Latest / Redskin and Cow-Boy - A Tale of the Western Plains / 012 - Chapter 11 A Fire on the Plains

Transcript

012 - Chapter 11 A Fire on the Plains · Redskin and Cow-Boy - A Tale of the Western Plains

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter eleven of Redskin and Cowboy, A Tale of the
0:02
Speaker 1: Western Plains by G. A. Henty. The Slipbrivox recording is
0:06
Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter eleven a fire on the planes.
0:10
Speaker 1: After the hard work at the round up, the journey
0:13
Speaker 1: north seemed almost a holiday of an evening. The cook's
0:16
Speaker 1: accordion was again brought out, and the men sang in
0:18
Speaker 1: to Hugh's amusement, danced. He thought the proposal was a
0:22
Speaker 1: joke when it was first made, but he soon saw
0:25
Speaker 1: that it was quite serious. He had declined to take
0:27
Speaker 1: part in it, saying that he had never danced since
0:30
Speaker 1: he was a little boy, but it was as much
0:32
Speaker 1: as he could do to restrain his laughter upon seeing
0:35
Speaker 1: the gravity with which eight of the cowboys went through
0:37
Speaker 1: a quadrille to the music of the accordion. Then followed
0:41
Speaker 1: waltz's and then some Mexican dances, the entertainment being kept
0:44
Speaker 1: up for a couple of hours. Dancing, indeed, is one
0:48
Speaker 1: of the favorite amusements of cowboys, and there being no
0:51
Speaker 1: females to dance with, they dance with each other, and
0:54
Speaker 1: are so accustomed to do so that it comes to
0:56
Speaker 1: them as naturally as if dancing with women. However, they
1:00
Speaker 1: are camped within thirty or forty miles of a Mexican village,
1:03
Speaker 1: it is no unusual thing for a party of half
1:06
Speaker 1: a dozen to ride over to it. Perhaps one has
1:09
Speaker 1: preceded them to make the arrangements. These are simple. The
1:12
Speaker 1: Mexicans are very musical, and there is not a village
1:15
Speaker 1: where men capable of playing upon the mandolin and perhaps
1:18
Speaker 1: other instruments cannot be found. An arrangement is made with
1:22
Speaker 1: these and with the landlord of the little inn. The
1:24
Speaker 1: preparations are not expensive, spirits for the men and a
1:28
Speaker 1: supply of cakes and syrups for the women. The news
1:31
Speaker 1: spreads like lightning, and in the evening, Mexican villagers, male
1:34
Speaker 1: and female, in their best attire for miles round, arrive,
1:38
Speaker 1: some in carts and some on horseback. The music strikes up,
1:42
Speaker 1: and the dances kept up until morning. Occasionally these entertainments
1:46
Speaker 1: end with a fray, arising generally from the jealousy of
1:48
Speaker 1: some young Mexican at the complacency with which his sweetheart
1:52
Speaker 1: receives the attentions of a cowboy admirer. But these are
1:55
Speaker 1: quite the exceptions. The Mexicans know that their host will
1:58
Speaker 1: be off in the morning, and that they shall probably
2:01
Speaker 1: never see them again. And they therefore put up philosophically
2:04
Speaker 1: with the temporary inconstancy of the damsels of their village
2:08
Speaker 1: to the Mexican girls. Indeed, these cowboys are veritable heroes.
2:13
Speaker 1: They have heard endless tales of their courage. They know
2:16
Speaker 1: that the Indians, who hold their countrymen in absolute contempt,
2:20
Speaker 1: fear to meet these terrible herdsmen. The careless way in
2:23
Speaker 1: which they spend their money, their readiness to bestow their
2:26
Speaker 1: gorgeous silk handkerchiefs, their really handsome and valuable sashes, or
2:31
Speaker 1: the gold cord of their hats upon their favorite partner
2:33
Speaker 1: for the evening fills them with admiration. They know too,
2:37
Speaker 1: that when, as occasionally happens, a cowboy does marry a
2:41
Speaker 1: Mexican girl and settles down upon some little ranch among them,
2:44
Speaker 1: the lot of his wife is greatly easier than that
2:47
Speaker 1: of those who marry Mexicans, and that she will be
2:50
Speaker 1: treated with an amount of consideration and courtesy undreamt of
2:53
Speaker 1: by the Mexican peasant, who, although an humble adorer before marriage,
2:58
Speaker 1: is a despotic master afterwards. It is not surprising, then,
3:02
Speaker 1: that upon occasions like these, the cowboy hosts have a
3:05
Speaker 1: monopoly of the prettiest girls at the ball round the
3:08
Speaker 1: campfires in the evening. Hugh heard many tales of such
3:11
Speaker 1: evenings spent in the villages of New Mexico. I had
3:15
Speaker 1: a very narrow escape once. A cowboy known as Straight
3:18
Speaker 1: Charlie said. There were six of us went up together
3:21
Speaker 1: to a Mexican village and we gave a first rate hop.
3:24
Speaker 1: There was a big crowd there. Fine things went on
3:27
Speaker 1: well until there was a musk between one of our
3:29
Speaker 1: fellows and a Mexican. Jake was a rather hard man,
3:32
Speaker 1: and we hadn't much fancied his being of our party,
3:35
Speaker 1: for he was fonder of drink than of dancing, and
3:38
Speaker 1: was quarrelsome when the drink was in him. I don't
3:40
Speaker 1: know how the must began, for I was dancing with
3:43
Speaker 1: as pretty a little Mexican girl as I ever came across. However,
3:47
Speaker 1: I haven't any doubts as Jake was in the wrong.
3:50
Speaker 1: The first I note about it was that the music stopped,
3:53
Speaker 1: and then I heard loud voices. I saw a knife
3:55
Speaker 1: flash and drop my partner, and was going to run
3:58
Speaker 1: in to stop it, but I had more than thought
4:00
Speaker 1: about it when there was a crack of a pistol.
