Arizona Nights

TTLE R

d so ate breakfast, the rain still pouring down on us. About nine o'clock, with miraculous suddenness, the torrent stopped

deep gorges, which had heretofore seemed the most prominent elements of the scenery, were lost. We stood, apparently, in the middle of a wide and undulating plain, diversified by little ridges, and running with a free sweep to the very foot of the snowy Galiuros. It seemed as though we should be able to ride horseback in almost any given direction. Yet we knew that ten minute

held off. We dug ditches, organised shelters, cooked a warm meal. For the next day we planne

some difficulty to look on a ground covered with snow; trees laden

day" said t

t's more, unless yo're aimin' to stop here some

reluctantly. The ropes were frozen, the hobbles stiff, everything either crackling or w

slippery. The snow was soft enough to ball under the horses' hoofs, so that most of the time the poor animals skated and stu

are apt to sit very light. Now cover it with several inches of snow, stick a snowball on each hoof of your mount, and try again. When you have ridden it-or its duplicate-a few score of times, select a s

d rough slopes, and hopped up some fairly high ledges. Now we found the heretofore dry bed flowing a good eight inches deep. The steep slopes had become cascades; the ledges, waterfalls. When we came to them, we had to "shoot the r

er spread and shoaled to a depth of only two or three inches. We splashed along gaily enoug

d seeing to it that the pack animals did not stray or linger. As we pas

"We only got those fellows

s the sides also were precipitous, it became necessary only to build a fence across the entrance into the main canon to become possessed of a corral completely closed in. Remembering the absolute invis

his hole," said Jed Parker to me, when I had rid

re happy. After a square meal-and a dry one-I reminded Jed Parker of his promise, and so, si

an deliberate, he didn't take no special chances. For a while he was marshal at Willets. Pretty soon it was noted that there was a heap of cases of resisting arrest, where Sam as marshal had to shoot, and that those cases almost always happened to be his personal enemies. Of course, that might be all right, but it looked suspicious. Then one day he killed poor old Max Schmidt out behind his own saloon. Called him out and shot him in the stomach. Said Max resisted arrest on a warrant for keepin' open out of hours! That w

no compunctions whatsoever. The bad man takes you unawares, when you're sleepin', or talkin', or drinkin', or lookin' to see what for a day it's goin' to be

ook away; or asked for a drink of water, and killed when they stoop to the spring; or potted from behind as they go int

at I knew, and I hated to let them go at prices they were offerin' then, so I made up my mind to ride across and bri

bout all I could see. There was only two packed, and no wagon. I suppose the whole outfit-pots, pans, and kettles-was worth five dollars. It was just supper when I run across them, a

ngers," says

, and made a cigareet. The men was tall, lank fellows, with kind of sullen faces, and sly, shifty eyes; the wom

per?" says

st asked me very grudgin' if I wouldn't light and eat, I told

an you need, though," says I.

s they. "It's a mave

had been mighty well cut to ribbons arou

able to swear whether you're a maverick or not, but I

in. My hosses acted some surprised at bein'

r an all-day, but you sure don't want to join that outfit any more

and I rode together those days, and that's how I got to know him pretty well. One day, over in the Elm Flat, we ran smack on this Texas

got this fa

" say

you h

wards th

t to

e some truck; perha

wen

rry, "is fine prospe

horse lookin

ays he. "It must he al

bought an old brand of Steve McWilliams for seventy-five dollars, carryin' six or eight head of cows. After that, from time to time, we heard of them buying more-two

ood many thousand head, a man used to the business can recognise most every individual as far as he can see him. Some is better than others at it. I suppose you really have to be

any kick comin'. Then one day in the sp

t the brand, except to corroborate the ears; and, as the critter generally sticks his ears up inquirin'-like to anyone ridin' up, it's easy to know the brand without lookin' at it, merely from the ear-marks. Once in a great w

fellow was ear-marked all right, so we rode on, and never would have discovered nothin' if a bush rabbit hadn't jump

t night I reported to Buck Johnson that one of the punchers was gettin' lazy and sleeperin'. Naturally he went after the man who had done it; but every puncher s

-H was the Goodrich brand, so we didn't have nothin' to do with that. Some of them might be sle

did well that summer, and when we come to round up in the fall, we cut out maybe a dozen of those T 0 cat

me, "they's a heap of these y

hat's got his range established, we didn't lay no great store by tha

ow that had gone dead lame. That was usual, too, but Buck, who was with me, h

says he, "what do

hind legs below the

had roped her by th

er heels lame that way make

at neither, until just by luck we came

hink of this one?" B

to the quick, but I've seen them tore up just as bad

n't follow, and then he'll take her calf a long ways off and brand it with his iron. Of course, if we was to

' that no one would discover the lack of a brand. Then, after the calf was weaned, and quit followin' of his mother, the rustler wou

[2] livin' near had water holes in the foothills, and any amount of little cattle holders, like this T 0 outfit, and any of them wouldn't shy very hard at a little sleeperin' on

lt them a 'dobe, and cleared some land, and planted a few trees, and made an irrigated patch for alfalfa. Nobody never rode over this way very much,

tle there, and they used to send Larry up into the

o say that I'm all new at this cattle business-in fact, I haven't been at

twice as many cows as the

of grown cows, there ought not t

" says I. "What ar

' yet,"

ater he tack

m another, but there's a calf down there branded T 0 that I'd pretty near s

o satisfy me to a moral certainty, but nothin' for a sheriff; and, of course, we couldn't go shoot up a peaceful rancher on mere sus

e HIS mother

arry Eagen-we calls calves who

layin' around water holes, and he always has a big, sway belly onto him. No, this is n

in' a rattlesnake or somethin', and then fall back out of sight. I jumped my hoss up there tur'ble quick, and looked over, exp

all right

t for the love of God, get d

hoss and scrambl

s I, as soo

bit-loo

cow with the La

ds Larry. "And, look here, that T 0 cal

und our sleep

lowed along on the rim, waitin' until a place gave me a chance to get down, too, or Larry

ls. "Here's a cave and a mou

o the cave openin', right under the rim-rock. There, sure enough, were

y, and dropped to his hands

' no attention to me tellin' him to be more cautious. I

," says he. "Now, where do you suppose

e they've carried yearlin's across their backs

she come from

ember now that T 0 outfit had a yearl

ile down the canon. I'll take it home.

ooks on my eyebrows to get up at all. It's easier to slide down than to climb back. I dropped my gun out of my

k and around the barrancas, and Lar

idn't see me at all, but I could hear, plain enough, what they said. Larry told how he had found her in the cave, and all about the lion tracks, and the woman cr

still laughin', "I

uble R?" asks Hahn. "Was it that

says

u get into

ed off into the ba

ove," repeats Hahn, l

ok one s

ty glad I got into the

up, holdin'

s he. "You done us

me time Hahn pulled his gun an

and unexpected that I

ked loose a gun and got it off twice. He didn't hit nothin', and I reckon he was dead before

ller is a low-down ornery scub, and he don't hesitate a

en the recumbent figures lying at ease on their blankets. The ranch foreman was sitting

f the rustlers

was killed finally in the train hold-up of '97. But the others we tried for rustling. We didn't have much of a case, as the law went then, and they'd have gone free if the woman hadn't turned evide

owed red against the grimy window. Wi

She's cleared off. We can get

s"-Greaser