The Grit-advocate., 1905-02-03

&k xV unteereu JACK EOruOn
6x4KxH from his perch on the top
ran or the horse corral. Sometimes
you hunt the bear, and sometimes the
bear hunts yOu-and once in while
extraneOus circumstances, as the Pro-
fessor calls 'em. hops in and mixes
things up in good shape"
Jack deity twisted paper and tObac-
co into a brown cylinder: the touch of
match sent blue spirals of smoke
curling up above his head. He leaned
back against IL post and breathed Il
deep sigh of content.
Across the bottom of the canon a
coZy cabin nestled close under the
1ow:rd the hills. Snowy lace curtains
and pots of green leaved, Towering
things in the windows proclaimed 4
feminine presence. At one end of the
cabin a brown bear paced ceaselessly
10 and fro with the stealthy, noiseless
tread of his kind.
why is it, l queried, plaintively,
"that when l ask you anything about
that bear YOU always appear to be
struggling with some strong emotion?
And yesterday, when l remarked to
Tony that Cupid was rather pecu-
liar name for creature as ungainly
as bear he got as red in the face as
a turkey gobbler. What's the joker
We'll, I'll tell you," said Jack, land
YOU can judge for yourself. Last
spring they had big horse roundup
along the river here. Three or four
outfits throwed in together and ran a
wagon for about a month. There was
lots of stray horses in this country
then. and one or two outfits in the
Judith basin sent men down to ride
with us. Tony was workin' for the
>D-cross, and they sent him down be-
cause he was familiar with this coun-
try.
There was quite bunch of us
fourteen riders, guess. The Profes-
sor was runnin' the layout and the
way we got over the country wasn't
slow. One day we moved down and
camped on the mouth of the Mussel-
shell: there was a little bunch Of wild
horses running OH the river ten miles
or SO below there that the Professor
wanted mighty bad. So next morning
lie tells Tony and me to mount our
ridge runners. for lie wanted us to
ride the river bottom and get that
bunch of broOm-tails.
"You never was on a roundup with
the Professor was you. Kid? Don't
ever go. Life amt worth livin' then.
He forgets about bugs and beetles and
rock formations long enough to send
YOU ont on herd or on circle. and then
goes to meditatin' about things that
would give a Powder River horse
wrangler the lockjaw to talk about.
petritied things-trees and fish and
shells-which is common as dirt in this
country. has horrible fascination for
him. Once he sent Bud Wilkes and me
to hold herd, and then clean forgot
us till it was time to set The night
guard We come i'll pretty hostile, but
when the Professor fixed his mild gray
eyes on us kind o reproachful. we
faded away. and looked around for n
prairie dog hole that we could crawl
Into.
That was his way. so we had to
figure on getting those horses without
any help from him. After starting us
out, he'd forget we was on the earth.
and if we run our horses down and got
afoot. we knew we'd have to walk to
camp-which was against our religious
principles. to say nothing of the way
the rest of the crowd would roast us.
I'VE pOked along slow. keepin' an
eye open for horses. We'd rode along
the ridges till we come to the lower
edge of Sun-Dance Flat, where this
particular bunch was supposed to be-
AS we was amblin' down the hill into
the river bottom. l sees something
pokin' around among the sagebrush
which growed like young trees along
there. l could See it wasn't no horse
and it didn't much resemble a COW.
was tryin' to figure out what it was
before l said anything, when Tony
who's got an eye on him like an eagle
-burts out. a bear, b'sosh"
"And it was. sure enough: biz
brown clss, nosin' around in the
brush like he'd lost something. We
1oped down toward him. Tony cusSin
considerable as we went along.
- might a-knowcd,' he growled
that if Straycd down into this God
forsaken country without n gun I'd
meet some varmint that needed KILN
Amt even got Il pstOl-and l 'loE't
suppose there's a sheep camp within
ten miles where we could get one
Tony seemed to be real distressed
Goout il. He looked as sorrowful as
- COW puncher caught in a storm on
0ay-herd with his slicker in the bed