The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1908-04-21

any man! Its mother is that line
back, and you know it, tool"
But the calf kept so impartially
with the two gaunt, fierce mothers
that one might well have reserved
judgment. They plunged over a
brushy knoll. and Bernal, with n
twist OF his Spanish bit, turned his
pony to cut across their path.
The move suddenly crowded Jer-
ONE off the narrow trail, so that his
animal went fioundering down a steep
pitch of loose lava rocks on the hill
side, and before he could gain the
ridge the three fleet cattle and the
reckless Mexican had disappeared in
little canon.
Jerome was angry at his comrade.
He was the youngest man at the
rodeo, and his skill as a cattleman
had twice been discredited by some
unfortunate chance to-day. Bernal
would have some sarcastic remark
| about his horsemanship now, when
they rode into camp; he had crowded
Jerome out of the chase purposely.
The Crescent-H ride felt his repu-
tation was at stake;s he could never
yield the disputed ownership of the
red calf before his fellows at the
rodeo now. He clattered along in
the dust which the Mexican had left
in the arroyo.
A hundred yards up the canon
riderless c6w-pony dashed past Jer-
ONE so fast that he barely recognized
IL as Bernals pinto. The American
reined in to scan the rocky canon-bed
in establishment. Where was the
dark-skinned vaquero with his won
derful skill in riding and roping? A
cowboy endorsed on the range is like
a fish out of water. Some evil had
befallen Bernal.
Jerome rode rapidly on. The ar
royo opened out on steep gravelly
slope on one side, which ran down
hundred yards to the edge of a sheer
precipice. Over this cliff it was a
drop of two hundred feet to the
creek-bed. whence came the shouts
OF the men and the bawling of the
calves on the parada grounds. The
cowboy stared down this slope in
surprise. The arroyo ended here; on
one side the rocks barred the way, on
the other was the slipping stretch to
the edge of the cliff. BernaI was
not to be SEEN
The COW with the Dry Creek brand
suddenly clattered past Jerome, be-
ing turned from her flight by the
unscalable rocks beyond. Then, half
way down the slope. the cowboy saw
the red calf fiat on its side, roped
about its forefeet, helpless and
stunned, with Bernal's long RATA
trailing back In the soft lava rock
and dust. Farther down was the
line-back COW, making furious
plunges on the veryt edge of the
canon. grinding the rocks with her
long horns
Jerome stared at her, a reassuring
satisfaction rising even through his
wonder for the Crescent-H COW was
in all the savage fury of a wild moth
or protecting her offspring. No cat
tleman would doubt for an instant
TO whom the red calf belonged. If he
saw this frantic maternal solicitude.
The scissors-brand COW had thought
only of escape. But how came the
calf to be roped and abandoned. and
where was Bernal?
Jerome sat in his sweaty saddle on
top OF the terrace-like top Of the hill.
watching the llne-backs exhibition.
A wild mother cows rage IS TO be
approached with caution. A man
might dlsmount, secure the RATA. and
then drag the calf up the slope. while
the COW was raging along the odge
OF the cliff below: she could hardly
charge up through the soft crumbling
lava stun In time TO reach him. Ber-
nal must have gone over the cliff
i'm some fashion; ne was inevitably
killed. II such was the case.
The gaunt line-back cow was on
her fore knees, scraping her horns i'm
clump OF greasewood that grew on
the edge Of the cliff She threw bits
of froth over her sides at each sweep
OF her head; she beloved at each
futile plunge OF her horns into the
bush, and then Jerome saw what so
excited her anlmosity.
Bernal lay half over the chasm.
clinging desperately to the grease
wood roots and the orevices OF the
rocks, and the frantic mother was,