4:02
Speaker 1: Then knives were out all around, and there was a
4:05
Speaker 1: pretty lively fight. It seemed, as I heard afterwards, that
4:09
Speaker 1: when Jake shot the Mexican, and I don't say he
4:11
Speaker 1: had no right to do so, when the Mexican had
4:14
Speaker 1: drawn his knife first, for if he had not shot,
4:16
Speaker 1: he would have been killed himself. Two or three other
4:19
Speaker 1: Mexicans went for him, and as a matter of course,
4:22
Speaker 1: two of our fellows went for the Mexicans. If they
4:24
Speaker 1: hadn't been all mixed up together, the six of us
4:26
Speaker 1: could have cleared the hull lot out. But mixed up
4:29
Speaker 1: like that and with girls about, our fellas hadn't much show.
4:33
Speaker 1: I was just breaking through to take a hand in
4:35
Speaker 1: the game when a fellow who had been looking pretty
4:37
Speaker 1: sour at me for some time, jumped on my back
4:40
Speaker 1: like a wildcat. So down I went, and in half
4:42
Speaker 1: a minute my legs and arms were tied tight with
4:45
Speaker 1: their sashes. I didn't try to struggle after I had fallen,
4:48
Speaker 1: for I knew well enough that our fellows had got
4:50
Speaker 1: the worst of it. When matters cleared up a bit,
4:53
Speaker 1: I found that four Mexicans had been killed, and five
4:55
Speaker 1: or six others pretty badly hurt. Jake and another of
4:58
Speaker 1: our boys were dead. Two others had broke out, run
5:01
Speaker 1: to their horses and ridden away. Another of the boys
5:04
Speaker 1: had been taken prisoner, but he had got two or
5:07
Speaker 1: three knife cuts before he was knocked down. There was
5:10
Speaker 1: a big hub up for some time, as you may guess,
5:13
Speaker 1: and then they told us we should be taken to
5:14
Speaker 1: the town in the morning. Well, they took off the
5:17
Speaker 1: sashes and marched us away to a house at the
5:19
Speaker 1: end of the village. It was a plank house and
5:22
Speaker 1: built in the same fashion as their adobe huts, with
5:25
Speaker 1: one room behind the other. Of course, they had taken
5:28
Speaker 1: our six shooters and knives away from us, and they
5:30
Speaker 1: shoved us into the inner room, and then a dozen
5:33
Speaker 1: of them sat down to play cards and keep watching
5:35
Speaker 1: the other. The place had been built as a sort
5:38
Speaker 1: of lock up, and there were heavy bars to the window,
5:41
Speaker 1: just as you see in a good many Mexican houses.
5:43
Speaker 1: They had left our legs free, but had put some
5:45
Speaker 1: ropes round our arms, and we knew that we could
5:48
Speaker 1: ship them easy enough. The Mexicans had shut the door
5:51
Speaker 1: between the two rooms, but we could hear their talk
5:53
Speaker 1: through it, and we heard that though the thing had
5:56
Speaker 1: been brought on by Jake, there would have been a
5:58
Speaker 1: muss anyhouse sooner or later. Two whites had come into
6:01
Speaker 1: the village a fortnight before. They were dressed like cowboys,
6:04
Speaker 1: but I reckon they were horse stealers or outlaws. Anyhow,
6:08
Speaker 1: they had kicked up a rout and shot three men
6:10
Speaker 1: and rode away, And the Mexicans had seemed to make
6:12
Speaker 1: up their minds that they would take revenge on the
6:14
Speaker 1: next party that came in, whoever they were. Well, things
6:18
Speaker 1: look pretty bad for us. If we had once got
6:20
Speaker 1: inside one of their prisons, the Mexican judges would have
6:23
Speaker 1: made short work of us. The greaciers would of course
6:26
Speaker 1: have sworn that we had become the row and shot
6:29
Speaker 1: down four or five of their people without the least cause,
6:32
Speaker 1: and it would have been a case of hanging as
6:34
Speaker 1: sure as a gun. So Dave and I agreed that
6:36
Speaker 1: we had got to get somehow. It were no use
6:39
Speaker 1: talking of fighting, for there was a dozen fellas in
6:42
Speaker 1: the next room, and they had all got their guns
6:44
Speaker 1: along with them. We hadn't got our knives, and there
6:46
Speaker 1: was no chance of cutting our way out. We were
6:49
Speaker 1: talking it over when someone said, are you there, Charley
6:52
Speaker 1: at the window? It was one of the boys who
6:54
Speaker 1: had got away. You bet I was there pretty sharp here,
6:58
Speaker 1: I am Ginger, I said, how goes it? Pretty bad?
7:01
Speaker 1: He said, Jefferson's cut pretty near to pieces, and I'm
7:04
Speaker 1: wounded in a half a dozen places and can scarce crawl.
7:07
Speaker 1: Jeffers is with the horses a mile away. He's too
7:10
Speaker 1: bad to stand. I made a shift to crawl back
7:13
Speaker 1: to see what had become of you. I've been creeping
7:15
Speaker 1: around and heard the two of you were shut up
7:17
Speaker 1: here and that you was going to be taken off
7:19
Speaker 1: tomorrow and would be hung sure, so I came round
7:21
Speaker 1: to see what could be done. Here's my six shooter.
7:24
Speaker 1: If it'll be any good to you. No, that won't
7:26
Speaker 1: be any good, I said. There are twelve of them
7:29
Speaker 1: and they have all got guns. But give me your knife.
7:31
Speaker 1: These planks are pretty thick, but we can cut our
7:34
Speaker 1: way through. I haven't got it, says Ginger. It was
7:37
Speaker 1: knocked out of my belt in the fight, and worse luck,
7:40
Speaker 1: Jeffers has lost his two A fella got hold of
7:42
Speaker 1: his wrist so he couldn't use his pistol, and he
7:44
Speaker 1: drew his knife and he was fighting with it when
7:47
Speaker 1: he got a slice across his fingers, which pretty nigh
7:49
Speaker 1: cut them off, and he dropped his knife, and as
7:52
Speaker 1: luck would have it, just wrenched himself free and bolted. Well,
7:56
Speaker 1: we must do what we can, I said, but it
7:58
Speaker 1: is hard luck on us. Look here, Ginger, you bring
8:01
Speaker 1: the two horses up to that clump of trees over there.
