The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-11-30
He droce ROd1ey's sheep Deer the clif9"


funeral pageantry in the ring of it's
| measured phrases that recalled to many
burials Of the dead that had taken
place in their widely scattered homes.
| Mrs. Barbauld's hymn, Flee as a Bird
to the Mountain" are the words usual
ly sung to the air.
When the singer finished the talk
turned to cattle thieves, and soon they
were deep in tales of lynchings. Peter
! knew only too we'll the trend Of their
talk. The XXX men We're feeling the
public pulse, as it were Now, accord
ing to the unwritten code of the plains,
lynching was "meet, right, Just and
ayailable' for the cattle thief. And
Peter felt himself false to his creed,
false to his employer. false to himself.
in seeking to evade the question. And
yet that pitiful cabin, the white faced
woman running to the door SO often
that she knew not what she did, and
the little rosy boy who had put out his
arms so trnstfully! Peter broke into
their grewsome EARNING. Lord, but
you're like lot Of old women Just
come from a funeral!''
"Whin the carpse died hard and the
wake was success" Costigan turned
over. "Werra, vera, but We'll be see
in fairies the night!'
A Xxx man turned his head with
deliberate sloWness and regarded Pc
ter with narrowing eyes: IF the sub
ject Of cattle thieves and their punish
ment is unpleasant to the gentleman
from New York perhaps he will favor
! us with something more cheerful It
was the same man who had given the
two definitions of the II L brand that
morning at the roundup.
"Delighted,' said Peter, affecting not
to notice the significance of the mans
remark. odd you ever hear Of the
| time that Tony Neville was burned
with snow:"
The XXX man yawned long and au-
d1bly. No one seemed especially inter
ested in Tony Neville's having been
burned with snow, but Peter struck out
| manfully just in time to head off a man
| who said that he had seen Jim Rodney
or some one who looked like him fol-
lowing the trail herd.
"Once on a time when it paid to be
cattleman," began Peter, "there was
an outfit near Laramie that hailed from
the United Kingdom, every mothers
son of them-a fine, manly lot of fell
| lows, but welded to calamity along of
their cooks. These unhappy Britons
had every species of i'll luck that could
| befall an outfit in the way of cooks.
They were Of every nationality, age
| and sex, and they stole, drank, quar-
relied, till the outfit determined to
sweep the house clear of them and do
its own cooking. Every man was to
| have turn at it for week. There
were as many different kinds of indi-
| gestlon as there were men in the out
fit. They would beg to do night herd
ing~-anything to get them away from
that ranch. Finally when their little
tummies got so bad that their over
coats thickened or wore through, or
whatever happens to stomachs' over
coats that are treated unkindly, some
ones maiden aunt sent him tract
saying that rice was the salvation Of
the human race, as witness the Chi
nese. Whosoever's turn it was to cook
that week determined to try the old
lady's prescription. Rice was procured,
about peck I think, and the man
who was cooking, pro tenn, put the en-
tire quantity on to boil in huge ham
boiler over slow fire, as per the d.
recti0ns Of the maiden aunt. The rice
seemed to be doing nicely when some
one came in and said that bunch of
antelope was over on the hills and
there was good chance to get cou-
pie. Every man got his gun, all but
the cook, and he looked at the rice, that
hadn't done thing over the Glow fire.