The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-03-16

land, shared in the general devotion;
to say nothing of George the cook and
Pete, the packer and horse wrangier.
Philips, who was an old acquaint-
ance OF Ends, had tried his luck with
her back east and had sense enough
to accept as final his failure. Brad
shaw was a solemn young man with
out that keen sense OF humor which
was characteristic Of the west. The
others We're suitably dressed for adj
venture, for Bradshaw's idea OF an ap-
chiefly by long green felt puttees
which swathed his huge calves and
excited curious inquiry and ribaId
comment from the surprised denizens
OF each mountain hamlet through
which they had passed, to all OF which
Bradshaw remained sereneIy Obvious.
The young man, who does enter espe-
cially into this tale, was a vestryman
of the church In his home In the
suburbs OF Philadelphia. His piety
had been put to severe strain In the
mountains.
That day everybody had to work on
the trail-everybody wanted to for
that matter. The hardest labor con-
sisted In the driving of the burros.
Unfortunately there was no good and
trained leader among them through
an unavoidable mistake. and the camp
ers had great difficulty In keeping the
burros on the trail. To Arthur Brad
shaw had been allotted the most OBJ
stinate, cross-grained and determined
OF the unruly band, and old Kirkby
and George paid particular attention
to instructing him In the gentle art
of manipulating him over the rocky
mountain trail.
WALL" said Kirkby with his some
what languid, drawing, nasal voice,
that there burro's like ship witch
often seed 'em wen was kid. down
east afore / come out to Gods coun
try. Nature has pervided 'em with a
kind of hellum. / remember il you
wanted the boat to go to the right
you showed the hellum over to the
left. Sta'boad an port was the terms
as recollects 'em. It's jest the same
with burros, you takes 'em by the
tiller. that's by the tail, git good
tight twist on 1t an eff you want him
to head to the right, slew his stern
sheets around to the left, an you got
to be keerful you don't git no kick
back witch eff 1t lands on you Is worse
n the ree-coil of mule"
Arthur faithfully followed direc
lions, narrowly escaping the outraged
brute's small but sharp pointed heels
on occasion. His efforts not being
productive of much success, finally In
his despair he resorted to brute
strength; he would pick the little ami
NAL up bodily, pack and all-he was g
man of powerful physique-and swing
him around until his head pointed In
! the right direction; then with prayer
| that the burro would keep 1t there fol
few rods anyway, he would set him
| down and start him all over again
The process oft repeated became mo
| notonous after awhile. Arthur was q
slow thinking man, deliberate in &C
! ton; he stood it as long as he possibly
could. Kirkby, who rode one horse
and led two others, and therefore was
| 3,
him with great interest. He and Brad
| shaw had strayed way behind the res
| of the party.
At last Arthur's resistance, patience
| and piety, strained to the breaking
point, save way suddenly. Primitive
instincts rose to the surface and over
whelmed him like a flood. He de
liberately sat down on a fallen tree
by the side of a trail, the burro halt
| with hanging head. apparently con
scious that he merited the disappro
baton that was being heaped upo1
him, for from the desperate tender
| foot there burst forth SO amazing, 81
| fluent, SO comprehensive a torrent O
assorted profanity, that even the OH
| past master in objuration was aston
ished and bewil6ered. Where die
| Bradshaw, mild and tnoffensive, ge
it? His proficiency would have ap
palled his rector and amazed his fel
low vestrymen. Not the Jackdaw O
Rheims himself was SO cursed as tha
little burro. Kirkby sat on his hors.
In fits of silent laughter until thu
tears ran down his cheek, the onl!
outward and visible expression OF hi
| mirth
Arthur only stopped when he hat
thoroughly emptied himself, possibl,
of an accumulation OF years Of repres
| sion.
WALL" said Kirkby, you sure d,
overmatch any one ever heard WEI
It comes to cursin'; wy, you coul,
gimme cards an spades an beat me
an was thought to have some gif
hathaway In the old days."
Il didn't begin to exhaust myself,
answered Bradshaw, shortly. "ant
what I did say didn't equal the situa
ton. I'm going home"
Il wouldn't do that" urged the oil.
man. Here, you take the horses an
I'll tackle the burro."
Gladly said Arthur. 81 woul'
herd of them than waste another min
ute on this Internal little mule"
The story was too good to keep
and around the camp fire that nigh
Kirkby drawled 1t forth. There was
freedom and easiness of intercourse Ii
the camp. which was natural enough
Cook, teamster, driver, host, CUES,
men. women, children, and I had al
most said burros, stood on the sam
level. They all ate and lived together
The higher up the mountain range yo1
go, the deeper into the wilderness yo1
plunge. the further away from tn