| Show OLD BUCK ROGERS by y taomas P montfort Mont tort HERE waa a time when the cowboys pretty nearly carried things their 0 own n way on the prairies of western kansas that was a long white while ago becote betote the hardy settlers bottlers came cama to seek beck claims and OU build homes in that country and while the cattlemen grazed their great herds on the millions of acres of public lands and amassed quick fortunes fiam the freo free government pasturage in those days the cowboys rode the plains free and ing all law and governed in their conduct by nothing except their they were wild creatures overflowing with the spirit of liberty which they caught from the boundless bound lesk prairie and breathed in wita with the pure exhilarating air that intoxicated the blood with life vigor and strength of all the cowboys on the plains of kansas at that time old duck rogers rogere flaa as perhaps the most moet impulsive and reckless he had for years lived a ranch life and had chased steers in every enery part of the cattle range from the aher rio grando grande to the platte da be sides he had fought indians and mexican grea greasers seis and had helped buffalo dill bill round up the meat which he was nas supplying under contract to the men who ho were constructing the kansas pa affia rall railroad road at that time dodge city was pre emi a cowboy town 11 ibey hey used to round up there after payday pay day blow their money into every tolly folly they saw get uproariously drunk and proceed to paint things altia red it was nothing unusual for a gang of men to race up and down the streets yelling like comanche indians indiana and shooting at the signs and torri terrifying tying women and children and the pale tenderfoot almost out of alfo they had bad full possession of the to fan n and they lan ian it to their own liking if old duck buck rogers rogere happened to be fir lie he was sure to lead in all this deviltry it was a saving that went vent undisputed that he could drink more whisky yell ell louder and shoot straighter than any other man on the range and he certainly did everything ever thing that lay in his power to justify this statement often and often as lie he stood at the bar of the biloon and in rapid elon tossed glass after glass of whisky down his throat until the hardest drinkers in town looked on in fear and amazement then he be ii go out and mount his broncho and throwing thi owing his hat to the wind would chaice up tip and down the street at a mad gallop his long hair flying out behind each of his hands working a pistol with astonishing deftness while fiam his throat there came a series of the most terrific and nd unearthly yells that ener eer emanated from a human being and fight there was nothing that old duck buck v n t stand up before and tt it was vias his boost boast that lie he had never met anything either man or beast that he bad not been able to lay on its back I 1 AV SWUNG THE GAMBLER OVER HIS HEAD the boldest and most daring cowboys ven en those who possessed an en enviable viRble reputation as fighters pang eang very low of their prowess when duck rogers was wag around ile he was waa not only brave and reckless but he be was as strong as an ox ex and a blow of his naked flat fairly planted was enough to settle a man for all time to come one day down at dodge city a lot of cowboys were talking about old ducks bucks remarkable strength and recounting some come of ahe tents teats he had bad when one of their number a man who had recently come up from the a south r uth eald never heard about the trick old duck played on a chap down in texas one time I 1 reckon guess not somebody replied then tell you about it it was c one no night just after pa day at the XI ranch and the boys were all town clown at town blowing in their money was wa 11 just one saloon hi the place and of course that was wag where the crowd rounded up well when tho the boys had bad got pretty well ell loaded ft ith liquor a slick sti anar made his abts appearance at the saloon and opened up with some kind of a flimflam game the game was wag a olean olcan steal from first to last but the buys boys bucked it and were one after another cleaned out so quick that it a al most made their heads swim salm ille lofters dlan t feel ik a bit good over being worked that waa wa and wis was a good deal of muttering and cursing to sly siy nothing of menacing scowls and nervous fingering of pistols out but the gambler a thin wiry little CUBS had ills hla nerve with him and he proceeded with his game as coolly as though he be had bad been surrounded by friend s at last old duck went over to the table and put up tip a twenty dollar gold against the game do I 1 stand any show allow to win in this business he asked oh yee the gambler answered towered you stand an equal chance to win via or lose then I 1 im either going to win on this investment old duck buck said eald or of I 1 am going to smash the game well the play waa made ard in little moro more than a second bucks money went into the gamblers gam blora pocket duck buck waited a moment then he said slowly 1 I remarked hed ked that I 1 was going to win or