his thieving old heart. Vio-
letta was her name, and "Fernando's
Violetta' she was always called until
young Dixon, the gringo from the
States, rode down from the Sobrante
grant. 'Nioletta." he laughed, good
naturally. looking down into her
wide, fearless eyes, and at the name
of sunburned hair that framed her
freckled face; "Violetta--by all that's
incongruous She's more like a tiger
lily than a violet" So Tiger lily"
and finally "Tige," she had become.
Day after day, as Dixon's eyes fol-
lowed her little flying figure mounted
on half-broken cayuse, bounding
over the plains in the wake of the
herders after some recaicitrant beast,
or galloping into the camp shouting
and hallooing at the top of her voice
from pure eNuberauce of animal spir-
its. his brow clouded, and he shook
his head obviously. for although she
filed his heart and eye, he was bound
20 admit she was not promising ma
terial for the domestic hearth. All
his preconceived ideas of woman's
sphere, gathered from the lives of
his patient mother and prim maiden
aunts, everhstinglv knitting and
drinking tea in their far-awny New
England home, arose in his mind and
arraycd themselves over against this
touci -and-go young thing, wild and
free as the air she breathed. He
laughed in spite of himself at the
thought Of Tiges strong, brown
hands, used 10 throwing the lariat and
welding the qurt being brought
down 10 anything so tame as knit
tlng-needles, or Tige's FESTIVE spirits
being curbed to brook the trials of the
prudent housewife.
Once he had tried to demonstrate
with her, but such serious argument
was too tedious for her hot young
blood. and. watching her chance OF es-
cape, she threw herself. bare back on
hispony, Breaker. and was away at full
tilt over the prairies to ride off her
impatience. No, no; she was toe reck-
less and willful TO bend her head to
any restraint. Dixon told himself. The
woman was lost in the vaquero.
And SO matters endured until one
evening, coming home in the glow of
the early summer sunset, knee-deep in
the waving wastes of golden peoples,
they rode on together, for miles
around no other soul. Tige, under
the spell of the dropping day, filled
with something of the tenderness of
the great heart of nature that beat
so close about them, lost her reck-
less spirit and forgot to be defiant,
her restless little cayuse being held
down to a quiet jog and made to let
DiXon's Breaker walk very close
Seeing her for the first time in this
mood he almost feared to put il TO
the test by broaching a subject she
would never listen to; but seeing the
gentle mood deepen under the intlu-
"nce of the evening, he began. tender
ly "rige," and, to his surprise, She
did not resent his tones-"Tige, do
YOU
With a sudden. terrified snort,
Breaker, whose hoot had gone into n
squirrel hole. was IA his knees,
plunging wildly TO free himself, and
the next instant prone ON the ground
with Dixon under him.
Used as she was to accidents. hairs
breadth escapes, and feats of daring