The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1904-08-10
CHAPTER XIII.
THE pILor's LAsr poRT

SI&F teStlf1ty. Ill tuOSe UuyS, IOr
the most part. men died In their boots
and We're planted with much honor
and loyal libation. There was often
neither shroud nor coffin, and In the
fur west many II poor fellow lies as he
fell, wrapped In his own or his com
rade's blanket.
1t was the manager of the Y l. COM
pany's ranch that introduced Grape.
The occasion was the funeral of one of
the ranch cowboys, killed by his bron-
co, but whcn the pnllbearers and
mourners appeared with bands ind
steamers of Grape this was voted by
the majority MS too gay" That cir
cumstance alone was sufficient to rem
der that funeral famous, but 1t was re-
membered, too, as having shocked the
proprieties In another and more serious
manner. No II would be so narrow
minded as to object to the custom of
the return procession falling into n
series of horse races of the widest de-
scription and ending up ut Latour's In
O general riot. But to race with tho
corpse was considered bad form. The
corpse driver" as he was called, could
hardly be blamed on this occasion.
His acknowledged place was at the
head of the procession, and 1t was q
point OF honor that hat place should
be retained. The fault lay clearly with
h driver of the X l. ranch sleigh,
containing the mourners ian innova-
ton, 10y the way), who felt aggrieved
that Hi kendall. driving the Ashley
team with the pallbearers (another
innovation), should be given the place
Of honor next the corpse.
The y l. driver wanted to know
what. In the name of all that was black
and blue, the Ashley ranch had to do
with the funeral2 Whose was that
corpse, anyway Didn't 1t belong to the
y l. ranch? Hi, on the other hand,
contended that the corpse was In
charge of tho pallbearers. 1t was
their duty to see 1t right to the grave,
and If they We're not on hand how was
1t goin' to get there2 They didn't ex-
pect that 1t would git up and get there
by itself. did they? Hi didn't want no
BANKED mourncrs foolin' round that
corp till 1t was properly planted; after
that they might git in their work.
But the Y L driver could not accept
this view, and at the first opportunity
slipped past Ill and his ~pallbearers
and took the place next the sleigh that
carried thec coffin. 1t is possible that Hi
might have borne with this affront and
loss of position with even mind, but
h jeering remarks of the mourners as
they slid past triumphantly could not
be endured, and the next moment the
three teams were abreast in n race as
/ for 1nor ltfN Tl,n Nr,,c J,t,,n. 1-,
Ing the advantage Of the beaten track,
soon left the other two behind running
neck and neck for second place, which
was captured finally by Hi and main
tanned to the grave side in spite Of
many attempts on the part OF the Y LIS.
The whole proceeding, however, was
considered quite improper, and Mt La
tours that night, after full and bibu-
lous discussion, 1t was agreed that the
corpse driver fairly distributed the
blame. For his part, he said, he knew
he hadn't ought to make no corp
git any such move on, but he wasn't
goin to see that there corp take second
place ut his W funeral. Not If he
could help 1T. And as for the others, he
thought that the pallbearers had a
BANKED sight more to do with the
plantin' than them giddy mourncrs.
But when they gathered at the Mere
dith ranch 10 carry out the Pilot to his
grave it was felt that tho foothill coun-
try vas called to a new experience.
They were all there-the men from
the Porcupine and from beyond the
Fort, the police with the inspector in
command, all the farmers for twenty
miles around, and of course all the
ranchers and cowboys Of the Swan
Greek country. There was DO effort at
repression. There was no need, for in
the cowboys for the first time in their
/ experience there %aS.-no heart for u
And as they rode up and hitched their
horses to the fence or drove their
sleighs into the yard and took OFF the
bells there was no loud voiced saluta-
ton, no guying nor chatting, out with
silent nod they too their places in the
crowd about the door or passed into
the kitchen.
The men from the Porcupine could
not quite understand the gloomy ST.
lence. 1t was something unprccedent-
ed In Il country where men laughed all
care to scorn md saluted death with
a nod. But they were quick to read
signs, and, with characteristic courtesy,
they fell In with the mood they could
not understand. There is no man liv-
Ing so quick to feel your mood and so
ready to adapt himself to it as is the
true wcstcrner.
l. This was the day of tic cowboys
grief. To tie rest of the community
the Pilot WAS preacher; to them lie was
comradc and friend. They had been
slow to admit him to their confidence,
but steadily he had won his place with
them till within the last fow months
they had come to count him as of
themselves. lie had ridden the range
with them, he had slept I'm their shacks
and cooked his meals on their tin
stoves, and, besides, he was Bills
chum. That alone was enough to give
him a right to all they owned. He was
theirs, and they were only beginning to
take full pride I'm him when he passed
out from them, leaving an emptiness ip
their life new md unexplained.
No man In that country had ever
shown concern for them, nor had It oc-
Cured to them that any man could till
the Pilot came. 1T tool them long to
believe that the interest he showed in
| than u,o nnn,,tna nnI NOT ,t,,-I. 800