Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1906-03-07
light sleeve hanging in shrens ,

Hcdu tlOleully uOWu. Ills uGdu rope,
already frayed by its constant chat
ing against the sharp edge of the
hole bored in the headboard, snapped
off, leaving only its loop hanging
about his neck. An instant later he
had leaped over the plank in front
Of him, a mere tribe for SO active
I beast, and was after the cattle
man, who escaped up the ladder with
the loss of his lantern and with thu
ugly wound in mis- arm.
A little group of men gathered
round the black opening that led to
the lowest deck. They knew the
steer must be captured, but no one
was eager to go down into the dark
ness to quell the mad brute on the
Keeling deck. Presently the foreman
came hurrying up, limping from a
strain received that afternoon. He
had been reused from sound sleep
and was in bad humor.
Steer loose, eh?" he growled.
Whose lot does he belong to?"
"Witners', SIR" volunteered man
from another deck.
Then why doesn't Withers take
his men and tie him up?"' snarled the
foreman.
Withers displayed his injured arm,
and reiterated his determination not
to be found below until the beast was
secured. Cranston stepped forward.
"If somebody will go with me, /
believe the two of us can catch the
steer" he said.
Another member of the squad, an
English sailor called by his mates
Yorkshire Jenny" offered to accom-
pany him. The foreman gladly
availed himself of the services of the
two men, and supplied each with q
small coil of rope.
The passage through which the
steer was ranging was twenty-five
feet long and barely four feet wide.
On its left ran row of cattle spaces;
on its right were two piles of baled
hay and one of corn sacks, with pens
for about twenty animals; while at
its ends and in the middle, narrow
alleys led off at right angles to the
other side of the ship. At each end
also, was a short iron ladder con.
Meeting the decks.
Remember you've got an ugly
brute to deal WITH" said the fore
man.
Cranston took the forward lad
der, while the Yorkshireman started
for the one aft. Each had made a
slip moose in his rope. They took
no lanterns, for these would have
shown the animal their whereabouts
and made him more dangerous and
difficult to capture. 1t was to be n
contest in the dark. They planned
to creep quietly upon the steer, one
before and one behind, and entangle
him in the ropes before he realized
what was afoot.
The two were soon at their sta
tons on the lower deck at each end
of the passage. The gale was Shrek
ing down the ventilators, making such
a tumult below that it was hardly
pOoolUlC " near any lIluS.
Very cautiously Cranston began to
creep aft along the passage, stick
ing close to the left wall and strain.
ing his eyes to pierce the gloom.
From the other END Jenny was ap,
preaching in the same way.
Without warning, not ten feet in
front of the American, came a below
that echoed above the roar of the
storm. The steer had CHANGED to be
in the middle of the passage and
facing in the direction from which
Cranston was coming. Keen of scent
and eyesight. the animal was fore.
warned of the approach of his would.
be captor. He lowered his head and
charged.
Cranston's European trip was in
danger of being terminated then and
there. He heard the deepening bel
low and the clatter of hoofs, and
was alive to the peril rushing down
upon him in the pitch blackness.
He had no time to regain the alley
at the end of the passage and dodge
round its corner. If he nesitated he
would be impaled upon the keen
horns or trampled to death under the
beating hoofs. He took the only
course that, dangerous though it was,
had any promise of safety.
Flinging himself forward to the
deck, he flattened his body hard
against the hay bales That formed
the passage wall at the spot. - lurch
of the steamer to starboard aided
him.
He was not quarter second too
soon. AS the steer Numbered by with
lowered head, the tip of his long,
sharp horn caught in the shoulder OF
Cranston's sweater, saearing through
it like steel lance, but not touch
ing the skin. One of the hoofs al.
most brushed his face.
Without an instant's delay the
American sprang to his feet.
He knew that as soon as the ami
NAL reached the end of the passage
and could turn he would come charg-
ing back again. To remain prone on
the deck would be to tempt destruc-
ton. Rope in hand, ne ran forward
to gain the alley leading off at right
angles to the other side of the ship.
Just at its entrance he collided with
Jenny and sent him spraying.
Cranston CROPPED for the sailor, caught
him by the shoulder, and dragged
him into the alley just as the steer
careened by in the other direction.
1t was close work.
Across the passage and directly OBJ
posite the entrance of the alley stood
a post marking the partition between
two cattle spaces, and unfolding the
ends of the headboards three feet
above the deck.
Cranston remembered this, and de-
vised a simple, although perilous,
plan for mastering the steer, which
had meanwhile passed down tae
gangway again.
Tying one end of rope to a
stanchion in the alley, he enlarged
the slip-noose in the other end until
it was at least yard in diameter.
Letting Jenny hold one side of the