else smash tho the game well I 1 win so BO ill just and before anybody knew what he to do he ha had reached over caught jie be gambler by the he arms swung him over his head and brought him down dawm bio broadside adside across the table with all the strength he bo bof possessed pops ceased essed the gome game was smashed the boards in the ole table were splintered and the gambler lay jay on the floor as limp as a rag everybody thought at first thai duck buck had bad killed the fellow but they were ere mistaken the chap lived but it ims flan a long time before he was able to walk a step or een to stand on his bla feet it Is safe to bt bet though that he ha heer tried any more byln games on acu boa a 11 the old saying that sooner or later every man will meet his hie match proved true in duck rogers roger B case for years he be rode the range unconquered and invincible and victor in every contest with man or bout beast but he at last met hla his match lie ho I 1 i vont ont up against a thing in comparison to which he be was waa a more feather in plain words he ha bucked a cyclone one saturday afternoon in july blvd was down at dodge city the tuf to A was full of co cowboys boys but they were ere not very lively the day was intensely hot and sultry and even a cowboy did not feel inclined to exert himself unnecessarily the usual amount of liquor wits was disposed of however and old buck managed to anke care of hla his portion along about the middle of the afternoon a black cloud came up from tho the east cost and another from the west rhese clouds clouda advanced and met overhead an and d then began to conduct themselves in a most moat p peculiar cullar manner they rolled and tumbled and pitched and churned and twisted in and out among themselves the as llord with people who watched these clouds anxiously tor fur every one felt assured that EL a cyclone was brewing people had left their homes and the stores and shops and the cowboys had left the saloons at least those of them who ho were not too drunk old duck buck had bad mounted hla hie broncho and is ans as standing in fix the load in front of the pretty soon there came sweeping across the prairie ti aiom oin the west a mass maag of black cloud funnel and bristling with electricity every one knew in fit an instant what that tha t meant the dreaded cyclone had appeared some of the people fled ta in search of places of safety some dropped down right where they stood and began to wall viall and pray while others stood open mouth and dumb staring blaring stupidly at the terii blo engine of destruction but old buck rogers did none of these thebe things at the first cry that a cyclone was coming be tore off his hie hat bat and throw it down in the road g gie tie one long un edithl yell of de defiance flance and dashed down doin the street right toward the cyclone a track As he went he cried I 1 ive never seen the thing yet that waa vias able to do old duck buck rogers up find and le ie fought white men indians and bears I 1 in not the man to be scared of 0 a little wad of wind and cloud N V ho oo 00 o o pe p e eel e el the people watched him as lie he raced out acress the prairie lila his long hair flying and his face set squarely arely to the front they saw caw him as he bole boie down toward the cyclone and above the roar of the wind they heard beard the shout of defiance which he gave out the next moment they saw the mighty moving monster and the man meet they saw baw the latter swallowed up in that black cloud that was wall all in a minute the cyclone ind passed it had bad missed the town and the people breathed easy caay once more immediately a baity vent out in search of old buck and after a long hunt bombola som Bom body boly found hint him ile ho was waa banging in the forks of a cottonwood tree about twenty feet from the tha ground and jammed down so BO tight between the limbs that he be could not move ills broncho lay ten yards aay aft ay stone dead buck was rescued and carried back to town more dead than alive the doctor examined him and found that while his injuries would not piove giove fatal he vituld be a cripple for life when he be heard the announcement old duck buck groaned ile he looked at the cowboys who collected about lim him and said do dos s I 1 im in done I 1 went up against a critter at last that was waa too much tor for roc me I 1 was licked fair and from now on I 1 m gentle as a lamb I 1 lien hen a little ft 1 a ad d of wind and cloud e cin in pick a roan maa up and toss him into tho the folk of a tree like that done nc its time tor for that man to pull pill in hta his horns and shut up shop ns as a fighter ive got no more to say slid and after this it if a 10 old boy wants to lick me ma he can do it in tho the course of time old buck was waa able to get about but he was never the same earne man ills his was completely broken he had lost all tor for fighting and instead of being the and most obstreperous character caracter in the section he had become the quiet quietest eRt and most demure ile he lived a good many years but as it was wae neres gary for him to use it a crutch he ha never returned to ranch life |