8:04
Speaker 1: Dave is pretty badly cut about and cannot run far,
8:06
Speaker 1: but he can make a shift to get over there.
8:09
Speaker 1: If we don't come by an hour before daylight, it
8:11
Speaker 1: ain't no use your wait no longer. You go and
8:13
Speaker 1: pick up Jeffrey's and make tracks. But I reckon that
8:16
Speaker 1: somehow we shall manage to come, all right, says he,
8:19
Speaker 1: and went now, Dave, I said, you turn over and
8:22
Speaker 1: let me get my teeth at you're knots It is
8:24
Speaker 1: hard if I don't manage to undo them. Sure enough,
8:27
Speaker 1: in five minutes I had loose to knot, and then
8:30
Speaker 1: the rest was easy. Dave untied me and we were free.
8:33
Speaker 1: So far, What next, says Dave? We will have a
8:36
Speaker 1: look around, says I. Luckily there was a moon, and
8:39
Speaker 1: there was plenty of light to see what was in
8:41
Speaker 1: the room. There were some bits of furniture and bedding,
8:44
Speaker 1: just as they had been left by the people they
8:46
Speaker 1: had turned out to make room for us, but nothing
8:48
Speaker 1: that I could find as would help us to cut
8:50
Speaker 1: our way out. Now, Dave says, I you get to
8:54
Speaker 1: that corner and I will get to this, and just
8:56
Speaker 1: shove against the planks and see if we can't push
8:58
Speaker 1: the whole side of the shannon out. Well, it were
9:01
Speaker 1: too strong for us. It was made of rough boards,
9:04
Speaker 1: pretty strongly nailed. I thought it gave a little, but
9:07
Speaker 1: nothing else would be any good. If we could throw
9:10
Speaker 1: ourselves against it both together, it might go, I said,
9:13
Speaker 1: But it mightn't, And if it didn't, we should have
9:15
Speaker 1: them inside in a moment and there would be an
9:18
Speaker 1: end to it. What do you say to our burning
9:20
Speaker 1: ourselves out? Dave? How are we about to do that, Charlie?
9:24
Speaker 1: He said, Well, I've got my box of matches in
9:27
Speaker 1: my boot, and I suppose you have yours too. Let
9:29
Speaker 1: us pile up some of these wooden things against the
9:31
Speaker 1: two corners. There's plenty of straw in this bed. Before
9:35
Speaker 1: we begin, we will hang one of these blankets over
9:37
Speaker 1: the doorway so as to keep the smoke from going
9:39
Speaker 1: through the cracks. I reckon, they're all smoking in there,
9:42
Speaker 1: and they won't smell it very quick. So we made
9:45
Speaker 1: a pile, moving as quiet as we could, standing still
9:48
Speaker 1: while they were not talking much in the next room,
9:51
Speaker 1: and moving whenever they made a row, which was pretty often.
9:54
Speaker 1: These things are as dry as chips, I said, And
9:57
Speaker 1: what smoke there is will mostly go out through the window,
10:00
Speaker 1: but I expect there will be more than we shall like.
10:03
Speaker 1: Here's a big pitcher of water. We will soak these
10:05
Speaker 1: two blankets and then lie down close to the floor.
10:07
Speaker 1: You cover your head with one and I'll do it
10:09
Speaker 1: with the other. Now. Then we lit a couple of
10:12
Speaker 1: matches and touched off the straw, and in a half
10:15
Speaker 1: a minute there was a blaze up to the roof.
10:17
Speaker 1: Then we laid down by the other wall, one on
10:19
Speaker 1: each side of the door, and waited. In about two minutes,
10:22
Speaker 1: there was a shout in the next room and a rush.
10:24
Speaker 1: Then the door was flung open and the blanket torn down,
10:27
Speaker 1: and such a yelling and cussing as you never heard.
10:30
Speaker 1: The smoke was pretty bad where we was lying, and
10:32
Speaker 1: I reckoned that up higher. It was as thick as
10:34
Speaker 1: a wall. The cursed Americans have lighted the house and
10:38
Speaker 1: smothered themselves. One of them shouted. Then they rushed out,
10:41
Speaker 1: coughing and choking, and we heard them shouting for water,
10:44
Speaker 1: and there were as much route as if the village
10:46
Speaker 1: had been attacked by engines. We waited another three or
10:49
Speaker 1: four minutes, and then Dave shouted, I can't stand this
10:52
Speaker 1: no longer. I'd hoped they would have left the outer
10:55
Speaker 1: door open, and that we could have got out that way,
10:57
Speaker 1: but we had heard it shut. Expect someone more cute
11:01
Speaker 1: than the rest suspected we were inside. Biden our time.
11:04
Speaker 1: Take a long breath, Dave says I, and don't breathe
11:07
Speaker 1: again until you were out. Now jump up and join me.
11:11
Speaker 1: We joined hands and made a run and threw ourselves
11:13
Speaker 1: against one corner of the end of the hut. Several
11:16
Speaker 1: of the planks fell, and a couple of kicks sent
11:18
Speaker 1: the rest out. Then off we bolted. There were a
11:21
Speaker 1: yell outside, for by this time half the village were there. Luckily,
11:25
Speaker 1: the men with guns was mostly round by the door,
11:27
Speaker 1: and when the yells fetched them, there was too many
11:29
Speaker 1: women and children about for them to shoot. We went
11:32
Speaker 1: straight on, as you may guess, and we were halfway
11:34
Speaker 1: to the woods before the shooting began, and it were
11:36
Speaker 1: pretty wild at that. Dave gave out before he got
11:39
Speaker 1: to the trees, and I had to carry him this way.
