Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-03-25

mad dash was no surprise to me. They
kept after the steer until he made one
of his lightning changes-that Is
doubled on himself-the pony doubled
as quickly, but father kept right on.
shooting out of the saddle and flying
through the air like a big frog leaping,
| and came down with laundering
crash and rolled over and over and
over then lay very quiet. as though he
was discouraged. Laugh! / would have
had to laugh If every bone in his
body had been crushed, but knew that
only his feelings had been hurt, for i
had experienced perhaps fifty times the
only time in all our lives that I ever
heard my father cuss. eLivid with rage
and modification he yelled damn that
steer!" with heavy emphasis on the
damn. Now the most provoking cpl
sode of that nirthful episode was when
that pony caught up with and grabbed
that steers tail. by the roots and
pain and fright and couldn't get back
to the herd quick enough the pony
holding on, squcaling and gnawins,
! his eyes flashing fire and the steer
running his level best and bawling like
a steam locomotive. That, by the way,
was the last time that steer got run
away worms in his head, but his rump
was sore yet when we sold him at
New Ulm.
One other incident that occurs to mo
now. When nearing Walled Lake. along
about o'clock in the afternoon, d
severe storm came down upon us. We
were less than quarter of a mile dis
lake when rain began to pour upon us.
1--WE all got into our oil-skin clothing,
that was carried in, straps at the back
of our saddles, and had hardly been
! reseated on our horses when hail be-
ban to pelt us-first real fine that
stung our faces like wasps, then the
stones grew in size till they were as
together and by constant yelling ana
whipping we could manage only 10
keep them going round and round like
a coffee mill, gaining inch by inch to-
ward the timber At such times cattle
as we'll as men become frantic, so that
our horses were almost unmanage"
able, as they persisted in whirling
about, tail to the storm and would sasha
a long distance, sidewise, before facing
the furious wind, rain and hail, some
! times rearing back on their haunC hes
and almost endorsing their riders,
which disaster would indeed be disas-
trous under the hoofs and horns OF
10 o'clock at night when we finally got
the cattle under the shelter Of the
trees, the storm apparently not letting
up one mite, though hail was not so
prevalent. I was very, very tired, al
most exhausted, when l rode up to, the
calf wagon threw the reins over my
ponys head and crawled up and into
the wagon. when both my brother and
laid down in the wagon bed spoon
fashion, and both went sound asieep
1t was nearly our last sleep, for when
my father found US after a long search,
we were absolutely frozen together.
that Is, our clothing. We could neither
of us move, and didn't. want to. There
was log cabin near the bank Of the
fisherman, as in it. was furniture OF
rude description and good, stove Our
folks had found dry wood and had a
redhot fire going quickly. BY taking
the tail-gate out of the wagon and Bob
and me by the feet they dragged us
out and carried us together into the
cabin. The genial warmth soon dis
solved the Siamesian condition existing
between lis, and getting out of our oil
skins we were soon as good as new.
That was the first time in my whole
life that ever tasted whisky. although
we had plenty of it in the commissary
wagon. don't know whether it helped
bring me back to life or not: knew it
was awfully hot stuff. to swallow, and
that felt better after it was down. Our
cook soon had hot flap jacks and bacon
and coffee, so that the night was quite
enjoyable after the awful afternoon.
There was table in the cabin upon
which they doubtless scaled the fish
they caught in the lake. as it was slip
perry and Shiny. Mr.. Hayne was an am
ateur fiddler and had taken his fiddle
along. l surmise that it was some other
stimulant than coffee that spurred him
up to getting out his fiddle, placing
chair on that table and then climbing
up to 1t. where he sat tuning up the dn-
strument and calling for us to get up
cotillion. Soon he reared back in. the
chair, drawing long bow and the
most unearthly sound one could hear
as the string responded In wall and
howl while the chair slipped and
danced a funny polka. and all, fiddle,
fiddler, chair and table crashed to the
floor. Mr.. Hayne refrained from fid-
ding any more-on that fiddle. II there
was a piece of it left big enough to
disguised that Ne crammed the pieces
into the stove, and like stolid Indian
wrapped his blanket about him, curled
up In corner, gave grunt and was
soon snoring.
Oh, there were jolly times on that
trip sometimes, but they were like the
rift in storm clouds-only few ana
far between. So far as I know am the
only one yet living OF the fifteen who
engaged in that long, tedious, hot cow
punching jaunt. I believe it was fairly
remunerative to my father and his
partner.
After the cattle were all sold, my
father and 1 returned homeward. talk.
ing a steamboat at st. Paul as far az
Burlington. then by railroad, the B. &
NJ. to Mt. Pleasant. and that was the
first time I ever rode upon or saw
railroad. I remember that when the
car lurched our side hunched over to
the other end Of the seat and vice versa
till we reached the jumping off place.
I was tired and sore and didn't want
any more railroad riding. At Mt. Pleas.
ant we took stage coach. Talk about
the car lurching! Whew! That old
coach lurched every way on earth that
there was room for 1t to evolute in.
However, after three days of it, when
we arrived in Ottumwa, I had become
so accustomed to it that I could hard
ly walk the two planks that formed the
sidewalks in that then rural IndiaH
wickup, Ottumwa.
A few days ago l was agreeably sur
prised with a short visit with Horac CO