The Ely miner., 1913-08-29
Copyright by the Bobbs-Merrill Company

some stall; but that first winter was a
special providence if they ever was
one: So mild and barmy from Sep,
tember to March that the prairie-dogs
| forgot to hole up, an Mrs. Elkins
served Thanksgivin' dinner in the
open air on the pizziazzy at the
Ranch. An she rode the range with
Jim consecutively, an said she'd found
her 'finity in this cattle biz. AS for
him, the main thing the matter was
that failure O. his a-millin' through his
mental facilities. But this was their
honeymoon, we found, an that, an no
losses on the range, helped his case,
an by spring he begun to shoot the
persifage into the gang, an set up
an reach for things to beat fours. AS
for the dogies, none of 'em had the
faintest show fer beller. The grass
was like new-mown hay; every little
snow was follered by chinook; the
water-holes was brimmin'; an all
went merry as a marriage bell.
"The fact is, Aconite," says Mr.. FL
kins, addressin' me, 81 knew when
heard that burst of phonetic lava
| from your lips at Belle Fourche, that
there'd be no fear of low temperatures
if you could be induced to stay by the
cows, and blow off once in while"
He had the hot air under wonderful
control, hisself, an felt good at the
way the stock was comm on-March,
April May, an fresh feed, ponds full
o. ducks, cute little young wolves
about the dens, an every one O. the
ten thousand dogies stretchin' to see
hisself grow. But the fall-the fall
was sure" bad one fer both feed an
water. The dogies, however, couldn't
| fairly be called such any longer, hav.
in. recovered from what Jim called
| their acute nostalgia, an bein' pret
near's good rustlers as natives. An
we'll 1t was fer 'em, fer grass was
! sca'ce, an a son-of-a-gun of a while
between drinks. After you got away
from the crick-an' you jist had to git
away FIR grass-it was a good days
ride to water, east, Uest, north, south
up'r down. On the hay-slews we had
to prime the rake with old hay fore
we could make windrow. Laff if you
want to, but they was whole outfits
with less hay than some folks has
government bonds. We had about
enough to wad a shotgun, an was
merchant princes in the fodder line
| The steers, lookin' like contaminated
hat-racks, as the Old Man said, come
through the cold weather in shrink,
in an sylph-like way, so thin that you
could throw a bull by the tail dunn
sight furder'n I'd trust some folks, an
that's no dream!
By this time Mr. Elkins was a sure.
enough cowman, president of the as.
sociation and the biggest man from
| Spearfish to Jackson's Hole. He knew
some confounded joke on every man
in the COW country, an not only called
'em all by their fust name, but had
one Of his own FIR most of EN- Mrs
Elkins, havin' pulled him through his
own doggy stage, dropped out Of the
COW business, an devoted herself to
kids. I knew that This doggy PROPOSE
tion was a sort Of a straw that Jim
Elkins grabbed at as he went under
an it done me an all the fellers good
to see the percentage of loss so small
even if the brutes wasn't putin on
weight as they orto, an the price was
away down, an We knew we shouldn't
be ready to sell when the mawgitch
got ripe. Old Macdonald was Jim's
friend, though, an would sure extend
the note when it come of age; an
fur's we could see these dry seasons
was only delayin' the cleanup.
So thought, an so thought the Ell.
kins family, as peaceful as a Injun
summer morn, an as happy as skunks
But along in June Of the third year
! just in the last of the roundup, out
comes what Elkins called our Nemmy.
sis in the form Of jackleg lawyer
with news of Macdonald's death. and
papers to prove it, an him appointed
executioner of the estate of A. Mac
donald, diseased. He wanted to see
the cattle the estate had a mawgitch
on. | was appinted as his chaperon
| to show him the stock, an it bein' a
hurryin' time O. year, l exhibited to
him ten r leven thousand head of
mixed pickles, and called it square
He didn't know a cow-brand from one
plucked from the burnin' an credited
us with township or two of OZARK
COW stuff 1 run him into the first day
out. l didn't feel that he was wuth
payin' much notice to. If he hadn't
had the say about the Old Mans NAV.
glitch.
l gathered from him that he was
| goin' to realize on the outfit in the
fall. l went so fur as to pint out
what a grave-robbin' scheme this was
an how this dogy stuff had been KEEP
in the liviE' skelliton department Fl
two years by drouth an a hell-slew OF
other troubles, an couldn't possibly do
more than pay off the mawgitch, an
leave us holdin' the bag in the wust
country f'r snipe outside of the Mo.
/ jave desert.
They'll pay out" says he "an
/ that's all I'm required to look out fer
| l swear, l was prospectin' FIR a
good hole to plant him in all the rest
O. the trip. l goes right to the ranch
when we pulled in. The Old Man an
/ Josie was a-sittin' in the freight, an
she had the baby, yearlin' on her
lap, and the boy, long two-year-old
| in the crib. Outside of a nest O.
young wild ducks, 1 never seen any.
thing softer and cutter. 1 reports an
asks instructions as to the best way
of disposin' of Mr.. Jackleg's remains
"Quicklime," says he ruminatin'ly
'is good and well-recognized