11:42
Speaker 1: Ginger shouted. I lifted Dave onto a horse and jumped
11:45
Speaker 1: up behind him, and we were off just as the
11:47
Speaker 1: Mexicans came running up. After that, it were easy enough.
11:51
Speaker 1: We rode to where Jeffreys had been left, got him
11:53
Speaker 1: onto Ginger's horse, and made tracks for the camp. Jeffreys
11:56
Speaker 1: died next day, but Dave got over it. That were
11:59
Speaker 1: a pretty near touch, I reckon it was. Indeed, Hugh
12:03
Speaker 1: said that was a very lucky idea of yours, of
12:06
Speaker 1: burning out the corners of the house. Some of them
12:09
Speaker 1: Mexicans as cusses. Another cowboy put in, I had a
12:13
Speaker 1: smart affair with them in one of their villages last year.
12:16
Speaker 1: I had rid in with Baltimore Rube. We've been searching
12:19
Speaker 1: some of the gullies for cows and had run short
12:21
Speaker 1: of sugar and tea. While I was on a young bronco.
12:25
Speaker 1: I had only wrote two days before, and the critter
12:27
Speaker 1: were as wild as could be. When we rode in
12:30
Speaker 1: a lot of them brutes of dogs that swarms almost
12:33
Speaker 1: as thick as their fleas, and all these Mexican villages
12:36
Speaker 1: came bark and round, while one big brood in particular,
12:39
Speaker 1: made as if he would pin my bronco by the nose,
12:42
Speaker 1: and the pony plunged and kicked till I thought he
12:45
Speaker 1: would have me off. There was a lot of their
12:47
Speaker 1: men standing at their doors smoking, for it were late
12:50
Speaker 1: in the afternoon and they were all back from what
12:52
Speaker 1: they called work. I shouted to them to call their
12:54
Speaker 1: dogs off, but they just laughed and jeered. So I
12:57
Speaker 1: did the only thing as there was to do, just
13:00
Speaker 1: my six shooter and shot the dog. While if it
13:03
Speaker 1: had been a man, there could not have been a
13:05
Speaker 1: worse sort of route. The Mexicans ran into their houses
13:08
Speaker 1: just as quick as a lot of prairie dogs when
13:11
Speaker 1: they scent danger, and in a moment we're back with
13:13
Speaker 1: their guns and began to blaze away, while naturally our
13:18
Speaker 1: dander is a bullet chipped the bark off my cheek,
13:21
Speaker 1: and by the way my bronco jumped, I knew one
13:23
Speaker 1: had hit him. So Baltimore and I blazed away in return.
13:27
Speaker 1: And neither of us didn't shoot to miss, you bet,
13:30
Speaker 1: we just emptied our six shooters and then rode for it.
13:33
Speaker 1: Baltimore got a shot in his shoulder, I had one
13:36
Speaker 1: in the leg, and there was two in the saddle.
13:39
Speaker 1: We talked it over and agreed it were best to
13:41
Speaker 1: say nothing about it. Then Mexicans will swear black as white.
13:44
Speaker 1: And when there is a whole village swear in one
13:47
Speaker 1: way and only two men swearing the other way, them
13:50
Speaker 1: too has got but a poor show of being believed.
13:53
Speaker 1: So we concluded to leave those parts altogether, and we
13:56
Speaker 1: rode one hundred and fifty miles in the next two days,
13:59
Speaker 1: and then camp a week till our wounds healed up
14:01
Speaker 1: a bit. A fortnight after that, we went into the station,
14:05
Speaker 1: and there I happened to light upon one of them
14:07
Speaker 1: rags the Mexicans calls papers, and there, sure enough was
14:11
Speaker 1: the account of that business. Two cowboys unknown rode last
14:16
Speaker 1: week into the quiet village of Pursery, and without the
14:20
Speaker 1: slightest provocation, commenced a murderous attack upon its inhabitants, and
14:24
Speaker 1: after killing four and wounded eight men, they galloped off
14:28
Speaker 1: before the inhabitants had time to betake themselves to their
14:31
Speaker 1: arms to defend themselves. A reward of five hundred dollars
14:35
Speaker 1: is offered for their apprehension. Now that were a pretty
14:38
Speaker 1: tall piece of light. But Baltimore and I agreed it
14:41
Speaker 1: were best to keep dark about it altogether, for if
14:44
Speaker 1: it were talked about, it might get to the ears
14:46
Speaker 1: of some of the half caste Mexicans about the station,
14:50
Speaker 1: and some day or other when we went off into
14:52
Speaker 1: a village, we might find ourselves roped in. That is
14:56
Speaker 1: the way Broncoherry said, indignantly, us cowboy get a bad name.
15:01
Speaker 1: Now I dare say that air article we're copied in
15:04
Speaker 1: half the newspapers in the States, and folks know nothing
15:07
Speaker 1: about it. Would say, then cowboys is a cuss. They
15:10
Speaker 1: ought to be wiped off the earth right away. It
15:13
Speaker 1: is always so. Whenever there was a route between any
15:15
Speaker 1: of us and the Mexicans, they give their account of it,
15:18
Speaker 1: and we goes away and thinks no more about it,
15:20
Speaker 1: one way or the other. And there's no one to
15:22
Speaker 1: show it up as a life from beginning to end.
15:24
Speaker 1: And I know there's people think we're as bad as
15:27
Speaker 1: the engines, if not worse, and that we ride about
15:29
Speaker 1: shooting down people just for amusement. Then all these outlaws
15:33
Speaker 1: and horse thieves and bad men near the settlements dress
15:36
Speaker 1: as much as they can like us, and every murder
15:38
Speaker 1: they commits, every horse that gets stolen, every man that
15:42
Speaker 1: gets held up and robbed, it is just put down
15:44
Speaker 1: to the cowboys. While if the truth were known, for
15:48
Speaker 1: every one of these fellas caught or wiped out by
15:50
Speaker 1: the sheriff and their posse, there's twenty gets wiped out
15:53
Speaker 1: by us. There was a cordial that is so bronco
15:56
Speaker 1: all around the fire. For the injustice connected with their
15:59
Speaker 1: repute was a very sore point among the cowboys. Well
16:04
Speaker 1: someday Bronco, Hugh said, when I get away from here,
16:07
Speaker 1: for as you know, I haven't come here to stay,
16:10
Speaker 1: I will take pen in hand and try to give
16:11
Speaker 1: a true account of you and your doings, so that
16:14
Speaker 1: people may see that there are two sides to the question.
