The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-10-25


me lodging her horns at short range
before | could scramble to a safe
perch on the ledge of granite.
THE cattle clattered off after their
calves then, all but the cow which had
led the charge. She climbed up over
the rocks as far as she could, and stood
rafting her horns against the jagged
bulwark and bawling belligerently.
Mixers luck, said /. with my
first gocd breath
MY COW was the veriest bronco in
the bunch, regular tiger of cow
coal-black in color, and with pair of
tapering, jet-tipped horns.
After a while she backed away from
| the ledge, stood over her calf a few
moments, then began running hither
and yon, challenging the whole world
to combat. Sometimes it was the fit
of bird or the scurry of chipmunk
that determined the direction of her
| charge, sometimes the sight of me on
the rock pile.
For a couple of hours sat wonder
ing how to escape from such a vigilant
captor My original plan had been to
lasso her from safe position on the
| pinnacle of rock while l packed the
calf to the corral But in my hurry
| to reach high footing | had forgotten
| The pack rope. 1t was lying in the
center of the territory patrolled by my
valiant milk-cow.
Il thought Of waiting quietly on the
rocks for day or so, until she left
the calf to feed; and l would have done
so had it not been that Pete was sick
in bed and all alone at the cabin.
| What | finally did was to duck out of
sight when she was chasing away
chip-bird, and make a rush for the
timber But l didn't get much the
start Of the COW. The businesslike way
/ in which she dropped the prof1tless
bird chase gave me the surprise and
the scare Of my life.
She was close behind before |
could reach cover, and as l leaped and
caught the lowest limb of the nearest
tree a terrible pain shot through the
calf of my leg, and felt myself skew
cred fast to the rough trunk of the
aapling. The next moment however,
she withdrew her horn for another
prod, and I swung myself out Of reach
and climbed up into the lower
branches.
My first thought was that my leg
would have to be amputated below the
knee, and l was relieved to find that
my injuries consisted Of several folds
OF badly lacerated skin and two neat
holes through the slack of my over
ais My milk-cow seemed wildly de-
sirous of ascending the tree and end
ing my misery, but finally yielded to
the handicap Of hoofs and bulk, and
turned back to her calf.
Presently, as she was chasing
saucy ground-squirrel back to his bur-
row, swung down from my perch,
ran short distance to tree | had
picked out, and assembled safely lit
tie before the cow could catch me.
repeated these tactics several times,
finally evading her vigilance and es-
Gaping through the brush.
TT was after nightfall when I reach
ed camp. Pete was as wan as ghost
and could eat nothing. l stopped long
enough to swallow some cold beans,
then hunted up heavy windlass rope
and returned to the meadow.
ut was with rare caution that | APP
preached the COW brute's patrol, sneak
ing with painful care through the deep
shadow Of the timber, and expecting
I every tiny rustic to bring her charg-
/ ing. She came round the granite ledge
like a fury when she heard the first
scratch of my hobnails on the rough
rock AS before, she tried to climb up
! after me, and in. the bright moonlight
it was simple matter to moose her
and make my rope fast with turn
round a, block Of granite. This was
! followed by some heartrending strug-
ling and bawling
Then went to the calf, put short
/ rope on his neck, freed his legs with
a slash Of my knife, and using his tail
| at once as a propeller and rudder trot-
/ ted him about half way to the corral.
Fearing that the little fellows call
would not be heard by the mother
should i take him farther, made a
halt here, tied him to tree, and re-
turning to the rock pile, released the
cow by severing the rope as close to
her head as | dared descend. A faint
/ bleating came from up the meadow,
and she Immediately set off for it on
a gathering gallop.
Il had tied the calf a short distance
from wide-spreading oak that could