Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1905-11-16
Copyright, 1905. by R. B. Mcclure

''See me put a bullet inside that
starr he said as he pointed his rifle.
IF you do, 1 will put one through
your headI' 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 flanks
heaving, and then at a 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, hundred
miles away, but now and then they
seemed to have a longing to revisit the
old pastures, and they came sweeping
back. They never came during the
day, but always on a 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 a 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 grumbling among the men.
A drove Of wild horses is always a
peril to a 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. If they were not un-
der his hand and obedient 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 a few shots were
fred, one or two wounded, perhaps,
md 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 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 1t 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-
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.
spare him till 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 far into the noun
tains. 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 were
hemmed 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
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 it. |
but there were a 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
valley at intervals and to keep the
black horse moving until he fell from
exhaustion. 1t would seem almost as
II the summer breeze whispered the
plans Of men in his ears. He disap-
peared as If the earth had swallowed
him up, and he was not found for a
month. Then one day u man penetrat-
ed wild, dark gorge leading into the
mountain, and when he had followed
1t for a quarter of mile it debouched
into a cove ten acres in extent. Water
and grass were plentiful, and the black
horse had lived in safety. On the grass
lay the decaying bodies of four timber
wolves that had met death while trying
70 mil him down. He had courage as
--~r' - beauty.
The presence man Grove the |
- - -. - falley, and then the |
chase was taken up. 1t began one
morning at daylight
The chase was cruel and later on led |
to quarrels wherein men lost their /
lives, For five miles each hunter pur- |
sued the black horse at top speed and /
then he 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 of the |
creeks as he came TO them. The COM
ing of night gave him no relief. 1t |
was moonlight and the chase still con-
tinued.
For seventy miles the black horse |
held bis course UP the valley. Then