The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1903-01-23
Riding 4 BronchO.
i. n. Flotcher In Salem journal.


bronchO Is not exactly horse, cay
use, a mustang or burro, but thinl
IL is compound of all four. He pos
sesses none of the good qualities o
either, but all the bad qualities of the
whole lot.
In 1881 was engaged in the mining
business in one OF the mountain towns
of Colorado. One morning | wanted
to 20 to the mine to see how the mer
were getting along, and | determined
to hire a saddle horse for the journey
Consequently | went to the livery sta
BILE for that purpose, but the proprietor
said the horses we're all out and that be
had nothing he could give me but q
broncho. "Well, what's the matter
with the broncho?" ] asked. "O,noth,
ing, only that he bucks little occa.
sionally." "What Of that? / can ride
q whirlwind if necessary" "Well, p
said the liveryman, "if you think you
can ride him, take him right away.
have told you he is somewhat addicted
to bucking, so now if anything should
happen to you, must be held blame
less.n Certainly, certainly re.
piled; but must confess that this pre-
caution made me feel little appre-
hensive, but | was not the man to back
down, so ! said: "Put heavy saddle
on him and cinch 1t good and tight.
This being done l took broncho by the
bride and led him out of The town.
took the precaution to lead him clear
out of the sight of the people before |
mounted him, lest In case of any dis.
cussion between myself and the bron-
cho no crowd of scoffers could come
round to encourage either of us.
| suppose / led him along two miles
when / came to deep cut in the road.
A half-grown boy was coming from an
opposite direction, so asked him if lie
would be kind enough to hold the an
imal while / climbed upon his hurri-
cane deck The boy said he would il
there was no danger. ] told him the
animal was all right If only treated
kindly. / further said the only way
to gain the confidence of animals was
to pet them-that horse was a good
deal like human being. 81 can,H
said /, twin this broncho's affections
so that can do with him as | please =
Then / stroked his head, scratched his
ear and told the boy to rub his nose
and look him square in the eye. He
did SO with splendid results. II de-
clare" said the boy, "you must be a
regular lion tanner"
Then led the animal to the bank
and sprang into the saddle. See
that, said !, ''there is only one way to
tame an animal and that is to treat him
as have told you. Why, l could ride
this broncho to Jericho and never have
a word with him. Perhaps you can, .
said the boy, "but 'pon my word, mis-
| ter, don't like the look of his eye.'
"His eye is all right, " Ireplied. "Come
on, now, old Beauregard, and no mon
key business with me,n | shouted.
Just then noticed he laid his ears back
on his neck and began to put his four
feet together, but thought it was only
foolish habit he had acquired. But
he did not 90 ahead, and gave him a
slight jab on the side with my left
spur. Great heavens! No stone ever
went skyward from a catapault any
quicker than / did. 1t was an awful
moment. | grabbed the horn of the
saddle and the lariat which cucumber
ed his neck and said to myself, Now,
old treachery, you've tackled the wrong
child. / shall ride you to the mine in
spite of your internal neck; ]" andthen |
drove my right spur into his ribs until
it sounded like an empty molasses cask.
But that only filed him with more
vim and energy than ever. He now
lowered his head, jumped upon his fore
feet and shot the two hind ones out
until he looked like blue streak in the
air. ITO the victor belongs the spoils, y
said /, and then drove both spurs into
his sides at once. He seemed to reflect
for moment and then delivered a
volley of heels and hardware straight
out from the shoulder. The recoil was
fearful. / fancied that every hinge in
my body had parted at the joint. |
saw that he was going to contest my
right to a seat on his dorsal fin. | now
frightened my grip and began repeating
verse of all old hymn beginning thus:
dangers stand thick through all the ground
TO push us 10 the tomb"
But when | got this far he went off
into q spasm of tall, stiff-legged bucks
throwing me up so high that every
time l was coming down | would meet
him coming up on another trip. Then
q seconds reflection and up would go
the head, then the tail end, next the
middle and then all together. Next,
two rises before and three behind, and
then rounding of the back and an
other of the same kind and with. the
same result. Finally he gathered him
self together and gave one grand ire
sistable boost, the effect of which was
to send me through the atmosphere
into the ETHEREAL regions above, where
imagined l was landed on the side
pole of the universe and heard the mu-
sic of the spheres. The boost was so
overpowering that the cinch of the sad
die gave way and | came down in a
little heap and the saddle some two
rods up the road.
1t was fortunate for me that landed
on the most convenient part of the
body, for by that was able to call the
boy to my aid, and when he came
told him to gather up my remains IN
the best way he could and have them
sent to the nearest hospital.
Just at this point and to my great
chagrin several of the citizens that
had evaded few moments before APP
peared upon the scene. They came to
laugh, but when they saw my condi-
ton they retired to pray. One man
gave 1t as his opinion that a cyclone
did the deadly work; another that it
looked like railway smashup; and
still another said it was the work of
powder explosion. But during all this
time the calico hided broncho was
peacefully grazing on an adjoining
mound and looked as happy and un-
concerned as though he hadn't killed
the superintendent of the Leona mine.
Uncle Ebenezer.
lIn de early dars hnfa, de raiIrnad