The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-09-22

LA><j the nondescript little pom
IL ri les ranging the four corners
OF Co!or;luo, kew Mexico, Arizona and
Utah are called. This section is known
as the Yellow Jacket Breaks, and con-
sists for the most part Of aghigh, sroH-
ing mesa, intersected by'a network OF
deep box canons. Like S1ancos Can
:, on. famous for it's cliff dweller palace
and distant only seventy or eighty
miles. the region once was densely peo-
pied by the prehistoric cliff dweller
race, says thu. Washington Post.
Into such rough; country oneswould
think no horseman would venture; yet
the whirr of the lariat is sometimes
heard in all but the deepest gorges.
The broomtail pony is there, and,
nowadays, a horse is horse. though
the broomtail is perhaps the meanest
specimen of the genus brorcho.
The wit of the broncho is enough to
dazzle a tenderfoot, but the broomtaifs
peculiar tactics make him the wonder
of the range.------.- - 49,, --,---c--'
It is related that one Of the old mares
once had ridden her sickly colt near
the upper Yellow Jacket Spring while
she grazed under the rimrock. A horse
hunter suddenly dashed into the glade,
and as Madame Broomtail neither
could desert her baby nor carry it away
with her. she quickly conceived bit
Of strategy.
At the first alarm she uttered a
shrill snort, which plainly meant,
Keep still, little one.'' Then she
trotted about, tamely shifting at the in
truder until he made a dash at her;
whereupon, instead Of bounding away
with head erect, an easy mark for the
lasso, che stopped short with her head
between b., knees, and kicked earnest
ly and hard, as only broomtail can.
No exredient could maxi her lift her
head, to roping position, anC she stud
iously avoided the spot where her colt
was concealed. ,>.. p.
After while the cowboy attempted
to rope her by the feet, but she made
a cunning pass with her heels and
famed his mount. She seemed to re-
alize at once that even sick broomtail
might Gefy a lame pursuer and neighed
triumphantly to her baby. Together
they disappeared in the timber, and
the discounted horse hunter walked
to the nearest camp.
A party of relic hunters recently
went on an exploring torr Of the Yel-
low jacket cliff dwellings, and incl
dentally had some :port with a band
Of broomtiils ranging near the west
canon. The discernment Of the wild
pony enables him to distinguish be-
TWEEN horse hunters and the harmless
excursion:st at a glance, but he cannot
tell when the latter will play trick
on him. Ee has mastered few arti-
fees himself, however, and in this
case he came out away ahead Of Sec
ond best. .o'
From the ;-1redition camp, perched
on the vantage point of desolate
headland, the little horses were often
visible as they browsed in nearby
draw. One afternoon three young
men, moved by that quality which i'm.
pels chase, organized raid on the
wild ponies. The horses they could
muster had seen more service on a
farm than in the breaks, and the men
could neither. ride nor throw rope,
but. Of course, there would be sport
in seeing the wild ponies run.
The amateur horse wranglers made
q spirited sweep to windward. That
must have pleased the ponies, since.
when they have. scented the foe at a
safe distance, the race is alawsy theirs.
But a broomtairs devious nature will
not permit him to run straight away
and thus relieve his pursuer Of the
trouble Of bootless race.
The bronchos skillfully tnaneuvred
to keep the enemy in view, while they
kept out of sight in the brush. They
would run down draw and cross over
to the next one, which they ascended
to a point from which the enemy was
IN sight.
They kept up the game of hide and
seek until they had satisfied their Gu
riosity as to the intruders, and then
boldly dashed across a ridge in plain
view of the men. The horsemen gave
chase at once. The course was over
the broken country that divides the
west canon from the main Yellow
Jacket, and the ponies had the best of
it from the start. After four or five
miles of hard running the men found
themselves in place they hardly knew
how to get out of, and the ponies had
disappeared as if by magic.
When the men reached camp, worn
out and sore from the scratches they
had received in riding through the
brush, they glanced over toward the
draw, and there were the Identical
wild ponies that had disappeared so
mysteriously, quietly feeding within a
mile of camp!
Nearly every great horse range in
tha Vectarn States has had ifs assc-