Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1913-08-29

eA'SO OAASAA tASAA uOObSS Q1Op OH.
That's why Macdonald talked as he
did about 'em, as I'm informed.
Take EN-" says he, IAN don't dat
ter yourself I'm donatin' anything.
They's no feed fer EN- in their native
Iowa at any livin' price, an on the
other hand. fifty per cent. of emil die
gettin' over their Inconsistencies on the
range. You'll have 1t in fer me fer
stickin' you. when you know more
about the cattle business. Fer the
Lords sake take 'em before they eat
me out Of every dollar I've got left"
Some Of this was straight goods, an
some stall: but that first winter was a
special providence il they ever was
one. So mild and barmy from Sep
TENDER to March that the prairie-doga
forgot to hole up. an Mrs. Elkins
served Thanksgivin' dinner in the
open air on the pizziaxzy at the
Ranch. An she rode the range with
Jim consecutiyely, an said she'd found
her Unity 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
persffage into the gang, an set up
an reach for things to beat tours. AS
for the dogies, none OF 'em had the
faintest show fer heller. 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.. Ell.
kins, addressin' me, II 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 a 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' pref
near's good rustlers as natives. An
well 1t was fer 'em. fer grass was
| CAGE, an son-of-a-gun of 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, west, 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 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 a shrink
In an sylph-like way, so thin that you
could throw bull by the tail dunn
sight furder'n I'd trust some folks, en-
| that's no dream!
BY this time Mr. E1kins was sure
enough cowman, president Of the as
sociation and the biggest man from
| Spearfish to Jackson's Hole. He knew
some COMPOUNDED joke on every man
in the cow country. an not only called
'em all by their fust name, but had
one of his own f'r most Of 'em. Mrs.
Elkins, havin' pulled him through his
own doggy stage, dropped out of the
cow business, an devoted herself to
kids. knew that This doggy PROPOSE
| ton was a sort Of 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 FL
kins family, as peaceful as lnjun
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 a 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 mawgitch
on. was appointed as his chaperon
to show him the stock. an 1t bein' a
hurryin' time o. year, exhibited to
him ten r leven thousand head OF
mixed pickles, and called It square.
He didn't know q cow-brand from one
plucked from the burnin', an credited
us with township or two OF OZARK
cow stun I run him into the first day
out I didn't feel that he was wuth
payin' much notice to. If he hadn't
had the say about the Old Mans maw-
glitch.
gathered from him that he was