The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-05-31

shouting and the ponies were forced into
the pen, a structure say eighty feet
square. with large opening. The ponies
instantly packed themselves into a dense
mass in the center In this frantic move
ment all joined, no matter whether the
tiny colt or the veteran who had seen
many such occasions And the wildness
of those pony faces, They appeared t.
be the faces of the primitive horse, with
small eyes and "A regular bunch of hair
hanging far over them, with q covering
Of hair So rough and matted az TO make
them look like alpacas or llamas. The
prevailing color was dun. but there were
dashes of yellow and one of black.
Men dashed into this struggling mass Of
two hundred ponies. and then there was
scramble. They sought to capture the
choice ponies. The pursued sought re-
fuge in the thickest of the press, which
literally became a crush and ii seemed
that rib cracking and broken legs were
a certainty but yet neither pursuer nor
pursued was hurt. Yet there are acci-
dents, and a veteran observer said men
had been killed in the pen. All the beat
ers and all the spectators were fishermen.
and the costumes made a picture in
themselves. There were red shirts and
blue shirts. rubber hats and high rubber
boots worn by many. while others not so
fortunately clad went into the ruck with
only ordinary clothing and shoes. The
rain had filed the pen with water six
inches deep and the pen being on the
black soil at the seward side of the
marsh, the water quickly became the
blacklist slush Imaginable. This flew ev-
erywhere. but no one minded il. There
was an all-pervading odor OF wild ami
mails. mingled with a milky smell With
this was the salty tang OF the sea air.
The trampin gof feet was incessant. \
man would start in and attempt to seize
a pony b. the nose to cut of his wind.
\ sian negro was the most expert OF all
at this and the spectators expressed ad-
miration Of his skill It required nine
men 10 hold one powerful stallion. after
ten-minute struggle at that. When
subdued they We're fitted with rope bT'-
dies. After the desired animals had been
picked out. the little boys were allowed
II enter and practice the art Of taking
the colts that Is the year,inzs. while
th-.r elders looked OF appr0vingly.
There was but little talking ard no ap-
plsuse. Up-country people would have
ciattered Ike blacabirds. and been vo-
cifsrous in applause Bot these fsherfosk
are chary Of speech, quite Quaker-Iike,
may Of them.
When AZ last the ponies desired had
been taken out. the colts were branded.
these being the property OF the owners
Of the mare they follow The colts
year old and uubra aided become the prop
erty Of the men who do the driving. There
was a steady driving of bargains for
ponies. the prices ranging from 80 70 81
The stations are shorthaired ard smooth
as a rule and lack the air q extreme
wiidness which so marks the Other ponies.
The crowd presently stood ASIDE from
the gate and ths n;he ponies were al
lewe6 "a 90 They vent IN wiz sam
per. n a moment some were o. TIE very
shore q the SEA. perhaps two hundred
Yards away. while others were on tbs
marsh These % BE- taken while away
were led 20 tae beats u one cas~ they
we're hgisfe2 aboard ~ sing While n
another large bat they were fcrced 70
step aboard gh-o1Sh ~ oPening "a rae
side ;als being dangerous and Oh
fashioned way q ez51rSiug theTa- he
boats sails we've aoszsed. ara away they
E usut Tffh the rcni-s standing Il mas
E ne eeet OF little sku1s ard sAz-p8es
which bad wrought the pe=re-s. specsz-