The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-02-14

Plains cattle transported to the
mountains breed TO shorter horns:
but in the X Slash steer herd was a
banded yearlinG-- banded" because
he was all red except for a white strip
completely encircling him just back
OF the should ers-which certainly
was reversion TO type.
Long-legged, Ong-horned, he was
patterned upon some remote Texas
forebears. We viewed him with some
interest as a curiosity; but as mod
ern beef animal he was a failure, and
the beef roundup I'm the fall discard
ed him 10 give him another chance.
The weather stayed remarkably
warm. The flies persisted, there was
little water, and after the beef round
up the drive from summer range TO
winter range was hard one. The
steer herd especially was unruly, and
riders and horses fumed and fretted.
Where the trail led near the bank Of
a deep arroyo, a dried water-course,
the banded yea:ling, disputng right
of way with another steer, was pushed
over. He fell a sheer thirty feet,
landing with an audible thump and
grunt.
Into the arroyo, after him, plunged
a rider. Where cow--on the cattle
range the term Cow isapplied indis-
criminately-goes there "A horse shall
go. But the horse, catching hoof in
root, reached the bottom in leap,
and with broken leg.
The rider called for help, and I'm
the meantime the banded yearlng
went galloping down the miniature
canon. We let him 60 He was mo
good" anyway.
1t was two months after this before
tidings of him came to us. A ~
rider, stopping at the ranch bunk
house, remarked as piece Of news,
"Saw that longhorn steer you fell
lows lost to-day"
Whereabouts"
-In the timber halfway up Blue
Mountain. Tried to get close to him,
but couldn't. wild as an elk He
was all alone. Horns still growing,
too"
"He ought to be joining some wild
bunch
"Wm, probably-unless he's too
onery."
But that winter, as far as we could
ascertain, the banded yearling passed
in solitariness. When the ~ man
had deserted him he was twenty miles
from the arroyo, heading back toward
the abandoned summer range. The
country was all his. No cowboy, un-
cidentally, intruded upon him, for
range duties lay elsewhere
The fine fail weather lasted until
after Christmas, and the onslaught OF
winter found the fugitive ensconced
in little park just below the summer
range.
The grass here had not been
cropped, except by deer, and was tall
and crisp and nutritious. A splendid
cedar, low-branching, set against
ledge OF rock proffered him shelter
as In stable.
Nothing disputed him; the winter
was favorable; the winds drifted the
snow, leaving the grass exposed much
OF the time, and when the grass was
covered, the tops OF the brush still
projected, TO be browsed upon.
In the spring the fugitive's condi-
tion must have been hrst-class-for
him. lie was now a two-year-old.
His horns. long. flaring. tapering. in
true Texas style, had shed their
roughness. aside from an almost in
distinguishable button OF IL at the
tips. And with the spread OF horn
well-nigh overbalancing the lean.
white-banded body behind A., the
promptings OF spring sent him forth
from his retreat, travelling.
And just I'm time, too: for shortly
after his departure a X Slash rider
inspected the refuge. read the story
OF the weeks, and rejoning his COM
panion, reported:
II bet I've found where that old SIS
longhorn spent the winter. Some COW
animal has been bedding under
cedar yonder and eaten everything
clean all round"
Like enough" corcurred the 9th
er, laconically.
Since his escape the longhorn ap-
parently had made no attempt to seek
other cattle. Evidently independence
appealed to him as TO be enjoyed
safely but morosely. But the spring
tide probably filled him with vague,
uneasy impulses, and he wandered in
definitely on. Instinct was guiding
him toward his birthplace on Sheep
Mountain. We know this. because
II was at the base OF Sheep Noun
tain that Billy Nelson. of the NJ Bar,
saw him next.
IL was early May, and five In the
morning, and Billy was cutting across
from the horse camp. where he wa
stationed. TO the X Slash ranch quar-
ters. Suddenly he heard an outburst