The Somerset reporter., 1905-08-31
Hunted Down
By c. B. LEWIS
By c. B. LEWIS
Copyright, 1905. by r. B. Mcclure

pasturage reached the Wind river val
ley almost the first thing their eyes
rested on was a drove of wild horses
numbering thirty. The drove was led
by a stallion whose grace and beauty
ELECTED unbounded admiration. Some
of the drove had escaped from bond
age to roam the plains free from the
restraints Of man, but the leader had
surely been foaled in some quiet cove
among the foothills, and his mother
had kept guard over him while the
timber wolves clrced around aud
CRASHED their teeth in hunger.
He had been born us free as the air
about him, and when his muscles had
hardened he had galloped with herd
up and down the valley for 200 miles
north and south He had bruyed the
fierce winters, the cunning of the
wolves, the spring of the mountain
lion, the greed and cruelty of the red
man. There he stood at the head of
his drove FIVE or six years old, black
as midnight with the exception of the
white star on his forehead and there
were a beauty and defiance about
him that appealed to the little band
all but one.
See me put q bullet inside that
STAR he said as he pointed his rife.
IF you do, l will put one through
your head" replied the leader, and he
was backed up by his two companions
For five minutes every horse in the
drove stood there with head and tail
up and nostrils quivering and TANKS
heavlng, and then at signal from
their leader they were away like the
wind
1t was through these men that the
Big Four outfit heard of the black
horse. The coming of men and cattle
drove him and his fellows down to tie
south end Of the valley, hundred
miles away, but now and then they
seemed to have Il longing to revisit the
old pastures, and they came sweeping
back. They never came during the
day, but always on moonlight night
and the first any one knew of their
presence was the sound of their thud-
ding hoofs Three times in the course
of year they stampeded the cattle
and then the foreman ordered their de-
struction. The next time they came
sweeping up the valley they were to be
made targets Of.
There was grumbllng among the men,
A drove of wild horses is always a
peril to q herd of steers, but it went
against the grain of the men born In
freedom themselves to shoot down
other of Gods creatures. The wolf,
the coyote, the lion-yes, they were
mans enemies, but the wild horses
were his friends. II they were not I'M
der his hand and obedient to him they
were still his friends. Ever since men
and horses were, bond Of friendship
has existed between them. When the
horses came agaiT a few shots We're
fired, one or two wounded, perhaps,
and the herd escaped material damage.
The foreman saw how it was with his
cowboys. 1t was so with his own con
science, and he did not blame them
But the drove must go. There were
men over at san Bias who would do
anything for money, even to the taking
of human life For a certain price per
head they undertook to eXtcrminate
the drove. There We're four Of them,
and they rode away secretly and swore
the foreman to secrecy. They had to.
The cowboys would have called 1t muir
der and demanded revenge. The few
settlers along the foot of the mountains
We're rough and hardy men who were
dealing with nature hi the rough. but
they would not have tolerated the
slaughter. =
The quartet found the drove and be-
gan the work. Sometimes the men
killed from the saddle and sometimes
they skulked and sneaked on foot and
approached their game as the panther
does. 1t was from no feeling of senti-
ment that they spared the black horse.
1t had been agreed from the first to
spare him TIL the last and then seek
to capture him alive. 1t took weeks to
finish the rest of the drove. When the
horses found death on their trail they
left the broad pastures and sought the
green coves, making fur into the noun
talns. They spread out so as to leave
no trail and ceased to whinny BY
day they hid themselves among the
pines and cedars and came out only at
night to feed.
The mountain lions aided the hunt.
ers. They ambushed horse after horse
and pulled them down. and the fierce
timber wolves kept the living In a
state of terror. To the north were the
cattlemen, to the south advancing
civilization The poor horses We're
hemmed between.
By and by the hunters geefully re.
ported that only one horse was left
the black leader. He could not hive
escaped bullets had they been minded
to shoot him, but he had outwitted the
wolves and the lions, and when his
last companion went down he uttered
a shrill neigh Of defiance and vanished
in the distance Word was sent up
and down the valley that he was to
be hunted to his capture. The cow
boys would have nothing to do with 1t,
but there were score Of others who
entered into the chase gleefully and
greedily. The man who captured the
black horse could put his own price on
him.
The plan of campaign was for men
to station themselves up and down the
xnllnv nt itntnrrnls mud To knnn tho