The Tupelo journal., 1902-10-17
THE UNDOING or
CHIEF WET DOG
llVlll " n N n N h \ NUN N n n QllllN N N N " n NJ
BY GILBERT c. TERRY.

DURING nine months of the year,
~ Wet Dog could be found ON the
Apache reservation, where he ate
good cooked food and drew good gun
ammunition, all of which our gov
eminent, supplies to the Apaches.
The other three months would find
him, accompanied by a string of
speedy racing cayuses and a string
of favorite ,squaws, making the
rounds of the various f~iestas, where
he invariably happened by hook or
crook, principally by crook, to pull
off something in the way of racing
money and poker-winnings.
Wet Dog, in brief, was a consum-
mate sport, and not a square sport
at that. This fact one regrets to
divulge, for this noble red man had
twice been converted by missionar-
les, who wrote home, joyfully, that
the famous bloody Apache chief had
confessed his sins, and been gather
ed into the fold. But truth must out,
and Wet Dog had certainly acted
s~hamefulfy at the Gold Gulch
"rooster-pulling" in the doping of
Limping Jimmy's cowpony racer.
AS a result, many dollars had
passed into the dishonest hands of
Wet Dog, who, with his ponies and
sQuaws, FASTENED to flee before his
trickery could be discovered. There
was naturally much lamentation and
profanity among the cowmen, who
had backed Limping Jimmy and his
Paloma with their very last red;
bitter were their reproaches as they
struck their homeward trails, and
the desolate Jimmy left alone to doc
tor poor Paloma, felt the matter
keenly.
An autopsy soon performed showed
exactly what had been wrong, and
the Limping One swore to himself
a mighty cowboy oath, I'm fix that
sneaking Injun, so help me Moses,
if it takes 20 years to do it,"
For many months following the
Gold Gulch episode, Wet Dog, rich
in his ill-gotten gains, and fattening
on the government rations, lived
peacefully on the reservation. Mean
while his newly-bought pony Blue Jay
was being carefully trained for the
Wolpi races, at snake-dance time, and
the horses owner practiced stealth
lily in his tepee various new combi-
nations on poker hands, for the Ill
innate undoing of poor Lo, the poor
and unsuspecting Indian. to whom
card-stacking was an unknown dodge,
but poker a thing of everlasting
joy.
At this time Limping Jimmy was
lying low. and formulating some
tricks of his own, aided and abetted
therein by his bunky, one Shorty
Smith.
These tricks necessitated the
swearing-off of the two cowboys, so
far as whisky and poker were con-
cerned, and the saving of their every
cent. They also necessitated, 1
grieve to say, a midnight journey to
the Bark range; the rounding-up
thereon of a wild and untamed out
law pony, the stealthy escorting by
night of the same wild though prom
Using pony, and his stalking in a Sc
cret pasture, already prepared by
the two men, where the outlaws
busting was taken in charge.
On the Bark ranch there was
some hunting and chasing after the
missing horse, which ceased upon
Shorty, of the Circles, stating to the
Bar foreman that he had the day
before spied a bunch of Apaches
driving some ponies northward from
Bark, and that, "By ructions, there
was a gray broncho, with one white
leg, roped-in with them there In
jun c~ayuses!"
Shorty's perjury saved the day.
The Bark foreman vowing death and
destruction to all Apaches, retired
disappearing to his ranch; meanwhile
Limping Jimmy and his colleague
continued to labor with, and educate
in secret, that same gray outlawed
broncho with one white leg.
Weeks of hard labor were required,
for surely never was a wickeder
broncho than Outlaw. AS his train
ing progressed Shorty had an arm
broken, and Jimmy a leg; both were
constantly a mass of bruises, and it
is a wonder that their necks were
not broken. But they never gave in,
and, as patience and doggedness will
work wonders with even an outlawed
broncho, the gray horse was finally
subdued and broken to a finish. AS
bic 6nEnhfad froiparc ur,rol +o N-1
another, there wasn't a horse in the
two territories able to ever keep
within sight of his heels, much less
run with him.
And now Shorty disappeared on a
brief leave of absence; meanwhile
Iimping Jimmy used an old side
saddle and a Tapping blanket in the
further education of Outlaw, who
did not take in the least kindly to
this particular branch of his train
ing. After a weeks absence, Shorty
reappeared, well-laden with divers
bundles, and full of mysterious in.
formation over which he and his
bunky chuckled and rejoiced might
lily.
1t was a slack time, with little do.
ing on the ranch, SO the two had lit.
tie difficulty in securing permission
for a fortnight's absence ito attend
to some business over in Arizona
they said. So away they Hoped one
morning, followed by the boots and
ieers of their less fortunate com
rades, who had spent their wages
in riotous living, and no vacations
could come their way.