Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-12-11

i tally ClnruCtcTlSlC VI lue iduCu SouA-
try everywhere The son of the ranch
man, tall, well-buit young fellow,
told me at once that there were pee
carries In the neighborhood. and that
he had himself shot one but two or
three days before, and volunteered to
lend us horses and pilot us to the
game Oh the morrow, with the help
of his two dogs The last were big
| black ours with, as We were assured.
considerable hound" In them. One
was at the time staying at the ranc.!
house. the other was four or FIVE miles
off within a Mexican goat-hcrder, and
1t was arranged that early in the
morning we should ride down to the
| latter place. taking the first dog with
us and procuring his companion when
we reached the goat-herdcr's house.
! We started after breakfast. riding
powerful cow-popies. well trained to
| gallop ut full speed through the dense
chapnrral The big black hound
| slouched at our heels. We rode down
the banks Of the Nueces. crossing and
recrossipg the stream. Here and
there were long. deep pools In the bed
or the river. whore PUSHES and lilies
!. grew and huge mailed garfish swan
slowly Just beneath the surface OF the
| water. Once my two companions
| stopped to pull mred COW out of a
slough hauling with ropes from their
saddle horns. In places there were
half-dry pools. out OF the regular cur
rent OF the river, the water green and
fetid. The trees were very tall and
large The streamers Of pale gray
moss hung thickly from the branches
of the iveoaks. and when many trees
thus draped stood close together they
bore strangely mournful and desc
late look.
We finally found the queer little hut
Of the Mexican goat-herder in the
midst of a grove Of giant pecans. On
| the walls were Gailed the skins OF
different beasts, raccoons. wildcats.
and the tree-civet. with Its ringed tail
The Mexican's brown wife and chill
dren were in the hut. but the man
! himself and the goats were off in the
forest, aud it took us three or four
hours search before we found him.
Then it was nearly noon, and we
lunched in his hut, a square building
of split logs, with bare earth floor. ana
roof Of clap-boaris and bark. Our
lunch consisted of goats meat and pan
dc mails The Mexican. broad-chest-
ed man with stolid Indian face. was
evidently quite sportsman, and mad
| two or three half-starved hounds, be-
sides the funny hairless little house
dogs, of which Mexicans seem so
fond
| Having borrowed the javalina hound
/, of which we we're in search, we rode
\ off in quest Of our game. the two dogs
| trotting gayly ahead. The one which
had been living at the ranch had evil
IDENTITY Jared well. and was very fat;
| the other was little else but skin and
bone. but as alert ard knowing as any
| New York street boy. with the same
air of disreputnb!e capacity. 1t was
| this hound which always did most in
| finding the javalinas and bringing
them to bay, his companions chief
use being to make noise ard lend
the moral support of his presence.
| We rode away from the river on the
dry uplands. where the timber, though
thick, was small. consisting almost ex-
clusively of the thorny mesquites.
Mixed among them were prckly pears,
standing as high as our heads on
horseback. and Spanish bayonets. look
ing in the distance like small palms;
and there were many other kinds OF
cactus, all with poisonous thorns. Two
or three times the dogs got on an old
trail and rushed off giving tongue.
whereat we galloped madly after them,
ducking and lodging through and
among the clusters of spine-bearing
trees and cactus. not without getting
considerable number Of thorns in our
| hands ard legs 1t was very dry and
hot. Where \the javalinas live in
droves in the river bottoms they often
| drink at the pools; but when some dis
lance from water they seem to live
quite comfortably on the priclSly pear.
shaking their thirst by eating its hard.
juicy fibre.
| At last, after several false alarms,
! and gallops which led to nothing, when
it lacked but an hour Of shutdown we
struck band of five of the little wild
hogs. They were running off through
the mosquitoes with peculiar hopping
or bounding motion, and we all. dogs
and men, tore after them instantly.
| Peccaries are very fast for few
hundred yards. but speedily tire. lose
their wind, and come to bay. Almost
Immediately one of these, SOW, as 1t
turned out, wheeled and charged at
Moore as he passed. Moore never see
ing her, but keeping on after another.
The SOW then stopped and stood still,
chattering her teeth savagely, and l
Jumped off my horse and dropped her
dead with shot in the spine, over
the shoulders Moore meanwhile had
dashed off after his pig in one direc-
ton, and killed the little beast with a
shot from the saddle when 1t had
come to bay, turning and going
straight at him. Two of the peccaries
got off; the remaining one, rather
large boar, was followed by the two
dogs. and as soon as l had killed the
SOW leaped again on my horse and
made after them, guided by the yelp-
ing and baying. In less than quar-
En-, ~ n milo thoy wore on his