Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-12-03


Macpherson strikes him and 1t is only
through Miss Sanborns pleading that Mac
pherson does not kill him.
CHAPTER ".
REcoNNoITERINGs
wore out the first day of Mac
phersons absence sitting in the
shade of the ranch house, and NOV
ing only as the sun compelled. There
was healing in the thin, crisp air, and
I went to bed at nightfal to sleep
as l had not slept for months. On
the second day / ate like famished
wolf, and the siren hope began to
Groom the song so familiar to the
ears of the consumptive. Once more
| made the slow circuit of the ranch
house, hitching my chair In oppcsi-
ton to the sun; and the foothills
across the valley beckoned me. In tho
heel of the afternoon, Andy came out
to peel the potatoes for supper, and
/ inquired the distance to tho beck
oning hills.
"Alile and half, r maybe two"
"Is there a horse in the corral that
sick man might ride?"
Andy took time to consider. Il
dunno" said he. "There's old Blue
nose-he's wind-husted, want to try
| him?"
Yes; if you can spare the time to
saddle him for me-"
In five minutes the bronco was at
the door and the kindly desperate
heaved me bodily into the saddle.
"Reckon you can stick on?" sad
he.
81 guess so. Does he buck?"
"They ali do, if you give 'em time
to study about it. Give him his head
and run him mile r SO, if you can
STAN it. That'll take the funny-busi.
ness out o. him"
| / did it, and being but a sorry
horseman, must have presented q
spectacle for gods and men in the
mad gallop across the valley. So fa1
from showing signs of exhaustion al
the mile-cnd, the bronco locked hi.
Jaw on the bit, swerved aside from
the slope of the hill which I ha6
counted upon as speed-reducer, ane
was half way to the head of the val
ley before l could get weight enough
on che bridle-reins to pull him down
When he realized that I desired t.
stop, he promptly shot me over hi
head into patch of sage-grass ant
went his way without me. Where
upon followed a series of maneuver
looking to repossession, and at tn
end of it the sun had gone down 0,
q luclsless caballero four miles from
camp, too weary to walk, and unabl
to recapture his mount.
I flung myself down under the lie
of huge bowlder and wondered
the bronco would be considerat
enough to send some one after me b
going back to the ranch riderless.
seemed doubtful. His final disaI
pearance had been over the hills t
the nerthward Into the midst of tn
chance-weirhing came che beat G
| hoofs on the crest above me, an
presently saw the figure OF horse
man silhouetted against the sky o
the hilltop. 1t was Kilgore; an
while l looked he came down tn
hill at q jog-trot. Fifty feet fro,
my bowlder the pony stumbled, an
horse and man came down togethe
Kilgore rose cursing, and kicked til
7 bronco to its feet.
Blame your Urinary hide! Cayn
y you lif' them Their feet O. your
when you see dog-hole? Now the
what's the matter with you?"
The horse jerloed it's head free ar
limped few PAGES up the hill, sto.
ping presently with it's muzzle to IL
4 ground, pointing as trained bir
dog might. The range-rider stopps
to pull up freshly driven stake al
read the marking thereon.
".X-16-2'; that's some O. the
blame ingineerin' lingo, I recko
[ I'd like to git my lariat round II
neck o. the Teller THIS a-stakin' c
: this yere rise. I'd show him VIII
" hit feel like to git th'owed."
He aung the stake afar, and lea
ing the bronco to it's own device
sought and found the line of t.
ditch, following it and destroyil
the engineers landmarks for go
half-mile. When he returned
found me holding the pony, and we
agape accordingly.
"Well, I'll be dad-burned! Whe
" did you fall from, IS what I'd like
know"
"From the back of certain
conditioned beast named 'Rluenos
lie pitched me eff and ran away. l
too weak to walk; do you suppo
you could catch him for me?"
"Catch nothin'! I'll show you
. trick worth two O. that. Jest leml
= boost you across this yere gra
hopper O. mine and we'll ride and
k you 60 the ridin' and I'll do I
Id tyin' Blame if you hain't got yo
g. sand with you to git up out of
Us sicls-bed and make a stagger at rid
70 e cow-pony. Easy, now, OF sw'
fe back; we're. a-runnin' an amb'lar
Id from this on"
O. Ordinarily, 1dlgore was reticel
personifed, but on the four-p