Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-10-24
EVENING SHORT STORY.
D PRAYER.

leather snaps, guns galore Il tnat
sort of thing. l found them not.s
Maybe times lave changed. Perhaps
it's a new west | encountered. Any,
how, l found cowboys. They wore
"shaps?' Yes, because mesquite is
mesquite and cactus is just as prickly
now as in the days of the real bad
men. Some of the boys wore guns.
Not with the display so picturesquely
represented in the drawings | had
seen. The laws of New Mexico have
at least changed.
Garry a Winchester" they read,
"but pack you not a six-shooter. for IL
is not healthy to the extent of a $50
fine and trimmings, if apprehended.'
These may not be the exact words,
but they contain the meaning. The
~cowpunchers respected that law, at
least to the extent of casting aside
the picturesque holster and belt and
concealing the prehistoric Colt 40 In
the waistband.
I'll tell about the religion later,
What | wish to say now is that met
old man Darby, owner of the Silver
mountain outfit, in Stacy's saloon at
Mirage. He bought a drink and |
bought a drink. Then collectively and
otherwise we both bought. drinks.
Later we turned two ponies loose In
the corral at Silver mountain, and
| had turned ~cowpuncher. 1t takes
time to make a cowpuncher. Moth
ing else does it. In time | learned.
Twenty-Five miles due south from Sill
yer is the lower shanty of the outht.
When 'Dobe Smith rode downward
from the lower shanty one sitting
New Mexico morning, and, after the
customary interval, failed to return,
the old man sent me to the lower
shanty. That was where l met Andy.
I don't know his last name; | some
times doubt whether he does. u liked
Andy. He was wanted" in Montana,
but. then, he wasn't the only one in
New Mexico who was wanted some
where. 1t was night when / reached
the lower shanty. That is, the sun
had plunged over the black range, and
after setting fire to the sky had hid
den from sight to escape the conse'
uuences. Andy had just come in. He
was frying bacon and making biscuits.
] BY the way, did you ever eat biscuits
in a COW shanty, after a days ride.
J with a can of lick" for dessert?
Lick is a good deal like sorghum
molasses. except that sorghum hasn't
the assortment of sand, red ants and
/ well, there's no use in stating particr
ulars. It's mighty good.
= Andy and l ate bacon, biscuits and
lick together. Andy can sure make
biscuits. Afterwards we sat outside
! and smoked. Granger twist and our
old cob pipes somehow seemed to fit
!, into the scenery. The sun fire in the
west had died out. The mesa sky was
a deep blue far, far above us. The lit
tie stars had come out in millions to
Craze around over the heavens. When
they fickered, away off up there. you
d could Just fancy them throwing up
i their tails and kicking with pure joy.
l Here and there through the bunch
were big stars herding in the little
{ ones.
c I like to watch the stars. It's all
b there is to do ordinarily in a New
d Mexico night. She was sure a pretty
i sight. Far to the south the mountains
poked into sight against the sky line,
black and lonesome. Coyotes were
holding a pow-wow on the other side
u of the foothills, and she was sure a
! warm argument. A few steers drifted
) past, looming up out of the night,
snorting and trotting back into the
: mesquite. Andy was silent. So was
. l.. We Just sat there and smoked.
> Pretty soon the moon poked into sight
lust above Greaser's canyon, and the
mesa was filled with shadows. Bushy
g sotoles got up out of the darkness
where you couldn't see them before,
and now and then a jackrabbit Topped
into sight for a minute. Once a coyote
slipped up on a little knoll in front
g of the shanty and shifted contemptu-
ously. Andy's AS" cracked and a lit
tie bunch of sand jumped up into that
'kyote's" eyes.
Close" said. Andy grinned again.
, Our pipes went out almost stimuli
t~aneously for the second time and
/. ANDY yawned. Somehow he seemed
nervous.
Better turn in?" l asked.
"Reckin.' he answered. He got up,
brushing the sand from the seat OF his
trousers.
Il like Dobe while he's here" he
said, his eyes fixed on my face.
"'Cause why?"
1t was a long speech for Andy. l
waited.
"'Cause," he said, Dobe- don't mix
y in what amt his own affairs. He don't.
also peddle information to them other
punchers up at Silver. If k a
notion to pray now and then, which
sure does, Dobe takes part by sayin'
nothin'."
"This is a free range, amt it?' |
answered, pray ahead.
! Andy g%rinned. We went inside. |
-. xx1t1- A.I.v 1fnhfnI