16:17
Speaker 1: Bully for you, Hugh, long Tom said, just you put
16:20
Speaker 1: it in hot and strong. I tell you it ain't
16:23
Speaker 1: nice if one does go down to the settlements in
16:25
Speaker 1: the winter when work is slack, to see people look
16:28
Speaker 1: at you as if you were a wild beast who
16:30
Speaker 1: was only waiting his chance to hold up the whole town. Well,
16:33
Speaker 1: I've seen women pull their children indoors as I came along,
16:37
Speaker 1: as if I were a mountain lion and was meaning
16:39
Speaker 1: to draw my six shooter on them just for amusement. Well,
16:42
Speaker 1: Hugh said, I must say I heard stories at McKinney
16:46
Speaker 1: of cowboys coming down to a town and writing about
16:48
Speaker 1: shooting off the hats of the inhabitants, making targets of
16:52
Speaker 1: the bottles and the saloons, and generally turning the place
16:55
Speaker 1: topsy turvy. Of course I didn't believe at all. There
16:58
Speaker 1: was silence around the fire, and then straight Charlie said, well, Lightning,
17:03
Speaker 1: I won't say, as you have been altogether deceived as
17:06
Speaker 1: to that, and I won't deny as I have taken
17:08
Speaker 1: part and spreeze myself. But you see, it don't hurt
17:11
Speaker 1: no one. It is just fun. If we do shoot
17:13
Speaker 1: the heads off the bottles, we pays for them, and
17:16
Speaker 1: it makes one laugh till one can scarcely sit in
17:18
Speaker 1: a saddle to see an old cuss jump. When you
17:20
Speaker 1: put a bullet through his stove pipe hat. It is
17:23
Speaker 1: his fault for wearing such a thing, which is an
17:25
Speaker 1: unnatural invention altogether, and should be discouraged. We do carry on, Bronco.
17:31
Speaker 1: Harry agreed. There ain't no denying it. When a man
17:34
Speaker 1: has been out on these planes for six months, working
17:37
Speaker 1: worse than a nigger, and that without a drop of liquor,
17:40
Speaker 1: it is natural as he should go in for a
17:42
Speaker 1: high old time when he gets down to a towel
17:44
Speaker 1: with money in his pockets. But there ain't no real
17:47
Speaker 1: harm in it. We know how we can shoot, and
17:49
Speaker 1: that if we fire at a hat there ain't no
17:51
Speaker 1: chance of our hitting the head inside. It just makes
17:54
Speaker 1: things lively for them for a bit, and there's never
17:57
Speaker 1: no trouble unless anyone is fool enough to take the
17:59
Speaker 1: matter out. But make a muss about it. I'm not
18:02
Speaker 1: saying you do any real harm, Bronco. Only you see,
18:05
Speaker 1: the people in the towns don't know how well you shoot.
18:08
Speaker 1: If you knock a pipe out of my mouth, as
18:10
Speaker 1: you have done once or twice, I only laugh because
18:13
Speaker 1: I know there was no chance in the world of
18:14
Speaker 1: your hitting me. But you see, they don't all know that.
18:18
Speaker 1: And so when a man finds there are two holes
18:20
Speaker 1: in his hat an inch above his head, he thinks
18:22
Speaker 1: he has had a marvelous escape of being murdered. I
18:26
Speaker 1: don't deny as there is something in that Broncoharry said reflectively,
18:30
Speaker 1: But you see it as in their ignorance that the
18:32
Speaker 1: mistake comes in, not in our shooting. Anyhow. You see
18:36
Speaker 1: as we have got to do something to amuse ourselves,
18:38
Speaker 1: and we might do worse than just scare a few
18:40
Speaker 1: storemen who take it out of us by charging us
18:43
Speaker 1: about double the prize they charge anyone else. Hugh was
18:47
Speaker 1: not convinced by the argument, but he felt that it
18:49
Speaker 1: was of no use to pursue the subject further. How
18:52
Speaker 1: do the cows know their calves, he asked one day,
18:54
Speaker 1: as at the end of a march, some of the
18:56
Speaker 1: cows were loudly lowing for their offspring to come to
18:59
Speaker 1: them by smell. Brouncle Harry replied promptly, you don't see
19:03
Speaker 1: much of their ways here, for the calves are pretty
19:06
Speaker 1: well grown up. But when you are driving a herd,
19:08
Speaker 1: as I have done many a time, made up altogether
19:11
Speaker 1: of cows and young calves, you see a lot of it.
19:14
Speaker 1: Ten or twelve miles a day is as much as
19:16
Speaker 1: you can do with the herd of that sort what
19:18
Speaker 1: steers there are always go ahead, grazing as they go.
19:21
Speaker 1: The cows will come straggling along next, and then the
19:24
Speaker 1: calves strung out all over the place, and the rear
19:26
Speaker 1: guard have pretty hard work to hurry them up. You see,
19:29
Speaker 1: calves have caught no sense and run anywhere under your
19:33
Speaker 1: horse's legs or anywhere else. Well, the cows don't pay
19:36
Speaker 1: much attention to them till they get to the end
19:37
Speaker 1: of the march. Then they begin to fall for their
19:40
Speaker 1: calves to come to them, and the calves begin to
19:42
Speaker 1: fall for their mothers. And I tell you that for
19:45
Speaker 1: a bit there is such a row going on that
19:47
Speaker 1: you would think the end of the world had come.
