Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-21
CHAPTER XVIII.
The White Star.

ing of cowboys only. They were to ride
out by twos and threes for home in the
usual way but the time for the meeting
was sunset, and the place a slope of hill
side beyond Balshannon's grave. There we
gathered to the number of thirty head. and
Mutiny rode into the bunch to cut out any
strangers who might have strayed with the
herd. There being no strays, l spoke
Boys. you-alI knows who was buried
here on the hilltop. He was my friend, and
a sure friend of all range men" Some of
the boys uncovered, one called
Spit it out ole Cha!keye! When you
start up yo church rent me a stair
'TH hire yo rudy scalp says l. in
stead of lamps. Wall. boys, these town
toughs has shot out FL Senior Don. and
they're proposing to play their pure foun-
tain of law two more of our tribe, the
same being young Jim his son, and little
Curly McCalmont."
Say Chalkeye, when do you get yo'
dividends from Messrs. Robbers. Roost &
Coz"
trusts you with loans of money"
The crowd knew Bucks habit of not pay
ing his debts, and proposed to divide up his
shirt and pants if he got too obvious with
rem arks.
Boys" I went on. I'VE been letting these
town citizens get too much happy and ami
mated, throwing dirt in our face. Why.
here's down east newspapers sohbing obit-
uary notices over the poor cowboy species
departed. Seems that veal, and the mann
moth, and the dodo, and the bison Is num-
bered with the past. and our bones is used
10 manure the crops of the industrious
farmer. Does that splash you?
Dear departed / appeals to you most
sorrowful-ain't II time to show signs of
being alive? Not being worker OF mir
acles l don't aim to corrupt yo' morals.
amt proposing to obiterate the town which
provides us with our liquor and groceries, I
amt a party 70 acts of violence but | do
propose that we Just whirl in tonight and
rescue them po' kids at La Morita. OF
course, in busting the calaboose We may
have to shoot up few Mexicdns-but it
does them good to be taken serious at
times, and they'd sure hate to be ignored
while stole their captives"
Mutiny called out, Say, now you've got
20 tail up, you amt forgetting to talk"
And that the boys got riotous-''Rair
up some more, ole Chalkeye; lets see you
paw the moon!'
'You tell the lies. we'll stick to emf
"Who stole Ryan's cows, en- Chalkeye?'
Let the Old horse thief turn his wolf
loose! ki-yi-yeou-ou-ouI'
"Lou-loo-loo-Yipl Vow
Girls" says l, you're gettin' plenty OBJ
streperous. Come on-let's roll our tails for
old Mexico"
The boys came yeIping and we trotted
the night through, throwing the miles be
hind US
At o'clock, TO judge by the stars of
Orion, we rested ponies near the bound |
ary at the streak of dawn Hoped on, and |
just as the day broke hurricaned in a gun |
blaze down on La MOrita.
j regret to state for your Information that |
the Mexican Frontier Guards too |
sleepy to play up their side of the game,
but surrendered abject before they had time |
to get hurt Moreover our youngsters had |
yamoOsed through hole in the wall. So |
there were no captives to hberate, except |
four mcasly vanqueros, which gave US a |
red-hot cussing at being walked too early |
for coffee time We had EiCkening mis- |
cradle picnic, waste of sweat ana oratory |
Slow and solemn we gaoled up those SOL
diers in the calaboOse, and mounted the
sJsiky vanqueros for guard to hold them,
feeling all the time like batch of widows.
In the stable | found Curly's buckskin
mare and my fool horse Jones. the pair of |
which l took when we started for home |
AS to Jim and Curly, We held council
smoke. debating on their fate. The crowd |
agreed that these kids had been my pupils, |
and would be sure horse thieves naturally.
l felt they had gone afOot, but scouting
around | failed to find their sign. There
was track of a man with cowboy heels |
going east, but it seemed to wiggle drunk. |
L never thought of jim rolling along as he
did with Curly on his back, but searched for
the tracks of the pair running side by side.
If | had only been a better scout | might
have understood the lone track, and fol-
lowed with horses to mount my youngsters
for flight. We could have made an easy
escape from the country, ending all our
troubles-but l fool.
So soon as my tribe pulled out for home
l knew that the Frontier Guards would be
loose at once like burned-out hornets To
linger in their way would be unhealthy,
and | had no tracks 20 follow anyway. SO
l pulled out with the rest taking all guns
and horses, leaving the Guards Gfsarfned
and afoot lest they should try TO act war
Ike. Further north the guns thrown
away, except some retained as memeutos
and we used the Mexican herd of ponies to
cover our tracks where scattered.
This episode is alluded to by the foolish
cowboys as "Chalkeye's victory-au talk
and run"
A couple. of miles to the eastward Of La
Morita Jim found that his little partner
weighed ton After working all night,
and struggling to the limit of his strength.
he could go no further The day was
breaking; TO move by daylight meant an ex-
ira risk of being seen and there was moth
ing TO be gained by travelling. So he stag
gered to the nearest hilltop found a good
lookout point. then smashed up some local
rattlesnakes, and laid Curly to rest under
a sheltering rock. From there he watched
what the Weekly Obituary described as
IAN Infamous outrage, perpetrated al La
Morita by a gang of cowardly rutflans."
Not that Jim was shocked-indeed, reckon
the lad put up signs of depraved joy. He
said TO the little partner
We're saved Curly. from being
tracked down by the Guards and muir
dered."
calculate that orc ordinary Arizona day
without food and water would have finished
Curly, but as ii happened this a desert
Sabbath. when the clouds had roundup
for prayer. l amt religious its use for
a poor devil like me TO make bluH at be
ing holy. and If i went to church the Big
Spirit would say: Look at this Chakeye
person playing up at Me in a boiled shirt
amt this plumb ridiculous?'
It's use. because I'm bad but yet 1t
humbles me down low TO watch the clouds
when they herd together for prayers, firt-
ing their angel wings against the sun, lift
ing their gruf voices in supplication. tear
ms up the sky with their lightnings. send
ing down the rain of mercy to us poor des-
ert creatures. The respectable people hire
preachers 10 tell the Big Spirit of their
wants. but it's the white clouds of the sky
that says prayers for US ignorant range
folks. for the coyotes the deer and PAN
theirs the bears and cows, the ponies and
the cowboys. Then the rain comes to save
US from dying OF thirst, and we cusses
around ungrateful because it makes US
wet.
When the storm broke that morning. the
rain roared the ground splashed. the hills
ran cataracts and Jim and Curly got
washed out of their camp the same be-
coming n pool sll of n sudden. and were
much too wet to go TO sleep again. More
over. the fever had left off pranctng around
IN Curys brain. and the cold had eased
her wound Ike some big medicine.
Jim had found a corner under the rock