The Globe-republican., 1901-07-04
A Hot Fourth.
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Last Fourth of July the weather
came on cool and beautiful in our
mountains. But there were three peo-
pie at Black Rock Horse Ranch who
We're anything but cool In fact, Ferd,
Florence and I were hot we
could well becOme-hOt with imDa-
thence and disgust.
For more than four weeks we had
been preparing for celebration, a
picnic at our cottonwood grove, with
all the family and all our neighbors
along Black Rock Creek to join
in making it great day. Ferd, who
had borrowed some volumes OF the
Congressional Record, from a local
politician, had written short address,
and Florence had practiced diligently
some patriotic songs Moreover, we
had expended eight dollars fer fire
works of a magnitude worthy of the
largest attainab1e crowd
Our discontinue may be imagined
when I say that father, mother and
the younger children had failed in Il
promised return from their visit at
Green River, and that, just two days
before the Fourth, report had reached
Black Rock Valley OF a monster cele-
bration'' which to be held at
| Lander, and to which every mothers
| son and daughter In our neighborhood
| had stampeded.
| We were left alone, we three; so far
| as we knew, there was not a soul with
| in twenty-five miles to U.S.
| We We're, of course, still looking for
| the return of our family from Green
! River, but as the morning slipped
| away and eleven O'Clock came, with no
| sign of them Ferd and 1 gave our
| selves up to su1king. We were lying
| upon our backs in the shade of some
| eottonwoods near horse corral, when
] Florence, who was still on the lookout,
shouted at
They're coming." she cried run
| ming toward US, and clapping her
| hands joyfully- Il can the dust of
| their wagon down in the valley
| Splendid. splendid! Well have a
| celebration all to ourse1vesH' As there
| are eight of US all together, the pros
| pect was not quite so disheartening.
| That's not them,'' declared Ferd in
| disgust. Its a stampede of horses or
| CATTLE A faint roar of tramping hoofs
soon bore to our ears the proof of his
| assertion. The dust-cloud Increased in
| volume, and the mutter of pounding
hoofs Jared like distant rumble of
| thunder.
Our suspicious were quickly reused
We craned our necks and watched in
| silence. We had only minute to wait
| before a big bunch of horses, going
| at a swift trot, broke cover OF the
point. few seconds later we dis
| covered on the outskirts of the herd,
which doubtless numbered many
| turning the leaders across the valley.
We did not have to guess that these
| men We're "ruSt1ers, and that there
| were more of them in the rear pushing
| the horses forward. Every movement
| of herd and men proclaimed the fact
A gang of our mountain freebooters
had taken advanta ee of the stocl1men' s
stampede to Lander to make an
other stampede, which should be vastly
to their own advantage
The men were steering their catch
across Black Rock Valley up to the
| mouth of Two-owe-tee Pass Once
through that difficult gap, they would
| hustle the herd into the Businesses OF
Owl Greek Mountains, break it up into
small punches, and get away with the
horses at their leisure.
WELL said Ferd, we've got to
head off that herd, stampede and scat
ter 'eEa, somehow"
| sure thing I assented-
| When Florence understood the case
she set up frantic wall You shan't
goi" she almost screamed Those
men will shoot you dead, Anyway, il
you do, III go along and be shot, too.'
Thereupon she ran to the house, cry
ing. We could not stop to comfort her
While Ferd went for guns, trap
pings and snack to eat I ran to the
creek pasture, got out three of ouI
best riding ponies and sadd1ed them
When 1 had finished Ferd came out
wearing his hunting jacket, and carry
| ing my jacket and our guns.
The big side pockets We're stuffed tc
bulging, but my jacket felt light
| enough and when I thrust a hand into
| one of the pockets and drew out z
! giant cracker of the biggest size,
| fairly whooped with delight There
were half dozen in each pocket and
each one was foot in length The,
/ would make enough noise to STAN
| pede whole tribe OF Indians, let alone
| four or five hundred ha1f-wild horses
. We were of in a twink1ng VIZ
! knew of old buffalo and cathedral
| a ha1f-mi1e distant, leading up to tbs
| head of Black Rock, and round the
| slopes of several mountains into the
| north gap of Two-owe-tee. This tral
/ we took
Wen plant ourselves in front O
that herd in the gap" said Ferd. Zane
there wen have our celebration. be
| Heve we can scounter-stampede.' run