19:49
Speaker 1: Two thousand cows and as many calves can kick up
19:52
Speaker 1: a row, you bet that will well not scare you.
19:55
Speaker 1: But don't the calves know their mother's voices, Not a
19:58
Speaker 1: bit of it. It is just smell and nothing else
20:01
Speaker 1: that brings them together. You would think the cows would
20:03
Speaker 1: know something about the color of their youngins, but they don't.
20:06
Speaker 1: I've seen a cow that I knew how to white calf,
20:09
Speaker 1: run up to a black calf and smell it, then
20:11
Speaker 1: to a brown one, and then to a spotted one,
20:14
Speaker 1: while her own white calf stood ball and fit to
20:16
Speaker 1: kill herself a dozen yards away. It is wonderful how
20:19
Speaker 1: they do find each other at all, and the job
20:21
Speaker 1: often takes them two or three hours. Some of the
20:24
Speaker 1: cows concludes at last that their calves have been left behind,
20:27
Speaker 1: and then off they set, and would go all the
20:29
Speaker 1: way back to the place they had started from in
20:31
Speaker 1: the morning if you didn't stop them. Sometimes they don't
20:34
Speaker 1: find them at all that night. But what happens to
20:36
Speaker 1: the calves? Then the calves shift for themselves. They run
20:40
Speaker 1: up to other cows which have got their own calves sucking.
20:43
Speaker 1: Each cow will generally let them have a suck or
20:45
Speaker 1: two and then drive them off, and in that way
20:47
Speaker 1: they get enough to last them on until they find
20:49
Speaker 1: their mothers in the morning. There is a good deal
20:51
Speaker 1: of trouble in keeping night watch over a herd like that.
20:54
Speaker 1: It isn't that there is any risk of a stampede.
20:57
Speaker 1: A cow herd will never stampede if there are a
20:59
Speaker 1: lot of young cass in it. But they don't settle
21:01
Speaker 1: themselves comfortable to sleep. The calves want to wander about,
21:05
Speaker 1: and the cows who haven't found their young ones keep
21:07
Speaker 1: trying to slip off to take the back track, and
21:09
Speaker 1: you've got to be always on the watch for them.
21:12
Speaker 1: Take it all together. I would rather drive a beef
21:14
Speaker 1: herd than a cow herd. After a week's travel, they
21:17
Speaker 1: reached the spot that had been fixed upon for the
21:19
Speaker 1: herd to graze. The cowboys work was now much lighter.
21:23
Speaker 1: Parties of twos and threes could often be spared for
21:25
Speaker 1: a day's excursion up to some Mexican village among the hills,
21:28
Speaker 1: or they would go off for three or four days
21:30
Speaker 1: hunt among the valleys to pick up any cattle that
21:32
Speaker 1: had evaded search during the roundup. One day, when they
21:35
Speaker 1: were but four of them in camp, two of the party,
21:38
Speaker 1: who had been absent a couple of days, rode in
21:40
Speaker 1: at full speed and reported to the head of the
21:42
Speaker 1: outfit that they had seen the light of a fire
21:45
Speaker 1: up north. Then there is no time to be lost,
21:47
Speaker 1: Colly said, Will you two men stop here and look
21:50
Speaker 1: after things. I'll ride off with the other four and
21:52
Speaker 1: fight the fire. When the others come back, do you
21:55
Speaker 1: start out for us. The last two who come in
21:57
Speaker 1: must stop here. Give us what food you've got. Dark
22:00
Speaker 1: we may be away. Four or five days directly, we
22:02
Speaker 1: have gone set to and cook something for the others.
22:05
Speaker 1: Hugh and Bill Royce had returned the day before from
22:07
Speaker 1: an expedition among the foothills. Broncho Harry and another cowboy
22:11
Speaker 1: were also in camp. In five minutes, the horses were
22:14
Speaker 1: saddled and they dashed off at full speed. It is
22:17
Speaker 1: lucky that the wind is not blowing strong, Colly said.
22:20
Speaker 1: Or we should have the fire down here before we
22:22
Speaker 1: got news of it, and there's no place handy where
22:24
Speaker 1: we could drive the herd. I expect those blessed engines
22:27
Speaker 1: lit the fire. Hugh was very pleased that he was
22:30
Speaker 1: in camp when the news came. He had heard many
22:32
Speaker 1: stories from the cowboys of these terrible fires and knew
22:35
Speaker 1: that at times they had wrought havoc among the herds,
22:37
Speaker 1: whose only hope of escape lay in reaching a stream
22:40
Speaker 1: wide enough to check the progress of the flames. After
22:43
Speaker 1: riding twenty miles, they could distinguish a faint odor of
22:45
Speaker 1: smoke in the air, and as they gained a crest
22:48
Speaker 1: soon after sunset, could see a long line of light
22:50
Speaker 1: in the distance. It is a biggin, Broncho Harry said,
22:54
Speaker 1: and no mistake they lost no time in getting to work,
22:57
Speaker 1: for the wind was rising and there was but little
22:59
Speaker 1: time to spare. They had on their way picked out
23:02
Speaker 1: a steer from a bunch that came upon and had
23:04
Speaker 1: driven it before them, and had also stopped and cut
23:06
Speaker 1: fagots of wood from a clump of bushes in a hollow.
23:09
Speaker 1: A shot from Broncho Harry's revolver brought the bullock dead
23:12
Speaker 1: to the ground, and while Royce lit a fire, the
23:14
Speaker 1: others with their long knives proceeded to split the bullock
23:17
Speaker 1: into two portions, dividing it from its head down to
23:20
Speaker 1: its tail. Now, Bronco, will you go east with latinin,
23:23
Speaker 1: while Royce and Jake goo west. Keep on until you
23:26
Speaker 1: meet some fellows from the other outfits. They are sure
23:28
Speaker 1: to be at work all along the line. If you
23:30
Speaker 1: don't meet any by the time you get to the
23:32
Speaker 1: end of the flames, then work back and fight the
23:34
Speaker 1: fire as you come. I expect the other four men
23:36
Speaker 1: will be up in an hour or two. Broncho Harry
23:39
Speaker 1: and Royce at once lit two of the long fagots
23:42
Speaker 1: and fastened the others to their saddles. They then tied
23:45
Speaker 1: the ends of their ropes to the blazing fagots and started. Hugh,
23:48
Speaker 1: having been already instructed in his part, fastened his rope
23:51
Speaker 1: to a leg of the half bullock, and mounted his horse.
