The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1922-01-13

"a the ground, and within half MN
ITO he was OF, this time heading in.o
: Ain trail that led away diagonany
down the mountain, not IN the ons
s,on N Atropla, but rather on the osn-
r. leg Of a triangle, one side q when
might be the desert edge, one the traii
We had followed from the Auopia
road, and the third the route we Weie
now taking to the eastward
II must have been within an hour
or 30 Of midnight when we ieff tne
mountain forests behind and got INTO
the region OF barren foothills hers
the collie seemed much surer Of ms
ground. and we had our work cnt ous
for Ms In the effort to keep up with
him. Ii the starlight made out the
line OF telegraph poles as we ran ana
nretty soon our dog leader swung on
10 the right and we found ourselves
trotting on line parallel to the ran
road track and only little way iroah
1t.
Pretty soon the dog disappeared !
and then we heard him barking az
little distance to the left Of the parai-
lel tracks. When we went to see What
he had found, the mystery suddenly
took another tack and yeered on into
new channel. In small grassy hoi-
low between two Of the hills we came
mon the dog and the calico pony. the
bride reins had slipped over the pfoh-
co.'s head, and Barney had them Dc
tween his teeth and was backing ana
Juggling and apparently trying 70 pau
the pony along.
"Well, I'll be dingsiggeredF sald
| Daddy: but / couldn't unload quite
that easily. For me the rideriess pony
meant an accident OF some sort.
''Heayensfr / gasped; "do you sup
pose she's been thrown, and-maype
crippled7"
'Who-Jeanie? Why, bless your
heart, stannie, son, she can ride EN-
Wild! And that calico wouldn't buck
baby off. No, boy; don't you 90 10
/ frettin' about nothin' like that. When
4 she got out o that saddle, 1t was cause
she was good and ready and wanted
1 to-"
when she got of to take the train,
she tried to make Barney lead the pony
home" / suggested. Would she be
likely to do thatf'
Daddy Hiram slapped his leg.
you've hit 1t exactly, sonl Don't
know why didn't think o that at first.
It's an old trick that she taught the
collie when he was III pup. And
Barney, he tried, and when he couldn't
make the pinto leave Off grain, he
come for us. Sure that was the
way of 1t. What say IL we 90 back to
the edge O. the timber and camp down?
/ reckon there amt nothin' to be
gained by hittin' the trail afore we've
had a n'p rest-up spell, lis there7"
/ had no objection to offer, you may
be sure; and after we had found a
camping spot, and had picketed the
pony with the light rope that jeanne
( | hindJ . GdIIIeu tlCu W llE SduSif VI uVt
saddle, we made good fire to serve
In lieu Of the blankets that we didn't
have and stretched ourselves out to
sleep the sleep Of the tagged and leg
weary.
The next thing knew-and 1t SEEM
ed to be Just about minute after
had closed my eyes-Daddy was shak-
ing me awake.
"Time to be moggin' along, II we
aim to get home for breakfast, sonny"
he announced At the break Of day we
were coming into the Cinnabar-Atro-
pia road at precisely the point at
which we left 1t the evening before.
The sun was Just beginning to GID
the upper heights Of Old Cinnebar
when we trailed over the broad plateau
bench below the mine and headed for
the slope that led up to the dump head.
! AS we topped this last hill there was
an amazing surprise awaiting us-a
surprise and a shock. On the level
spot which served as dooryard for
the Twombly cabin stood horse, sad
died and bridled. lts dropped ears and
hanging head showing that it had been
ridden far and hard. And ON the cabin
doorstep sitting at ease and calmly
chewing a half-burned cigar, was
| Nz,lln