The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1923-12-27
klTELL us a yarn, Stub. You're
as full of EN- as a coyotes
full of flees. Tell us that

up last fall, bout the Teller that got
even with your outfit over on the
Sun river"
Stub bit off a capacious corner
of a plug of Horseshoe, rolled ii
from cheek to cheek a moment, spat
viciously at the camp fire and be-
gan:
Back bout 20 years ago, fore
the sheep had killed out the bunch
grass and left nothin' but blister
bellied rattlesnakes and cactus
where it used to grow and put
buck in a cayuse, l was punchin'
cows for an outfit on Sun river.
| reckon that we were about the
only outfit in that section worth
talkin' about, and cow hands were
none too plenty them times.
"The boys ridin' for the outfit
were as husky a lot as ever strad-
died a cayuse, and were UP to most
any kind of hell, whether it crack
ed a leg or BACKED an eye.
"A scar was only an earmark or
"a badge of membership in the
Hashknife,' and most every one
of us had a pet of some kind that
wasn't a beauty spot nohow.
Look at my nose" and he turned
so that the light of the fire might
better reveal its crooked outlines.
Smokey" Was a Bad One
"They were a tough lot, an
among other things belongin' to
'em was a string of as mean a
bunch of buzzard heads as ever
looked through a glass eye. They
ranged from mean to damned
mean and Old Smokey was in the
A class of them | mentioned last.
Boys, that boss was SO internally
mean that he wouldn't get fat. He
was so ornery that a magpie
wouldn't pick a bug off'n him, al
l sometimes thought they
him, cause they'd sit round
on the willers and jabber among
'emselves like they wished they was
as mean as that old crowbait. That
boss had an eye like the bottom of
beer bottle in a prospect hole.
Nov, besides Old Smoky, we
1ad another ornery cuss in the
Hash-knife. The only thing in
lamp that could hit the gait of this
1ere skate was the foreman. His
name was Redirect somethin,
an he was sure a half brother to
Smoky, but what the owners of the
outfit kept Red fer is one of them
Kings that's too deep fer me, yes
sir. It's what | heard a lawyer call
an onexplainable circumstance.
Seems to bout fit the case as far
as Red is concerned.
He Was the Goat
"Old Smoky was the goat of the
organization and every new man
was jobbed into ridin' him, sooner
or later, only to be piled up, to the
.oy of the bunch. Sometimes Old
Smoky would get in a kick after
lie dumped his man and then the
:eller was sure to be branded for all
ime. He was the limit and | new
r see a man crawl him a second
ime. Once was plenty. 1t had
,een raised to the Sublime Order
# 'Hash-knife Punchers,' when a
appeared.
81 remember it as though twas
yesterday. We were all sittin'
round the corral, chewin' the rag
n smokin', when up the trail.
bout a hundred yards away, ! see
boss and rider acomin'. We did
It have long to speculate as to
Who he was, before he was a-talkin'
o Red and pretty soon the Teller
toward the pasture leadin'
rs boss by the bride, Where ne
urned him loose, put up the bars,
Jung his saddle on the fence and
anne over to the corral. Of course,
Red had hired him and the boys
we're a-wonderin' where he hailed
rom. But some way, before he
ad properly squared himself round
We marked him for a snap fer
and dog-gon me if | wasn't
orry fer the kid, for that's all he
,as-jest a kid with light yeller
air and a pair of them baby blue
yes.
The Boys Outfit
"Wall, it was the same old gag :
IL the ridin' stock belongin' to the
anch was gentle as kittens to hear
m tell it to the kid and he was
n haroain fer eytra GENTLE