The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-10-20
Hunted Down
By c. B. LEWIS


Four Cattle company in search of new
paSturagc reached the Wind river val
ley almost the first thing their eyes
rested on was drove - wild horses
numbering thirty. The drove was led
by stallion whose grace and beauty
elected unboundcd admiration. Some
of the drove had escaped from bond
age 70 roam the plains free from the
restraints of man, but the leader had
surely been foalcd in some quiet cove
among the foothills, and his mother
had kept guard over him while the
timber wolves circled around and
CRASHED their teeth in hunger.
He had been born as free as the air
about him, and when his muscles had
hardened he had gdlloped with herd
up and down the valley for 200 miles
north and south. He had braved 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
us midnight, with the exception of the
were beauty and a .tiance about
him that appealed to tn little band
all bat one.
Sec me put bullet inside that
STAR he said as he pointed his rifle.
If you do, | will Put one through
Your head" replied the leader, and he
was backed up by his two companions.
min v1In horse in the
drove stood there with head and tail
up and nostrils quivering and TANKS
heaving, 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 the
south end OF the valley, a hundred
miles away, but now and then they
seemed to have longing to revisit the
old pastures, and they came sweeping
back. They never came during the
day, but always Oh moonlight night,
ana the first any one knew Of their
presence was the sound of their thud-
ding hoofs. Three times in the course
Of Il year they stnmpcded the cattle,
and then the foreman ordered their de-
StrIction The next time they came
sweeping up the valley they were to be
made targets of.
There was grumbling among the men.
y drove of wild horses is always
peril to Il herd of steers, but 1t 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. If they We're not IN
der his hand and obedient to him they
We're still his friends. Ever since men
and horses were, a bond of friendship
has existed between them. When the
horses came again few shots were
fired, one or two wounded, perhaps,
and the herd escaped material damage.
The foreman saw how 1t was with his
cowboys 1t was 80 with his own con-
science, and he did not blame them.
But the drove must go. There We're
men over at San Bias who would do
anything for money, even to the taking
of human life. For certain price per
head they undertook to exterminate
the drove There were four of them,
and they rode away secretly and swore
the foreman to secrecy. They had to.
The cowboys would have called it 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 in 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-
mcnt that they spared the black horse.
1t had been agreed from the first to
spare him till the last and then seek
10 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 covcs, making far into the noun
tains. They spread out 80 as to leave
10 trail and ceased to whinny. By
day they hid themselves among the
pines and cedars and came out only at
might to feed.
The mountain lions aided the hunt
crs. They ambushed horse after horse
and pulled them down, and the fierce
timber wolves kept the living in
- tI,,
catrlemen, to the south advancing
civilization. The poor horses were
hcmmed between.
by and by the hunters gleefully re-
ported that only one horse was left
the black leader. He could not have
escaped bullets had they been minded
10 shoot him, but he had outwitted the
wolves and the lions, and when his
last companion went down he uttered
u shrill neigh of defiance and vanished
i'll 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 it.
but there were a score Of others who
entered into the chase gleefully and
grccdily. The man who captured the
black horse could put his own price Oh
him.
The plan Of campaign was for men
TO station themselves up and down the
valley at intervals and to keep the
black horse moving until lie fell from
exhaustion. 1t would seem almost as
If the summer breeze whispered the
plans of men in his ears. He disap-
pcafci as If the earth had swallowed
him UP, and he was not found for q
month. Then one day man penetrat-
eli il wild, dark gorge leading into the
mountain, and when he had followed
II Tor Il quarter Of mile it debouched
into 4 cove ten acres in extent Water
and grass Were plentiful, and the bluck
horse had lived i'll safety. On The grass
lay tie decaylng bodies of four timber
wolves that had met death while trying
10 pull him down. He had courage as
well as beauty.
The presence of the man drove the
horse out into the valley, ana then the
chase was taken up. 1t began one
morning at daylight.
The chase was cruel and hitter Oh led
to quarreIs wherein men lost their
lives. For five miles each hunter pur-
sued the black horse at top speed and
then lie rested. Confident of his speed
and strength, the lone horse moved off
with defiant air. There was not
moments rest for him all day long.
Three or four times he buried his
muzZle in the ice cold waters or the