23:54
Speaker 1: He had not brought Prince this time, as he feared
23:56
Speaker 1: that he might get burned. He waited until Broncho Harry
23:59
Speaker 1: was of a mile ahead. Already a line of fire
24:02
Speaker 1: was rising in its track, the dried grass catching like
24:05
Speaker 1: tinder as the blazing faggot passed over it. It had
24:08
Speaker 1: already run along a width of twenty feet or so,
24:11
Speaker 1: burning fiercely on the leeward side, and making its way
24:14
Speaker 1: in a thin red line to windward. It was the
24:16
Speaker 1: leeward side that Hugh had to attend to, and, galloping
24:19
Speaker 1: his horse along the ground over which the flame had
24:21
Speaker 1: just passed, he dragged the half carcass of the bullock
24:24
Speaker 1: behind him, so that in its course it passed over
24:27
Speaker 1: the line of flame, which its weight and the raw
24:29
Speaker 1: undersurface instantly crushed out for ten miles. He rode on,
24:33
Speaker 1: and then found that Harry had stopped. We are beyond
24:37
Speaker 1: the edge of the fire, the latter said. It is
24:39
Speaker 1: the other side where there is most danger. Unless Smith's
24:42
Speaker 1: outfit of got news in time, while we've done our
24:45
Speaker 1: part off the job so far. Looking back, Hugh saw
24:48
Speaker 1: a sea of fire approaching across the plains. The wind
24:51
Speaker 1: was blowing stronger now and the air was full of
24:53
Speaker 1: smoke and ashes. Far along the track they had come,
24:56
Speaker 1: a thin line of fire was advancing against the wind
24:59
Speaker 1: to meet the great wave that was sweeping down towards it.
25:02
Speaker 1: We passed some bushes half a mile back, Harry said,
25:05
Speaker 1: we will ride back to them and then let the
25:06
Speaker 1: horses go. We shan't want them anymore, and they are
25:09
Speaker 1: pretty well mad with fright now. As soon as they
25:12
Speaker 1: reached the bushes, they leapt off, and, letting the horses go,
25:15
Speaker 1: cut as many bowels as they could carry. Then, retiring
25:18
Speaker 1: from the strip of burnt ground, already forty or fifty
25:20
Speaker 1: yards wide, they awaited the flames. Their approach was heralded
25:24
Speaker 1: by burning fragments, and they were both soon work beating
25:27
Speaker 1: out the flames as fast as they were kindled to
25:29
Speaker 1: leeward of the burnt strip. Single handed, they would not
25:33
Speaker 1: have succeeded, but other cowboys speedily arrived, and along the
25:36
Speaker 1: whole line parties were at work fighting the fire. At
25:39
Speaker 1: times it got such hold that it was only checked
25:42
Speaker 1: by lighting fresh fires to leeward and crushing them out,
25:45
Speaker 1: as had been done at first, and it was thirty
25:47
Speaker 1: hours before the fire was extinguished along that part of
25:50
Speaker 1: the line. Then the news came that further west it
25:53
Speaker 1: had burst through, and the cowboys, mounting fresh horses that
25:56
Speaker 1: had been brought up, rode off and joined in the
25:58
Speaker 1: fight there, and it was not after three days unremitting
26:01
Speaker 1: effort that the danger was finally subdued. During all this time,
26:05
Speaker 1: the men had not come moments rest. Their food and
26:08
Speaker 1: water had been sent up from the wagons, and a
26:10
Speaker 1: hasty meal was snatched occasionally. When all was done, they
26:13
Speaker 1: were blackened with smoke and ashes, their hair and clothes
26:16
Speaker 1: were singed, and they were utterly exhausted with their efforts. However,
26:20
Speaker 1: they had saved the herds and were well content with
26:23
Speaker 1: their work. But as soon as it was over, each
26:26
Speaker 1: man threw himself down where he stood and slept for
26:28
Speaker 1: many hours, watch being kept by some of the last arrivals,
26:32
Speaker 1: for it was by no means improbable that the Indians
26:34
Speaker 1: would swoop down to take advantage of the confusion and
26:37
Speaker 1: drive off cattle. As soon as the cowboys were roused.
26:40
Speaker 1: The next morning, they rode off to their respective outfits
26:43
Speaker 1: and Hughes party. On their arrival enjoyed the luxury of
26:46
Speaker 1: a bath in the stream, near which the wagon of
26:48
Speaker 1: number two outfit was placed. Then, after their change of clothes,
26:52
Speaker 1: they gathered for a comfortable meal while lightning. That has
26:56
Speaker 1: been a fresh experience for you, Brocoharry said, I am glad.
26:59
Speaker 1: I I've seen it, he replied, but I don't want
27:02
Speaker 1: to repeat it. That was nothing, Hugh. Four years ago
27:06
Speaker 1: there was a fire here that swept right across the plains.
27:09
Speaker 1: There was a strong wind and no stop in it,
27:11
Speaker 1: and they were over one hundred thousand cattle burned. I
27:15
Speaker 1: suppose some day or other they will be passing laws
27:17
Speaker 1: for putting up fences. If they do, I tell you,
27:20
Speaker 1: it will be something like ruin to a good many ranches,
27:22
Speaker 1: for it will prevent cattle from running before the flames.
27:25
Speaker 1: As it is now, their instinct takes them either to
27:28
Speaker 1: a stream or to some high bluff. But if there
27:30
Speaker 1: was fences, they would never get away. In the north
27:33
Speaker 1: they lose whole herds in the same way from snowstorms.
