Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1908-04-09
AN IMPROMPTU
BULL-FIGHT
By MAIA BURNHAHT
(CopyriEht.)


capital, and agents had been securing
the immediate suburbs in search of
bulls-youns and sufficiently untamed
to meet the requirements of the Cor
rida. The principal source OF supply
was drawn from one Maxine Gomez,
half-breed cattle owner, who had
earned local fame years before, and
who was now recuperating, in a meas
ure, the gayly scattered earnings of
his youth by raising cattle, from which
he separated each year q number of
bulls that were especially adapted to
the requirements of the bull ring.
This season, however, had been al
unusually unlucky one, inasmuch as
disease had killed on a very large
number of the cattle in that region,
anG Gomez had been one of the heavi-
est losers. Standing under the one
shade-tree that his corral Afforded he
took a last disconsolate inventory of
the thin and dropping animals brows-
ing outside, and turned over in his
hand the agents letter-equslly de-
jeoted-loOking from it's frequent Jour
neys in and out of not too immacu-
late blouse-pocket, which served also
as the repository for a filthy tobacco
pouch.
The man seemed to take a dismal
satisfaction in reading and re-reading
a document that promised prompt pay
ment for the immediate delivery of
several first-class bulls. He had spent
the entire day in a vain endeavor to
convince himself that he could fill the
order, at least in part, and he had
finally been forced to admit that he
did not possess a single animal that
any self-respecting matador would toll
crate in the ring. And what was
worse, none Of his neighbors had any
bulls to sell. The only man who
might, if he would, help him out Of
the matter was Don Pedro Benavente.
a rich rancher, whose territory ran
parallel with Gomez at the western
boundary. But Don Pedro had prin-
ciPles of his own. and would not sell
bulls to the agents of the Plaza de
Toros, nor would he, for similar rea-
sons, have any business dealings with
Maxine Gomez.
STOPPING, he caught up the lasso
that he had thrown down in final dis
gust, and was about to leave the corral
when short, deep below in the dis
lance attracted his attention. He
stopped and listened. Presently he
heard it again. this time a little
nearer.
He walked toward the gateway and
waited. In a few moments the ami
NAL appeared, crashing through the
shrubbery that bordered the clearing.
and Gomez saw that it was not one
of his. 1t was a young bull that had
evidently strayed through some break
In a neighbours fence and, attracted
by the lowing of the nearby cattle,
had found its way to Gomez corral.
The man stood perfectly still until
1t came near enough, then his arm
flashed upward and the moose de-
scribed three circles over his head.
falling neatly around the neck of the
startled animal. He tied the rope to
fence-bar and inspected his prize.
1t was a splendid animal, and. as he
had suspected, it bore the curious and
unmistakable brand OF Benavente.
For long while he stood considering.
and pulling nervously at his black
moustache. Not that he was harassed
by any conscientious scruples, nor that
he was wasting any thought on the
ethics of the case, but he knew that
a convicted cattle-thief was dealt with
summarily and most unpleasantly in
that region, and so he weighed most
carefully his chances of GLIDING dis
covery. BY leaving the ranch at dawn
he could have the animal we'll out Of
the district before it would be oven
missed, and once delivered to the
agent, who was not abnormaly curl
Gus in matters Of this kind, all trace
of the bull would be speedily lost.
The sound of his horses retreating
hoofs had scarcely died away when
the scattered cattle turned their heads
in the opposite direction, where
great disturbance in the underbrush
had suddenly begun. With much
cracking of broken twigs and sway
ing of foliage. a horse and rider
emerged into the open. The horse
was an ordinary broncho, but the
rider could not have been duplicated
anywhere between that ranch and
the frontier. 1t was fact, a remark
ably pretty girl, in fashionable shirt
waist and correct riding skirt, glove