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Show THE BUCKING MULE. The Century 3Iagazine's prize for the best short story submitted by a college graduate in lS:i!t was awarded to John 31. Oskision of Leland Stanford University, Univer-sity, whose home is in the Indian Territory, Ter-ritory, and whose blood if partly 'Indian. 'In-dian. "Only the Master Shall Praise" is its title, and one of its scenes is a description of a ride on a bucking mule. Out of a knot of excited men Hanner went straight to the waiting, restless mule. With a mock air of bravado he struck the excited mule across the flank with his sombrero, after roughly seizing seiz-ing the reins. No one who has- not learned by experience how to mount a plunging horse' can understand how Hanner lilted himself out of the chaos of rearing mule and struggling attendants attend-ants into the saddle before he signed to the men to turn the animal loose. When the mule found itself free to act there was a momentary pause. Then began the short, nasty jumps straight i the air, with the animal's1 back bowev., it.$ legs stiff, and its head, lowered. It was the first powerful effort of ihe angered beast, made with devilish confidence. Hanner was scarcely shaken by these first straight jumps, but then began the. twisting aeries', which is the second expedient of a buckimg animal. A jump high into the air, with a seemingly impossible twist to the side, landed the mule with its head turned almost half round. Before Be-fore the rider caught his breath an- i other jump and another haif-turn were made. These are the motions that make a bronco-buster'9 life shorter. Hanner was bleeding at the nose in I half a minute. The twisting jumps were continued until the strength of the mule was almost exhausted, and as yet only the hat of the puncher had been disJedged. A short pause followed, during which the mule changed its tactics, tac-tics, and Hanner thwacked its sweaty neck with his cpen hand. The next motion mo-tion was a sadden rearing by the mule. As it rose on its hind legs the rider yanked fiercely on the reins., and, slipping slip-ping to the ground on one side, allowed the brute to fall on its back. The sad- die-horn buried itse'.f in the earth, and the mule's hoofs beat the air a mo- j metnt before it scrambled to its feet. j Hanner was cooler than the mule I now, and swung "himself back into the j paddle with the first long leap of the ; desperate animal. Thi3 was the easy J part of the trial for the ridtr, and the Sipectacular part fcr the world. The mule ran straight away for the opposite oppo-site fence of the fair grcur.c's with long, lunging jumps, rising and pitching pitch-ing forward with the speed cf a racing yacht. Hanner brought his craft about before it sailed into the fence, and beat I it fore and aft with a flourishing hand, i He wan wild with triumph now, his hair blowing in the wind. He leaned forward as in a race, urging the thoroughly thor-oughly tired and conquered muie straight for the crowd A particularly vicious dig with the spurs made the beast plunge into the scattering knot of spectators and rise to a four-barred gate. At the opposite end of the track no fence barred its way, and it ran, frightened and quivering, under the awning of a lemonade vendor's stand, scattering glasses and confections to the winc'i?, and wrecking the stand. Hanner slowly dismounted, stroked the sweaty Hank of the subdued mule, then turning and picking up an unbroken bottle of soda, proposed a. toast "to our gentle old family buggy hoss!" |