Show 0 RIB 8 treacherous fifth in the neatem PI plains FLIns J AL 1 wyoma wyoming n 9 vl pa story mau of nil B ua h or ft a compan Compi alon from 0 one e of the tb deadly 1 Y swamp 15 comps what are known as alkali spots upon the western plains a new york sun son man was informed by a Gotha ralfe who had herded cattle for some gome seasons in the northwest are whitish places place s on th the e prairie sometimes covering many acres here the alkali has exuded from om the soil and has the appearance of lime aprin sprin sprinkled i kled over the surface this appearance pe arance is most noticeable where the soil is damp some of these places are of a marshy cha character ratter and some of them though this is rare are veritable quagmires as delusive and dangerous as the of the platte they can be described only as a network of swamp holes separated by narrow strips of firm soil the entire surface appearing the same and equally firms firm A spongy soil or crust of varying thickness covers the holes and one might never suspect their existence until breaking through he sinks rapidly into a mushy clinging inextricable mire herding cattle in wyoming my closest companion for months had been a young man twenty four years of age a n handsome fellow with classic features a well molded figure a good rider and crack shot the rougher boys often twitted twisted him about his fair shapely hands and his care of them for when on daty he always wore heavy buckskin gloves he was reticent and said little about his past lifer life but expressions he dropped and his knowledge of af college sports convinced me he was a college man many nights far from human habitation in the open air air we slept between the same blankets or watched the herd while communing with our thoughts and talking to the stars which seemed so much nearer and brighter thau than in the faraway far faz away eastern home it came about that one day after a roundup round up thirty head of cattle were missing from the herd there was a suspicion that they had been stolen by rustlers but they might have wandered beyond the usual limits of the range so the next nest morning my companion and 1 were instructed by the superintendent to go in search of them we had ridden forty miles since the break of day finding no trace of the lost cattle and late in the afternoon had decided to return in a short time we saw in front of us an alkali spot of unusual size As we started to cross it my compan companion ion i was veral several s e hundred yards to my right and a short ashert distance ahead of me in a few moments I 1 heard an exclamation i from his hin hi n and looking up i saw his horse sinking into a qua quagmire amire i eiding rapidly forward I 1 felt the surface waver beneath me and knew that the next nest moment I 1 might myself be engulfed there was but one thing to do I 1 asked him if his feet were free from the stirrups and he called back that the they y were I 1 told him to clasp his hands re his head and he did so I 1 mentally measured the distance with a sinking sense of horror avid and doubt it was a supreme moment my lariat described the circle above my head then cut the air hovered over him for an in instant descended gracefully and tightened around his chest it had covered the distance with inch to spare I 1 literally dragged him from his horse to solid ground and safety ire he had bad locked his hands behind d his head his buckskin gloves protecting them and they saved his head and face so that he brought up with only a few bruises it was useless to think of extricating the horse which had sunk into the mire u until til nothing but his head and neck were above the surface and as as we started off he turned his head toward us with eyes so BO sad and a whinny so mournful it was almost human I 1 could not stand it and drawing my colts aimed and fired ills his head dropped forward poor pete was saved from a horrible lingering death and E the most P popular OP ular broncho in the c camp a in P was no more now came a new discovery the alkali spot was of oblong shape and as we rode round it to avoid another attempt at crossing within a space of about five acres well toward the center we counted twenty pairs of horns just above the surface as if they were growing out of the ground we were satisfied that we had fathomed the th e mystery of the lost cattle they had attempted to cross the place and had sunk into the swamp holes in their struggles to release themselves they had naturally kept their heads up as long as possible and death overtaking over overtaking m them when the mire reached their mouths and nostrils they remained in that position with only their horns above the surface the others of the si missing issing cattle had no doubt shared the same fate but striking softer and deeper beeper mire had disappeared entirely below the surface |