Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-03-13

theta" itii! S'nt on. tr:n": :, !,>>l,
whether tht, al" StsAd usrn o. baI
ht Ia SUNDAY SrL0.l Chaps of other
Wise. Some others say that IT'S the
desert and the sage BRUSH. the eternal
same OLD face Of the man. Hut whai
gets HE Is Why doa that lOto feeling
ever get hold Of the cuwmane i've
followed a herd for weeks at q time
without seeing a face and have seen
sand and snn and sage. Ito the samt
old map the sheepnan secs aud vel
i have never been caught out talking
TO people | left back In Texas or wan
dering around like a human pinw heel
Nobody ever had 10 laSso me 10 gel
me- bach TO camp or have any doctor
man thump my head 20 see II thu
wheels got tangled But you take q
man-ordinary. gnod-sensed man
put him after a flock OF sheep. and II
the sheep don't get him then I'm the
biggest liar ever"
Mexieans Stand Il Longer.
but the Mexicans stand it," the
red-"yci mar chirped. 1T don't ap
pear like 1t hurts them much"
III does kinder to take longer
for the loco III work on n Mexican
than on a white man. resumed Billy
still II gifts the Mexicans. too. I've
hog tied EN- and brought EN- into
camp crazler than a bat. Hundreds
of en-. But II Amt so had to see
a loco Mexican. It's -. though
to see a great, strong man, a Teller
like ~Collingwood over there, wrestling
and fighting with bugs he can't see:
bugs that are eating away at him all
the time, when you see he Is going
down on the other side of the divide
and you cant pull him back.
Perhaps" ventured the tourist,
perhaps there Is something more OF
loneliness and sameness. something
more OF depression watching the
sheep than the cattle. There Is at
times some excitement about the Cat.
tie business. so | have been told
night stampedes and wild rides
whereas there Is nothing more mon.
otonous, o tlres0me and nerve.
wearing than following a flock OF
sheep"
You may be wise 10 It," says Billy,
but you know more than any of the
fellows on the plains. It's beyond me
We just know 1t happens. We are
the fellows who have to conduct thu
funerals. We don't know anything
except the corpses and the funny
houses"
Back in the sos" resumed the
tourist. "i1l tell you | tried 1t awhile
down in the Concho in the San An
Igelo country. Went out there for the
lungs. Doctors told me to take plenty
Iof exercise. and as ! did not have
enough coin to buy cattle, I got a little
flock OF sheep and started out with
them. took along some books. good
books. the kind a man enjoys till he
forgets his station name. The loco
talk did not scare me. Everything
went all right for the first month
Felt fine all around and the books
were fine. All of q sudden I lost al
taste for the hooks. Then | began &c
feel weak and long before the end Of
the day | would get tired. Used tC
wake up in the morning tired still
Bacon and beans lost the taste to me
so | sent to town and got a lot of can
ned stuff, thinking It was the diet
The canned stuff went along for a day
or so, and then that began to taste
bad.
Acquires the Drug Habit.
THE medicine habit came next.
thought for a time 1t was the nerve:
and so the sedatives were tried
Worked all right and trouble seemet
to be over. But gradually 1t tool
more and more medicine. After tina
the whiskey-the mean fighting whis
KEY which they used to sell in thu
Concho country then. A little whis
key and water and then a little waite
and whiskey. Then whiskey. whis
key. whiskey. whiskey. But Their
were always those sheep. You conl'
see them night and morning. 70,
could see them In your sleep. Yo'
talked sheep, you thought sheep. yo'
dreamed sheep. You got to droolini
like sheep. You got to walking like