Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-09-04
Billy the Buck
By HENRY
WALLACE PHILLIPS
Copyright BY s. s. Mcclure Co.

CS1 NE day when was working
IOI on Dakota ranch the boss.
MM7!A person by the name OF
CSt5J Steve, urged me to take an
ax, 60 forth and chop a little wood.
which did.
The weather was ideal-a i,alota
fall; air vital with the mingled pleas
ant touch of frost and sun. like ice
cream In hot coffee, and still as 81
lence itself had good breakfast:
was in excellent health and spirits
The boss could by no means approach
within II mile unperceived. and every
thing pointed to pleasant day. But
alas, as the Copper Lined Killelubird of
the Rockies sings, MANS hopes rise
with the celebrity and vigor Of the hind
leg of the mule only to descend with
the velocity Of stout gentleman on
banana peel"
On reaching the grove of cottOnwoods
l sat down for Il smoke and specu-
lative view Of things in general, having
learned at my then early age that
philosophy is never of more value than
when one should be doing something
else.
heard Il noise behind ME. a peculiar
noise, between a snort and violent
bleat. Turning. | saw buck deer
and from the cord and bell around
his neck recognized him as one Billy,
the property of Steve's eldest boy. He
was spoken of us n pet.
This was the touch needed to COM
plete my Arcadia, the injection Of
what Mt the time considered to be
poetry into the excellent prose Of open
air life. Who could see that grace
full. pretty creature and remain un-
moved? Not l, ut all events. fam
cied Eysc.f as n knight of old in the
royal forest. which gave touch Of the
archaic to my speech.
Come here. thou sweet eyed forest
child" l cried. And here he came.
At an estimate should say that he
was four a1 handles, or about twelve
feet, high US he up-ended himself,
brandished his antlcrs and jumped me.
My ax was ut u distance. moved.
played knight to kings bishops eighth,
In this case represented by Il fork Of
the nearest tree, a wise and subtle
piece OF strategy, US 1t resulted in u
drawn game.
My friend stood erect for awhile,
making warlike passes with his front
feet. which. by the way. are as for
weapons as man would care
TO have opposed to him; then, seeing
that there was no sporting blood in
me. he devourcd my lunch and went
away. a course promptly initiated Us
far as could. l departed.
Hitherto | had both liked and ad-
mired Steve. His enormous strength,
coupled with al unexpected agility and
an agreeable way he had Of treating
you as if you were quite his own age.
endeared him to me. When poured
out my troubles to him, however, re-
buking him for allowing such a savage
beast to be ut large. he caused my feel
ings to undergo change, for instead
of sympathizing he fell to uproarious
laughter, slapped his leg and swOre
that 1t was the best thing he'd ever
heard Of and wished he'd been there to
see it.
There are probably NO worse leases
ON earth than the big boys who chase
the COW OH the western prairies. They
had III horse OH the kid" and the poor
kid felt nightmare ridden indeed. If l
were out with them some one would
assume an anxious look and carefully
scout around bunch Of grass In the
distance, explaining to the rest that
there might be deer concealed there,
and one could not be too careful when
there were wild beasts like that
around. Then the giggling rascals
would pass the suspected spot with in
finite caution, perhaps breaking into a
gallop, with frightened shrieks of 1.-THE
deer, the deer" while tried to look as
If | liked It aud strove manfully to
keep the brine Of modification from
rolling down my cheeks.
didn't let my emotions take the
form of words, because l had Wit
enough to know that could not put q
better barrier between myself and q
real danger than those husky lads OF
the leather breeches and white hats.
For all that | had yearning to see
one of them encounter the deer ut his
worst. l did not wish any one hurt
and was SO confident Of their physical
ability that did not think any one
would be, but felt that such IN Incl
dent would strengthen their under
This thing came to pass, and. Of all
people. OH my arch enemy. Steve. If
l had had the arrangement Of details
l could not have planned 1t better.
Because Of my tender years the light
chores of the ranch fell to my share.
One day every one was OF, leaving me
to chink up the "bull pen," or mems
quarters. with mud against the cold
OF approaching winter. Steve had tax
On his eldest boy on trip to pick out
some good wood.
Presently arrived the boy, hatless.
running as fast as he could tear. the
breath whistling In his lungs. Come
quick was the message.
1t seems the deer had followed the
couple. and when the boy fooled with
his old playmate the deer knocked him
down and would have hurt him badly
but that his father instantly jumped
into the fray and grabbed the animal
by the horns with the intention Of
twisting his head Off. The head was
fastened OH more firmly than Steve
supposed. The powerful man thought
It would be an easy matter to throw
his antagonist. What he did not a.
all take into account was that the
buck was both larger and stronger
than he. Though raised on a bottle,
the deer had grown into a splendid
specimen Of its kind. He was by long
odds the largest deer l ever saw.
Well, Steve got the surprise OF his
life. 1t didn't take him long to see
the battle was all against him; that
the best he could hope to do was to
General Debility