Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-11-13

the border of a great, lost, black night
mare alone, alone, alone, and thought
the elements and all wire fences were
Ccnspir1ng to brew occult mischief for
him Besides, had he not once been
chiefs Turk in thickets and haystacks
in the night, and that the grizzly bear
sometimes ventures out of the tim
bered foothills in the dark?
The more Pete thought of these
things the less he could endure stay.
ing there and the less he dared to go
away. He had not lain there five min
utes when he felt the stack trembling
Then he heard something rave A
zero of fear froze him. Before he
could move some dreadful demon blew
terociously above him, tossing the
hay on its horns and boring for its
victim. In a second Pete was on his
feet. At once he found himself
rammed against the stack, battered
and gored with the horns OF what
| seemed huge black bull With des-
perate force he stabbed his shears
into one Of those fiery eyes. This of
course maddened the beast still more,
but the pain caused momentary
| fiinching and momentary blindness in
| both eyes, SO that Pete escaped; but
no sooner had he got outside the
fence than the bull came tearing
| through, too. Having lost his shears,
Pete jerked off his jacket and brought
it down on the head Of the terror so
violently that the horns pierced it
and held it before the remaining eye
so closely that by the time the bovine
/ monster had it shaken off, the man
had mounted his cayuse.
A hot chase it was. Zebe was tired
Pete's light shirt kept him ever in the
pursuer's eye. Through darkness,
brambles and mire they dashed, the
bull coming ever a bit nearer the
pOny's heels. The blood on the rider
| had maddening smell for the brute,
which had some hours before became
| infuriated in corral on a ranch where
a dehorning was taking place, and had
! broken out and defed recapture.
At last Zebe grew so weak that
Pete feared he would get between
| those horns again, which were now
prodding the cayuse's launches. The
! fiend snOrted and fumed. Pete thought
| he would Wither as the hot grassy
| breath came in a gust around the side
! of his face. The bulrs gaining ground
made him below with the fiercest
satisfaction. Pete stared back In a
flash Of lightning he saw the black,
raving, laundering thing, head down.
tail up and vibrating like a rattle
snake. In the glare the distracted
rider was sure he saw the nostrils
belching fire. He gave out a night
marish shrek. He threw his arms
toward the Sky SO pregnant with thun-
derbolts, which had a dangerous af-
tinity for the heated and electrified
animals. The pOny's ear was capped
with purple, cracking globules of fire,
and the bull, Pete imagined, was grow
ing lurid as with phosphorescent
tongues.
Pete shrieked again. One horn was
goading his leg, ripping his overalls
open.
20 good spirits!" he cried, @brace
up my brave little Zebe, or spue a
thunderbolt at this monster"
"Hooh-hah-ber." Pete suddenly
/ hooted and gasped and shivered He
| found himself in mud and water up to
| his hips. The cayuse, partly from
fear, partly to get rid of the mos
quitoes, had run into a miry slough
and thrown himself into the aIkali
slime. A new horror stung Pete
when he perceived that they were
slowly sinking, sinking. Into the
water he sprang like a pantehr,
! struggling for the shore ahead, how
ever far and dangerous that might be,
for close behind him was sUill the
horned vampire. Zebe could hardly
keep from sinking in that bottomless
Quagmire, and fell exhausted on
reaching the sod The water was too
shallow to swim.
Another blaze of lightning made
! Pete yell-with ecstacy. In the mid
| die Of the slough there in the neither
darkness, the savage beast was bawl-
ing and struggling in despair, already
sunken into the pulpy ooze so that
only a pair of gaping ncstrils, pitiable
eyes and harmless horns could be
seen. The more he struggled the less
hope there was for him with his great
weight and cloven hoofs. Down, down,
until the fiercy roar died to a stif1ed
moan. When it lightened again Pete
| saw only 2 b1Jbh1ino and stirring of
the bottomless batter to mark the aw-
full grave Of his fiend.
We'll, Pete" he soliloQuized again,
how d'yeh like yourself now? Seems
like there's some o that Spartan stuff
in yeh, for haven't yeh slain the mine
O-tower?'
Strange that the pony should have
got none of this glory. 1t was not at
all like Pete. He loved Zebe, with
whom he lived alone in the world.
But let us be charitable until We know
that he is not going to repent. And
let us allow a sad young man a mo-
ment of self-eXaltation. How soon
the old undertone Of fear and forlorn-
ness again moaned through his hollow
heart!
A drenching thunderstorm came
| down. Zebe lay groaning by the putrid
slough, which cleaned in the lightning
like an enormous CHASTITY eye Where
was Pete? By his pony? Under the
trees? In the saskatoon bushes
Struck to the ground? Surely not in
tho hOftOn1 of tho drAa dfT11 S1Ouoh .