Redskin and Cow-Boy

d legs no longer ached with the exertion of stooping and lifting planks and beams. They had now got the yard into order: the various lengths

after things he left them pretty much to themselves, going up himself to the mill, of which he was part owner. It now fell to them to keep an account of the out-goings, to see

nd in the neighbourhood, and who came in with their teams for planks and shingles to construct the rough houses which were to shelter them until, at any rate, they got their

small ranche three miles away, whose owner had been buying wood for a cow-house, and had a

ired, Hugh; but I feel a

, you know. It was a great thing our being together at first; but now the ice is broken we have fallen into the groove, and can e

ike the Colorado River, and, crossing that, bear west, stopping at cattle ranches until I get to the fort. I shall be happier as a trooper than at any other work. Of course the pay is not high, but that does not matter a rap to me; it goes further here

ur plans and I have none, it would come at any rate before long; and, as I have said, now that I have

ld his employer that he shoul

hat is the worst of it out here-nobody sticks to a job. However, I cannot blame you; you have sto

nk of going in another week or two. You see

ay, you would be learning something. One of the men jammed his hand on Saturday, and won't be fit for that ki

companions, and have much to attend to. So at the end of the week Luscombe set out upon his long journey to Fort M'Kayett, and on Monday morning Hugh started for the saw-mill at daybreak in a waggon that had come in on S

all go a goodish pace till we get t

ff. The track was as hard as iron, but the passages of the waggons in wet weather had worn deep holes and ruts in it, and Hugh thought it was a miracle that the waggon did not upset and smash to pieces, as the

ow they won't get a chance again to-day, and they generall

ood going?" Hugh as

water-course to go over! You don't expect a

hat he entertained no

on; "that is, not for a hill road. I don't say as there ain't so

ugh, so far as Hugh could see, the track was no wor

ght his pipe. "They have had their fling, and now they are settling down to the day

one of its long ears and p

ne mules," H

seen them standing a hand higher than these. But Pete and Bob are good mules. They would be better if they w

better tha

ce in this country, but that pair of mules wouldn't be dear at eight hundred for the two of them. There is no trouble with mules: they won't stray far when you turn them out; they won't stampede-not if they are properly trained. Why, there is as much sense in a mule as there is in a score of horses, and the horses know it themselves. If there is a mule turned out among a troop of horses he takes the lead n

hat mules were o

call for it then they puts up their backs and won't stir another foot, and when they makes up their minds to that you may kill them and they won't do it then; but treat a mule fair and kind and there is no better beast in the world. You know all about it, Pete, don't you?" and he gave the animal a slight flick on the neck with

and steeper, and Hugh was glad to get off and walk in front. At times the track they had to cross was bare rock, so smooth and slippery that the animals could scarcely keep their feet and drag up the waggon. Then they wound along on the side of a hill, the ground on one side being so much higher than on the other that it seemed to Hugh that a loaded waggon would

wer part of the valley of all its timber trees. A dam had been built across the stream and a leat cut to the water-wheel, which was sunk five or six feet below the level of the ground around it, and the tail-race continued nearly down to the mouth of the gorge, where the water fell again into the old bed of th

Here they are: six pounds of tea, a barrel of pork, sack of flour, keg of molasses, twenty pounds of sugar. Here is a box of

it to grind axes on. I told the boss the other day that it had cost him ten times i

t grow down in M'Kinney, and he has go

had one here by this time," the foreman grumbled

ld man told me to tell you he wrote off on Saturda

log was then lifted by a screw-jack until level with the saw-bench. Here it was packed up, and the jack then taken to the other end. The machinery consisted solely of one large circular saw and of another of smaller size. The water-power would not have been sufficient to drive frame-saws, and the whole work had to

o lengths suitable for planks. Then the great saw cut the balks into planks three inches wide. These were taken to the smaller saw, which ran them down into half, three-quarter, or inch planks, as required. The benches were of a primitiv

to their place and in getting them properly placed on the rollers, and then he helped to fix the blocks and pulleys, to remove the planks as they were cut off, and to work the log back to its place in readine

hs. There are not enough trees to supply it longer than that. Pawson has bought up another place a bit further among the hills, and he has ordered a better plant than this, and reckons it will be up and ready to run by the time we are done here. This place ain't fit for carrying on much trade. When it was put up two years ago there were but few people about o

f a hut, and then went in. In five minutes the whole party were assembled, and took their seats on benches beside a long narrow table. The negro cook broug

man, who had placed Hugh beside him,

d get forty dollars a

ent. There have been eight or ten fellows hurt here since we began. It is healthy among the hills, and we don't get fevers, and it is cool enough to sleep comfortably at n

upations most of them had followed. Two of them had been mining in California before they came down to Texas; one of them had been working with teams across the Santa Fé route; another, named Bill Royce, had been a sailor, had deserted his ship at Galveston, had enlisted and served for three years at a cavalry post west, had deserte

