The Virginia enterprise., 1904-12-30

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like he'd lost mething. We loped
down toward him, Tony cussin' con-
siderable as we went along.
SO might a-knowed, he growled,
that Il strayed down into this Cod
forsaken country without q gun I'd
meet some varmint that needed KILN,
Amt even got pistol-and don't
| suppose there's a sheep-camp. within
ten miles where We could get one. III. II
'Tony seemed to be real dis
tressed about it He looked as sorrow
full as a cow-puncher caught in q
storm on day-herd with his slicker in
the bed-wagon. tried to cheer him
up, but it wasn't any use; he seemed
to have a grudge against that bear
right from the start.
"We went on till we got right close
to him, and he didn't pay any more
attention to us than if we'd been a
| couple of jack-rabbits out for morn
ing stroll. Pretty soon Tony pulled
up and started to unbuckle his rope
| strap.
"'What in thunder you going to do
| now?' asks. I knew we'll enough,
but it seemed like a fool thing to try.
"'I'm going to take fall out Of
that coyote-faced son-of-a-reptile if it's
the last thing do on earth,' he snaps.
Are you game? A bear amt got no
business prowlin' around this country
so bold, nohow. I'm going to tie onto
him for luck
you'll raise Cain with him-I dom t
think says.
HE looked at me like I'd insulted
him, so l didn't say no more Only I
thought to myself, old boy, there'll
be something doing around here when
you do get your rope on him.
"You see, hadn't figured on doing
any fancy work with rope when we
started out that mornin'. I'd picked
me horse that could get out and hit
the trail with the best of them, but
he wouldn't stand for any rope work.
l guess he thought it was degradin'
to be made snubbin' post Of He
was fea-bitten gray, with a Roman
nose and big, bulgin' eyes. He had a
way of humpin' his back and side
steppin' when things didn't go to suit
him. Once or twice he's used his in
fluence to try to remove me, and the
motions he made was such that all I
could do was to pull leather and pray
for the end to come quickly. He was
sure corker, and his name was Pop
Eve.
'"Tony was ridin' chunky little
ch hestnut-a mild~eyed little beggar
that paced along with his eyes half
Shut but he was there with the goods,
all right, all right, when it came to do
ing the tie-down sct.
'"Tony got his rope fixed and says to
me: you ride around that way and at
tract his attention, and when he gets
to watchin' you, I'll run in and rope
him. -----
$50 round I goes. Mr.. Bear did
mt take notice of me till I got around
so that he was right between me and
Tony. Then let's ki-yi out of me,
and he come alive. He looked up,
and when let another yell he started
for the river, smashin' through the
sage-brush like one Of the Great
Northern Moguls buckin' snow
drift; but Red swooped down on him
like hawk after a chicken. Tony
got him first throw--you've seen him
rope-and turned off sideways. The
bear went to the end of the 4O-foot
rope on a high run, and the jerk he
got turned him head over heels. He
hit the ground with a thump that
should have knocked the life out of
him, but it didn't, for he got to his feet
little the maddest bear you ever saw,
and made for Tony. Twice old Red
went to the end of the rope and put
him down, and both times Brownie
bounced to his feet lookin' for more.
'Tony began to think he was up
against it, I guess. He'd throwed a
little too big loop and the bear had
got a front foot in it, so he couldn't
choke him like he aimed to do; he'd
likewise tied his rope hard and fast
bein' from Texas, where such is the
fashion-and couldn't turn him loose.
They was sure connected up in good
shape: red horse, white man, and
brown bear all onhone string.
Finally Tony hollers to me: For
Gods sake, try and get your rope on
him, Jack. He'll jerk Red down il he
keeps up this lick, and it'll be all OF
with me then =
"'All right says I, TIL try and
starts to take down my rope. Now you
know that most all horses is scared
to death of a bear. You can't get an Or
dinary horse near bear if he's on the
windy side, where he can get the scent.
Red didn't seem to mind, but then he
was an old rope-horse, used to goin'
up against all kinds of formations.
But old Pop-he didn't have no more
sense than the law allowed him, no
how-was sure stirred up As l said
before, he had constitutional aver
sion to any monkey business with q
rope, so when I took mine down. he
concluded he had business further up