The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-15
II STORY OF HORSES.

dency in the stability stock OF the old
blackboard after she had weathered the
circle over the alkaI bumps and sage
brush hummocks. She had taken them with
all their jolts under full head of steam.
AS we neared the bridge we saw a
bicyclst approaching from the other side.
1t was. far as we knew, the only BIZ
cycle in the territory at 'that time. | was
reminded of the i'll luck of the old farmer
before the Mascot came to him. 1 knew
that Nellie wouldn't stand for a bicycle.
Before we could collect our thought we
were within 80 yards Of the bridge, the
bicyclist was on il, and Nellie had caught
sight of him. AS George AIDE would put
1t. she simply laid back her ears and
squatted" Her outside trace fell of of the
singletree and she was looking over Genes
shoulder. Gene had taken a step or two
after Nellie had come to a full stop and
thus obstructed her view 1 had jumped
when the trace fell and was at Nellie's
head before she realized that it was dang
ling around her leg When she did realize
it 1 saw that 1 was not going to be able
to quiet her. Gene was in a tantrum by this
called to the doctor to get out. l wanted
him TO get out with the reins in his hands
so that he could at least swing the horses
into a tangle, now that trace was down.
He laid the reins down carefully over the
dashboard and got out as leisurely as ne
would at the call of a young mother to
attend her effervescing infant. However,
he was finally safe from being dragged to
death in the wreck of the old rattle trap
l was no match for Nellie, and now that
the reins were abandoned 1 was thrown
to the ground. 1 told the doctor, as L
brushed the dust off my clthes, that | was
glad he was there with ne instead Of
bouncing over the prairie behind those run
away horses. 1t is true he might have con-
troIIed them from the blackboard, but 1
did not think the chances were favorable
enough to risk the attempt.
1t was a quiet evening and the dust
marked the path of the runaways like
low, white wall. At first the path led south,
away from the deep arroyo which crossed
the road at right angles and separated us
from town. Soon it began circling TO the
west and north. This was Nellie's doings.
She was on the outside of the circle ana
ran more frantically than Gene, who up to
this time no doubt was really enjoying the
frolic When he saw what course the run
was taking we could see him doing his best
to change 1t. To the west ran the Santa
Fe road, with its endless single-board and
three-strand barbed wire fence. To the
north was the deep arroyo. Gene knew
that there was trouble ahead and he did his
best to outrun Nellie and push her around
to the south once more. He succeeded IN
getting the circle Strengthened out, but
this only brought the direction to bear di-
rectIy for the corner where the fence came
to the perpendicular side of the arroyo.
This direction was kept to the last. The
doctor and 1 followed with our eyes the low
trail of dust and heard the rattle of the
old blackboard grow fainter and fainter
until there was crash and sort Of erup-
ton at what marked the end of the trail of
dust The absolute quiet that followed was
broken by the doctor, who said, 1.-The devili'
In the Western country dry arroyos are
plentiful They are bitches cut through the
soft prairie soil by heavy rains. Their
sides are perpendicular and their depths
depend on the thickness of the soil. Gravel
or some hard bottom is usually found a.
eighteen or twenty feet. The arroyo our
age depth. with rocky bottom and TWEEN
ty or twenty-five feet wide. AS we hurried
to the spot OF the catastrophe the doctor
asked if 1 had a revolver with me- L told
him had, and he said that it would most
likely be a case of shooting this time instead
of needle and thread and splints. / know
that we slackened our pace just before We
got to the jumping-off place. We hated to
look over. The blackboard had not gone
over. 1t had struck a post, about the third
one from the end, and there it was. When
we looked over saw the horses quietly
standing side by side. Their positions were
reversed; that is, the near horse was on
the off horses side. Genes bride hung
jauntily over one ear and Nelies snaffie
bit hung out of her mouth, broken in the
middle. Two more foolish looking horses,
as we both remarked. we had never seen.
We hurried over to the railroad bridge and
climbed to the bottom of the arroyo. An
old bucket bail or some such looking piece
of wire embedded in some gravel had
pierced one of Genes nostrils. We looked
in vain for any other mark on either horse.
We lost no time in hunting a place where
the horses could climb out, for it was now
almost dark.
| hitched Gene up to his own cart in the
morning and went down to get what was
left of the old blackboard. Some railroad
section men saw me and left their work
long enough to come over to see what had
happened. The foreman measured the
depth at the point where the horses went
over and found it to be just seventeen feet