ked as a cow-boy, but his exper

. Four or five times, when I was sitting quiet, smoking, bang! and a revolver bullet would knock my pipe into chips, and then they laughed fit to kill themselves when I got up and swore. Then without the least reason, someone, as we were all sitting round the fire, would take it into his head to hit a little bit of flaming wood, then half a dozen others would go at

nking of going for a cow-boy, had best know how to ride, how to throw a r

er to bring him up from the town a

would throw a sixty-foot length with certainty; but that is quite out of the way; forty feet is the right length. I will splice one end into an eye for you, the other goes through it, and makes a running noose. When you throw it, the loop is three or four feet across. Of course, the better you can throw, the smaller you can have the loop, and the smal

but unloaded, and at odd moments practised drawing from the belt, levelling it, and pulling the trigger with the greatest possible speed. The action seemed simple enough, but he was surprised to find how, with practice, the time taken in doing it diminished, and his fingers came to close upon the handle in exactly the right position almost instantaneously, and as his hand shot out, his thumb drew back the hammer

time that summer had gone Hugh was able to throw the rope with certainty over any fixed

seen one draw as quick as you do, and there are many as draws quick. You shoot fair, but nothing out of the way. There's many a cow-boy kin shoot a sig

ation, and to begin to fell trees, and as soon as the snow fell deep the teams would go up and drag them down to the new saw-mill, for the timber is hauled down much m

te. He had from one or other of them picked up a great deal of knowledge about the country, and knew the best places for making a start, the towns from which most of the teams started, and the localities that were best to make for in order to gain the heart of the cattle country. He

you here is stolen, and you would get into one of the awkwardest of scrapes if you chanced to go into a district where that horse is known. They don't trouble themselves to ask many questions over a stolen horse. If you buy a horse, the best thing to do is to go before a justice, or the sheriff will do: pay your money before him, and get him to sign his name as a witness to the bargain. His fee will be one or two dollars, and you

d him one evening, when he returned from a visit to some friends at a farm, that two men had come in an hour b

d to me as good a bit of horse flesh as I have seen fur a long time. I expect they are on for a trade. The horse is a mustang; I don't expect they come

ver which they wore jackets with silver buttons, breeches made of a soft

ey may be regular border ruffians; anyhow, they have got a horse to sell. Maybe they have stole it from a ranche; maybe they have got it from the Indians; maybe they have wiped out its owner. You will be able

ing for some time to the landlord,

are looking

buy one if I find one

suit anyone, and as to its price,

o have a look at

is in the

see him by daylight, get

ot an appointment with the president, perhaps we haven't; anyhow, we want to go on

dled and bridled, hitched to hooks outside the shed. Inside were two others. One was an ordinary-looking horse, bony and angular. A pack-saddle hung on

id. "Five years old, strong, and up to anyth

horse laid back his ears and made a su

playful," t

h said. "He may be up to all sorts of tricks, and may k

ollars, but as I have told you we want to be moving on, and I will sell him for a hundred a

talk it over," Hugh said. "It is a rum w

being performed, went to the bar and ordered them for the four. "If I buy that horse," he said, "it will be on one condition. You see I don't know where he has come

o say as we have stolen him?

guarantee that you raised the horse, or have owned him for a couple of years, I shall be quite content; but if you don't, you can hardly expect me to take your

ndlord said. "It is a mighty unpleasant thing in this country to b

hey should witness the sale and give me a signed paper saying that they know me as a resident here, and that I have in their presence bought this horse. I don't think there is any

d, "Well, I reckon that is a fair enough offer. We know we came by the horse honestly, but as we are st

cross," Royce said, "if you

men. The sheriff looked sharply at the tw

e my belt, landl

hich had been locked up in his chest since Hugh arrived

the horse first, and see what brand is on him

turning to the bar wrote: "I bear witness to the purchase by"-and he paused-"Hugh Tunstall," Hugh put in,-"who is well known to me as having been working for six months in and near the town, of a roan horse branded of"-

sheriff said. "Now, hand over

the other horse f

dding this sum to that he had coun

glad to buy him myself for anything like that price. I don't know the men, and I reckon I know most of the rogues for a hundred miles round here; so that, if it has been stolen, it has probably been brought a good distance. I shouldn't be surprised if there has been murder as well as robbery. If I knew the

nature to this," he said, "and I will witness it. Then if there is any question about your being Hugh Tunstall you woul

nd putting the document in hi

couple that. I wonder where they got that horse. Nowhere about here, or the s

nstrations when he approached it; but, talking to it quietly, Hugh went into the stall, patte

alked round it. "Well put together, plenty of muscle, fine bone, and splendid quarters. What a

fellows were afraid to take him down there; too well known, I reckon. Look here, I will give you a paper too; and if I were you I would get another from Pawson, saying that you have been working for him at his sawmill, and that he recommends you as a g

The former was made in the Texan fashion, which closely resembl

with such a saddle as this," Hugh said as he exami

g horse," the man said with a smil

ere placed much further back than those to which he was accustomed. The stirrups were very large and broad, and the position of the stir

at that, so I ought to be able to stick on." He rode at a quiet pace down the street, and then shook the reins, and the horse at once started at