Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-12-29
THE PGAINsMARs SIXTH SENSE
Mysterious Faculty That Guides the
Ranchman.

Mysterious Faculty That Guides the
Ranehman.
did you ever hear Of the plains
mans sixth sense?" asked a West
erner the other day Of little group
of smokers in Broadway hotel lobby.
"It is a thing that has often puzzled
me in knocking about among the
ranchmen of Montana.
"I myself have seen this sixth sense
manifest itself under extraordinary
conditions and have known Of lots OF
instances in which 1t operated with
almost the precision Of special prov
idence. And yet, although I've done
my best to get 1t out Of the ranchmen,
I never found one that could explain
1t.
There was the time, for instance,
when Prairie Dog Jenkins detected q
ranch eight miles away by the aid Of
the sixth sense. Prairie Dog was an
old hunter and one of the best cow
men I'm Montana. In the summer Of
1890 he and Dynamite Dick went up
Fallon creek together, a country Dy-
Mantle Dick had not been in for ten
years, and Prairie Dog never.
They were riding along eight or
nine miles from Witherby's ranch one
day about 2 o'clock when Prairie Dog
said to Dick:
pretty near a ranch, arn't we?'
"No,' said Dick. for Witherby had
taken up his ranch since Dick had
been in the country.
Must be- returned Prairie Dog.
I smell 'em making coffee. It's that
way" he went on pointing in certain
direction.
"And, Prairie Dog leading and Dick
following, they rode straight as a
string till they rode into Witherby's
back yard.
"As they sat around the table eat
ing the chuck the boys got for them
Dynamite Dick, thinking to be funny.
told how Prairie Dog had smelt their
coffee eight miles away. There was no
other ranch nearer than forty miles
in those days. Then one Of the fell
lows asked:
what time was 1t you smelt the
coffee
"'About e. said Prairie Dog.
1.-The boys looked at each other,
then they looked at Prairie Dog.
Then:
1.-TWO of the boys got in late they
said: so we made fire and were
making fresh coffee for them. And 1t
was just about o'clock
Now in that case" continued the
westerner. you might say that the
sixth sense was nothing but an extra
ordinary sensitive nose. But 1t was
something more spiritual than mere
nose that guided Frisco Frank when
he and Ned Carruth lost their way
to the bull camp.
Zone summer all the bulls from the
country just south Of Terry were gath
cred in big pasture on the Yellow
stone. In the fall. when the other
cattlemen- took their bulls out Of
camp; Frank and Ned for some rea-
son, they decided they would go
together.
-tl-.Itzgas about, thirty miles. to the
bull camp, through an unfamiliar
country, and what with starting rath-
er late and one thing and another
the men lost their bearings. AS 1t
was getting along toward evening they
thought they'd better strike place
for the night and go on next day.
"They had heard that a sheep man
had a tent out and a man herding
sheep, and though neither had the
ghost Of an idea where to find 1t they
decided to spend the night there. So
they stopped and studied the land
scape.
80 Well, you're the DOCTOR says
Ned. Which way shall we CO.?
Frisco Frank mounted butte and
took a squint round the horizon, and
then pointed without hesitation.
LETS go that way he said.
"And after they had ridden about
ten miles and come over a little hill
right down below them in a draw was
the tent. They were within sixty feet
of 1t before they saw 1t all. They
had hit on the only human habitation
In all that country
But that was an easy one COM
pared with the time that Nathan
Knowl:on led a party Of Englishmen
home In the dark. Knowlton was
quarterbreed and the only native
American In the bunch. The others,
though they had lived here for sew
eral years, were\ all Englishmen.
"Knowlton had been over to the
Lazy VI P. ranch helping to brand
calves " en- a prairie fire broke out
about twenty miles away; so, OF
course, they dropped everything and
went to the rescue. BY the time the
fire was out 1t was way into the dark.
"The way home led through the
Bad Lands, and it got dark on 'em, so
that man couldn't see his horses ears
while they were cropping their way
down the cut banks and through the
scrub cedar. Finally a little contro-
versy developed among them, one ar
guing that they were bearing too
much to the left and another that
they were bearing too much to the
right, and first one would guide the
party and then another until they had
ridden for hours and were ali in a
snarl and tangle.
"They were about to give 1t up and
prepared to make night Of 1t under the
sky when Knowlton got off his horse
saying Let me lie down and sleep
little They all dismounted. Knowl-
ton took his slicker and lay down
with 1t over his head as II he were
going to sleep for the night.
well, what with the others talking
and laughing and one thing and an
other. Knowlton woke up in half an
hour. He opened his eyes and stretch
ed and yawned, and then he got up on
his feet and turning slowly, looked all