The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-01-31
% Q NTHE "LINE-BACK'S" CALF. o
BY CHARLES TENNfY JACKSON.

AOCe 40 u oSal GU law Ii tho AAbtAO |
red calf darted under Jerome's RATA |
and fed into the bunch of cattle |
rounded up on the parada grounds. |
The guarding vaqueros raised laugh |
at the discounted cowboy; the red |
calf had twice eleuded him.
The rodeo boss" lifted the Cres-
cent-H branding-iron-the range |
mark of J5rome's employers-from
the fire and tossed it into the dust.
He took up the scissors" iron of the
Dry Creek outfit and gazed at 1t
refectively.
Well, whose calf is it?" he asked.
"You two will have to settle it."
Now to tell the parentage of
huerfano, that the eyes of no man
have seen until the roundup, will
battle even q boss of the rodeo.
Young Teddy Jerome was positive
that the red calf belonged to line
back" COW that had Mason's Cres-
cent-H mark. Bernal, a truculent
Mexican half-breed vaquero from the
Dry Creek ranch, swore that the red
calf's mother was a gaunt old ''long-
horn" with the scissors brand on her
flank.
Look" shouted Jerome. angrily,
drawing in his rope. 1T knows its
mother-it's ours!'
The disputed calf was lodging
among the swaying cattle that the
cowboys held on the parada space;
It nudged close to the line-back-
then WAS through like a streak of
red to the side of the Dry Creek COW.
Bernal and some of the riders
laughed. Young Jerome was nettled,
but not shaken in his belief. He was
the only man from his employers
ranch at the rodeo, and felt the re-
sponsibility of getting every calf that
was rightfully due him. Bernal had
already secured one that Jerome
thought was his, but the wild moth.
ers had so nearly weaned their Oft.
spring by the end of the season that
doubt might well arise.
"You and Bernal will have to set
tie it," repeated the rodeo boss.
snow cut out another calf from the
bunch-lively!
So the branding went on; the huer-
fanos, one by one, were cut out,
roped, and dragged to the branding
fire to be identified and marked with
any one of the dozen irons that were
hot in the embers. Bernal and
Jerome were among the cowboys who
rode about the wild herd. Every
few minutes II was augmented by
other terror-stricken steers which
the vaqueros were beating out of the
brushy gulches leading down into the
main canon where the rodeo was held.
1t was rough, dangerous work.
Even leather chaps" and sombreros
could not protect the riders from the
thorny mesquit, nor could the surest-
footed pony guarantee them from
broken bones on the steep hillsides.
Since daylight the rodeo hands had
held bunch of tame valley COWS on
the parada grounds TO serve as
buffer to the Wild steers that charged
down the canon. Young Jerome was
behind these cattle, plying his quirt
and yelling in the singsong fashion
of the cattlemen to stop the pressure.
But from up the canon shrill
"hy-a-hy-a" announced the arrival of
another bunch of cattle driven out
by the workers. Straight into the
uneasy herd on the parada grounds
charged two dozen fierce steers; the
mass broke before the impact, and
the riders were swept away amCcg
frightened groups of cattle.
Jerome flew over the rocky creek
bed in pursuit OF score that gained
the brush before he could turn them.
But one by one his trained cow-pony
headed the fugltive1 He saw Bernal
riding before half dozen of the cat
tie, and when the American went to
his aid, all but three had been turned
back to the parada.
But these three, charging wildly
over a thorny ridge beyond the riders,
happened to be the line-back COW
with Mason's mark on her flank, the
old long-horn that bore the scissors
brand, and the fleet red yearling that
had no brand at all. Bernal turned
in the saddle to laugh derIsively al
his younger rival. The Mexican was
reputed the best man with a rope IN
Northern Arizona.
Your calf-ha!" he called. "Jer
ONE, who rope heen--he have heem
eh?"
NO" shouted Jerome. ''it's Ma
sons calf I'll not gamble It will
any man! It's mother is that line
back. and you know 1t. tool"
But the calf kept SO impartial.
with the two gaunt, fierce mother
that one might well have reserve,
judgment. They plunged over
brushy knoll, and Bernal, with
twist Of his Spanish bit, turned hi
pony to cut across their path.
The move suddenly crowded Jer
ONE on the narrow traii. SO that hi
animal went founderiug down stce
pitch OF loose lava rocks on the hill
eide. and before he could gain th
ridge the three feet cattle and tn