The De Soto County news. [volume] (Arcadia, Fla.) 1898-1924, 1905-09-29
Hunted Down
BY c. B. LEWIS
Copyright 1905. bp n. d. Mcclure
BY c. B. LEWIS


| Jour Cattle company in search or new
,asturage 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 circled around and
crashed their teeth in hunger.
He had been born as free as the air
about him, and when bis muscles had
hardened he had galloped with a herd
up and down the valley for 200 miles
north and south. He had braved the
aerce winters, the cunning OF the
wolves, the spring Of the mountain
lon, the greed and cruelty OF the rod
San. There he stood at the head Of
his drove. Ave or six years old. black
as midnight, with the exception Of the
white star on his forehead, and there
were a beauty and a defiance about
him that appealed 10 the little band
all but one.
"see me put a bullet inside that
starr he said as he pointed his rife.
'Tf you do, viii put one through
your headF replied the leader, and he
was backed up by his two companions.
For 1--WE minutes every horse In the
drove stood there with head and tail
up and nostrlls quivering and tanks
heavinR. and then at a signal from
their leader they were away like the
wind.
II 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 a longing to revisit tho
old pastures, and they came sweeping
back. They never came during the
di hut always ON a moonlight night
al. trst any one knew Of their
presence was the sound OF their thud-
ding hoofs. Three times In the course
Of a year they stampeded the cattle,
and then the foreman ordered their de-
/ EITuEIlOns
sweeping up the valley they were to be
made targets Of
There was gI-umbllng among the men.
\ drove Of wild horses is always a
teril to 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 llon-yes, they were
mans enemies. but the wild horses
were his friends. II they were not I'M
der his hand and obedlent to him they
were 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
fred, one or two wounded, perhaps,
and ne herd escaped material damage.
me foreman saw how 1t was with his
cowboys. II 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 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
were 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-
. / n m
| 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 sent-
ment that they spared the black horse.
1t had been agreed from the first to
spare him till the last and then seek
to capture him alive. II 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 far into the noun
tains. They spread out 80 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 were
hemmed between.
BY and by the hunters gleefuliy re-
ported that only one horse was left
the black leader. He could not have
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
shrill neigh OF defiance and vanished
in the distance. Word was sent UP
and down the valley that he was TO
be hunted 10 his capture. The cow