The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-12-07
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kXxxEXR from his perch on the top
rail OF the horse corral Sometimes
you hunt the bear, and sometimes the
bear hunts you-and once in while
extraneous circumstances. as the Pro
fessor calls 'em, hops in and mixes
things up in good shape"
Jack deftly twisted paper and tobac-
co into a brown cylinder; the touch of
a match sent blue spirals of smoke
curling up above his head. He leaned
back against post and breathed
deep sigh of content.
Across the bottom of the canon a
cozy cabin nestled close under the
brown earth wall that slanted back
toward the hills. Snowy lace curtains
and pots Of green leaved, Towering
things in the windows proclaimed a
feminine presence. At one end of the
cabin brown bear paced ceaselessly
TO and fro with the stealthy, noiseless
tread Of his kind.
why is it." l queried, plaintively,
shat when 1 ask you anything about
that bear you always appear to be
struggling with some strong emotion?
And yesterday, when 1 remarked to
Tony that Cupid was a rather pecu-
liar name for creature as ungainly
as bear, he got as red in the face as
q turkey gobbler. What's the joker"
"Well, I'll tell you," said Jack, "and
you can judge for yourself. Last.
spring they had big horse roundup
along the river here. Three or four
outfits throwed in together and ran a
wagon for about a month There was
lots Of stray horses In this country
then, and one or two outfits in the
Judith basin sent men down to ride
with us. Tony was workin' for the
D-cross, and they sent him down be-
cause he was familiar with this coun-
try.
There was quite a bunch of us
fourteen riders, l guess. The Profes-
sor was runnin' the layout, and the
way we got over the country wasn't
slow. One day we moved down and
camped on the mouth of the Mussel-
shell; there was little bunch Of wild
horses running on the river ten miles
or so below there that the Professor
'oHANN hii5hAg bdNis toO liGAl
he tells Tony and me to mount our
ridge runners, for he wanted us to
ride the river bottom and get that
bunch Of broOm-tails.
You never was on a roundup with
the Professor was you, Kid? Don't
ever go! Life amt worth livn' then.
He forgets about bugs and beetles and
rock formations long enough to send
you out on herd or on circle and then
goes TO meditatln' about things that
would give Powder River horse
wrangler the lockjaw to talk about.
Petrlfied things-trees and fish and
shells-which is common as dirt in this
country, has horrible fascination for
him. Once he sent Bud Wilkes and me
to hold herd, and then clean forgot
us till 1t was time to set the night
guard. We come in pretty hostile, but
when the Professor fixed his mild gray
eyes on us kind O. reproachful, we
faded away, and looked around for a
prairie dog hole that we could crawl
into.
THAT was his way, so we had to
figure on getting those horses without
any help from him. After starting us
out, he'd forget we was on the earth,
and IL we run our horses down and got
afoot, we knew we'd have to walk to
camp-whlch was against our religious
principles, TO say nothing OF the way
the rest of the crowd would roast us.
I'VE poked along slow, keepin' an
eye open for horses. Wed rode along
the ridges till we come to the lower
edge Of SunDance Flat where this
particular bunch was supposed to be.
AS we was amblln' down the hill into
the river bottom, sees something
pokln' around among the sagebrush,
which growed like young trees along
there. | could see it wasn't no horse
and 1t didn't much resemble a COW. /
was tryln' TO figure out what 1t was
before I said anything, when Tony
who's got an eye on him like an eagle
--blurts out, "A bear, b'goshr
"And It was, sure enough; a big
brown cuss. nosIn' around in the
brush like he'd lost something We
loped down toward him. Tony cussin'
considerable as we went along.
"T might a-knowed,' he growled,
that II strayed down into this God
forsaken country without gun I'd
meet some varmlnt that needed klllin'.
Amt even got a pistol-and l don't
suppose there's sheep camp within
ten miles where we could get one
"Tony seemed to be real distressed
about IL. He looked as sorrowful as
a COW puncher caught In storm oil
day-herd with his slicker in the bed
wagon. tried to cheer him up, but
Il wasn't any use; he seemed to have
= srudge against that bear right from
the start.
I'VE went on TIL we got right close
70 him, and he didn't pay any more at
tsntion to rs than II we'd been a cou-
pie OF Jack rabbits out for mornin'
stroll. Pretty soon Tony pulled up
4 and started to unbuckle his rope strap.
what in thunder you going to do
nowr ! asks. knew well enough
but II seemed Ike fool thing to try.
"Tm going to take fall out OF that
eoyote-facsd SON Of reptile II It's the
last thing I do on EARTH be snaps
Are you camel 4 bear amt got N