27:36
Speaker 1: A herd will drift before snow and wind for hundreds
27:38
Speaker 1: of miles, but if there's anything that stops them, they
27:41
Speaker 1: just get snowed up and die. Ranchmen have troubles enough,
27:44
Speaker 1: but if they was obliged to fence, it would go
27:46
Speaker 1: far to break up the business. Look out, lads, here
27:49
Speaker 1: comes someone galloping into the camp. I expect he's got
27:52
Speaker 1: news of the Redskins. I reckon they would be out
27:54
Speaker 1: on the track of the fire. Oh it's Tom Newport,
27:58
Speaker 1: he said as the man approached. Well what he says
28:01
Speaker 1: you may take for gospel. He is not one of
28:03
Speaker 1: them fellas who gets hold of the tail end of
28:05
Speaker 1: a story and then scares the whole country. Wile, Tom,
28:08
Speaker 1: what is it? Just mount up, Brocco and get all
28:11
Speaker 1: your crowd together. There ain't no time for talking. Now.
28:14
Speaker 1: I will tell you about it when we get on
28:15
Speaker 1: the track. In an incredibly short time, the men had
28:19
Speaker 1: all saddled and were ready for a start, filling their
28:21
Speaker 1: water skins and getting from the cook what bread and
28:24
Speaker 1: cold meat remained over from breakfast. Now which way, Tom, Northeast?
28:28
Speaker 1: I will tell you about it. The Engines have come
28:30
Speaker 1: down and attacked Gainsford. They've killed five or six men,
28:33
Speaker 1: and most of the women and children. They've carried off
28:35
Speaker 1: five or six girls, and old man Rutherford's rose is
28:38
Speaker 1: among them. An exclamation of fury broke from several of
28:42
Speaker 1: the cowboys. Where is Gainsford and who is Rutherford's rose?
28:46
Speaker 1: Hugh asked. Gainsford is a small place just among the
28:49
Speaker 1: foothills south of the engine country. There are about twenty houses. Rutherford,
28:53
Speaker 1: he were the first to settle there. We told him
28:56
Speaker 1: over and over again that it were too close to
28:58
Speaker 1: the engines, and that there would sure be trubble sooner
29:00
Speaker 1: or later. But Steve, that is, Rutherford, is one of
29:03
Speaker 1: those pesky, obstinate cusses who just go their own way
29:06
Speaker 1: and won't listen to reason from no one. He got
29:09
Speaker 1: a little herd cattle up in the valley there, and
29:11
Speaker 1: a patch of cultivated land, and he reckoned. He wouldn't
29:14
Speaker 1: be solitary long. He was right enough there, for as
29:17
Speaker 1: I told you, the place grew and there are pretty
29:19
Speaker 1: nigh twenty houses there now, that is, there were twenty houses.
29:23
Speaker 1: I don't suppose one is standing now. Rutherford, he wore
29:27
Speaker 1: a cowboy once and married and settled down there, and
29:29
Speaker 1: Roses his daughter, and as good a lass as there
29:32
Speaker 1: is west of Missouri. Rutherford's house is free quarters for
29:36
Speaker 1: those of us who likes to drop in, And of
29:38
Speaker 1: course we makes it up to him by taking in
29:40
Speaker 1: a deer or bear's ham, and maybe a few bottles
29:42
Speaker 1: of whiskey if we've been down to the settlement and
29:44
Speaker 1: laid hands on them. And if we come across any
29:47
Speaker 1: mavericks when we were alone, we just brand them. Are are.
29:49
Speaker 1: And I reckon Rosie has got two hundred cattle out there,
29:52
Speaker 1: and they will come in mighty handy for her when
29:54
Speaker 1: she chooses a husband. Is that often done? Hugh asked,
29:59
Speaker 1: you bet? There are score and more girls whose father's
30:02
Speaker 1: shanty lie up in the foothills, and who are friends
30:04
Speaker 1: of ours, have gotten a nice little clump of cattle
30:06
Speaker 1: out on these plains. Of course, any man living near
30:09
Speaker 1: the plains can turn his cattle out, and there are
30:12
Speaker 1: dozens of private marks. Wow, you see, if a girl
30:15
Speaker 1: only gets twenty branded for her, it increases every year
30:18
Speaker 1: because the calves running with the cows get the same
30:20
Speaker 1: brand put on them. And I've known many a girl
30:23
Speaker 1: when she was married, have a little herd of three
30:25
Speaker 1: or four hundred. So I tell you it hits us
30:28
Speaker 1: all that Rose Rutherford has been carried away, and we
30:30
Speaker 1: are bound to get her back if it are to
30:32
Speaker 1: be done. When was it, Tom, that had happened? Yesterday
30:35
Speaker 1: evening about ten o'clock. I were riding that way and
30:38
Speaker 1: intended to sleep at Steve's when I saw a light
30:40
Speaker 1: burst up, and then two or three others. I galloped
30:42
Speaker 1: pretty hard, you may guess. But before I got there
30:45
Speaker 1: it were over and the engines had gone. But I
30:47
Speaker 1: learned from a boy who had been hiking among the bushes,
30:50
Speaker 1: but who came out when he saw me how it were.
30:52
Speaker 1: He said he had seen Rose and five or six
30:54
Speaker 1: other girls carried off. Whether old Steve were rubbed out,
30:57
Speaker 1: I don't know. I didn't stop to ask no questions.
30:59
Speaker 1: I knew where your outfit was and rode straight for it.
31:02
Speaker 1: Then the skunks have got sixteen or seventeen hours start.
31:05
Speaker 1: Bronco said, there's no chance of our catching them till
31:08
Speaker 1: they are right back into their own country. I reckon
31:11
Speaker 1: we shall have a pretty sharp fight of it before
31:13
Speaker 1: we get them gals back. End of chapter eleven, read
31:16
Speaker 1: by Dorry Smith