The Saint Paul globe., 1904-10-30

ME on nv arch enemy. Steve II had
had the arrangement of details could not
have planned it better. Because OF my
tender years the light chores OF the ranch
fell to nv share. One day every one was
off, leaving me to chink up the sbull pen,
or mems quarters with mud, against the
cold of approaching winter. Steve had
taken his eldest boy on a trip to pick out
some good wood.
Presently arrived the boy, fatless, run
ming as fast as he could tear, the breath
wl1istIing in his lungs. Come quick!''
was the message.
1t seems the deer had followed the
couple. and when the boy fooled with his
old PLAYMATE, the deer knocked him
down and would have hurt him badly,
but that his father instantly jumped into
the fray and grabbed the animal by the
horns. with the intention of twisting his
head off The head was fastened on more
firmly than Steve supposed. The power
full man thought it would be an easy mat
ter to throw his antagonist. What he
did not at all take into account was that
the buck was both larger and stronger than
he. Though raised on a bottle, the deer
had grown into a splendid specimen of its
kind. He was by long odds the largest
deer I ever saw.
Well. Steve got the surprise of his life.
It didn't take him long to see the battle
was all against him; that the best he
could hope to do was to hold his own
until help arrived; so he sent the boy Off
hotfoot. Although his power for short
exertion was great, Steve was in no kind
of training, having allowed himself to
fatten up, and being an inordinate user
of tobacco. Per contra, the deer felt
freshened and inYigorated by exertion
That is the deuce of it in struggling with
an animal-he doesn't tire.
knew that Steve was in sore trouble,
or he never would have sent for help.
The boys evident distress denied the joke
1 might otherwise have suspected; so
grabbed up rope and made for the
grove, the boy trailing me. / should have
waited to get gun, but 1 didn't think OF
it. Those were the days when l could
run; when it was an exhilaration to sail
over the prairie. The Importance of my
position as rescuer-which any one VINO
has been a boy will understand-lent
springs to my feet.
It was well for Steve that mine were
speedy legs. When 1 got there, his face
was gray and notified, like an old mans,
and his mouth had a weak droop, very
unlike the 1evil-may care Steve. The two
had paved up the ground for rods around
in the fight the deers horns, beneath
where the man gripped them, were wet
with the blood of his torn palms. Steve's
knees, arms and head were trembling as
if in an ague fit. He was all irl-physical-
/
defeat. Here 's-your-deer-Kidr he
gasped "Ekept-him-for-y
1 yelled to him to hold hard for one
second, took running jump and landed
on Mr. Bucks flank with both feet. It
was something of a shock. Over went
deer, man and boy. l was on my pins in
a jiffy, snapped the moose over the deer's
hind legs, tangled him up anyhow IN the
rest of the RATA and snubbed him to the
nearest tree. Then Steve got up and
walked away to where he could be in
comfort And he was good and sick.
When he felt better he arose and opened
his knife, swearing that he would Silt
that critters throat from ear TO ear; but
Steve Jr., who before this had arrived on
the scene, pleaded so hard for the life of
his pet that Big Steve relented and Mr..
Billy Buck was saved from further mis-
chief T
That afternoon two of us rode out and
roped him, Spreading him between US
as we dragged him home. He fought
every step of the way. My companion,
hot-headed Montana boy, was for killing
him a half-dozen times. However, feel
ing that the deer had Yindicated me, I
had a pride in him and kept him for. a
timely end. We turned him loose in a
corral with q blooded bull calf. some
mich COWS, work steers and other tame
animals And 1 bet you he has 'em all
chewing the rag inside Of twenty -four
hours said my companion. s@~--
That night Steve made ample amend for
his former mirth. Indeed, he praised my
feetness and promptness Of action so
highly that I was seized by an access Of