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Show I II - NK DECI5MI1RH, whllo I I ijr was out on my ranch, ho I Iv )) ,micn work l,n(' to ko 1'1W I l,mt ,l Wilfl w,tnm 11 weok I of Christmas hoforo wo woro ablo to tuko any thought for the ChrHUmns dinner. The I winter sot In lato that year, and thoro had been coniparatlvoly llttlo cold -weather, but ono day the lco on tho I ' river had boon sulllclontly Rtrong to I enable us to haul up a wngonlond of Hour, with onough Halt pork to last I, 'through tho winter, and a very fow ttlnB -of canned gooda, to bo used at 1 1 special feasts. Wo had soino bushols I ' of potatoes, tho heroic victors of a I etrugglo for oxlstenco In which tho I rest of our garden vegetables had sue- I climbed to drought, frost and grass- I hoppers; and wo also had Homo wild E plums and dried oik vonlson. Hut wo I had no fresh meat, and so ono day my I foreman and I agreed to mako a hunt I on tho morrow. I Accordingly ono of tho cowboys . rodo out In tho froBty afternoon to I ' fetch In tho saddloband from tho pla- I ( teau threo miles off, whoro ttioy were I 1 grazing. It was after sunset when ho I returned. I' It was necessary to got to tho hunt- I Ing grounds by sunrlso, nnd It still , lacked a couplo of hours of dawn when I tho foreman wakened mo as I lay L asleep beneath tho- buffalo robes. I Dressing hurriedly and breakfasting I on n cup of coffee and somo mouth- ; fills of bread and jerked oik moat, I wo slipped out to tho barn, throw the I baddies on tho horses, and woro off. I Tho nlr was bitterly chill; tho cold had boon sovoro for two days, so that I ' . tho rlvor lco would again boar horsos. s Beneath tho light covering of pow- do Uio rough ' ' "We Dismounted to Examine Them. I ground Uko wrinkled Iron under tho horses' hoofs. Thoro was no moon, but tho stars shone boautlfully down through tho cold, clear air, and our H. willing horses galloped swiftly across the long bottom on which the ranch house stood, threading tholr way deft-Jy deft-Jy among tho clumps of sagebrush. A inllo oft wo crossed tho rlvor, tho 3co cracking with noises Uko pistol ij shots as our horses picked tholr way I gingerly over It. On tho oppos'lto aide was n dense jungle of bull-berry Pushes, and on breaking through this ' -ve found ourselves galloping up a l long, winding valley, which led back ' many miles Into tho hills. Tho cran- nlcs and little sldo ravines wero filled i f with brushwood and groves of stunt- H; i .cd ash. Dy this tlmo there was a i'aJnt UuBh of gray In tho cast, and ns y -wo rode silently along wo could mnko ' -but dimly tho tracks mado by tho wild ! .-unlmuls as they had passed and re- Hk passed in tho snow. Soveral times B' -wo dismounted to oxamino them. A I , couplo of coyotes, possibly frightened HB I by our approach, had trotted and Hi J loped up tho valloy ahoad of us, lcav- 8 Jng a trail Uko that of two dogs; tho 1 sharper, moro ;dol!cato footprints of a ' fox crossed our path; and outsldo ono & .long patch of brushwood a series of '", round ImprlntB In tho snow betrayed : J;, whoro a bob-cat aa plalnsmou' tom B ft i 'm ' , ,- ilio small lynx had boon lurking around to try to pick up a rabbit or a pralrlo fowl. As tho dawn reddened, and it bo-catno bo-catno light enough to seo objects somo llttlo way off, wo began to sit oroct In our saddles and to scan tho hillsides hill-sides sharply for sight of feeding door. Hitherto wo had sw'ii no door tracks 8avo lnsido tho bullborry bushes by tho river, nnd wo knew that tho door that lived In that imponotrablo Jungle Jun-gle wero cunning whltotalls which in such a place could bo hunted only by aid of a hound. But Just boforo sunrlso sun-rlso wo camo on threo lines of heart-shaped heart-shaped footmarks in tho snow, which showed whero ns many deer had Just crossod a llttlo plain ahead of us. Thoy wero walking lolsiirely, nnd from tho Iny of tho land wo believed that wo should ilnd thorn over tho ridge, whoro thoro was a brush couloo. Riding to ono sldo of tho trail, wo topped tho llttlo rldgo jUBt as tho sun limned up, a burning ball of crimson, beyond tho snowy wnsto at our backs. Almost Immediately nfterwards my companion leaped from his horso and raised his rlllo, and ns ho pulled tho trigger I saw through tho twigs of n brush patch on our left tho erect, startlod head of a young black-tailed doo as sho turned to look at us, hor great mule-Uko ears thrown forward. Tho ball broko her nock, and sho turned a comploto somorsault downhill, down-hill, while a sudden smashing of underbrush un-derbrush told of tho flight of hor tor-rifled tor-rifled companions. Wo both laughed and called out "dlnnc-" as wo sprang down toward hor, and In a fow minutes sho was dressed and hung up by tho hind legs on a smnll ash tree Tho entrails and viscera wo throw oft, to ono sldo, nftor carefully poisoning them from a llttlo bottle of strychnlno which I had In my pocket. Almost ovcry cattleman cat-tleman cnrrles poison nnd neglects no chnnco of leaving out wolf bait, for tho wolves aro sources of serious loss to tho unfenced nnd unhoused flocks and herds. In this Instance wo folt particularly revengoful because It was but a few days since wo had lost a fine yearling helfor. Tho tracks on the hillside whero the carcass lay when wo found It told the story plainly. Tho wolves, two In numbor, had crept up close before being discovered, dis-covered, and hnd then raced down on tho nstounded helfor almost before sho could got fairly started. Ono bruto had hamstrung her with a snap of his vlso-Uko Jaws, and onco down, sho was torn open In a twinkling. Np sooner was tho sun up than a warm west wind began to blow In our faces. Tho woathor had suddenly chnnged, and within an hour tho snow was beginning to thaw and to loavo patches of baro ground on tho hillsides. hill-sides. Wo loft our coats with our horses and struck off on foot tor n group of high buttes cut up by tho codar canyons and gorges, In which wo know tho old bucks loved to Ho. It was noon boforo wo saw anything moro. We lunched at a clear spring not needing much tlmo, for nil wo had to do was to.drjnk a draught of Icy water and munch a strip of dried vonlson. Shortly afterward, as wo wero moving along a hlllsldo with si-lont si-lont caution, wo camo to a shebr canyon can-yon of which tho opposlto faco was broken by llttlo ledges grown up with wlnd-boaten cedars. As wo pooped over tho odgo, my companion touched my arm and pointed silently to ono of tho ledges, and Instantly I caught tho glint of a buck's horns as ho lay half bohlnd nu old treo trunk. A slight shift of position gavo mo a fair shot slanting down botween his 8houldors, and though ho struggled to his foot ho did not go 50 yards aftor rocolvlng thn bullet. This wub all wo could carry. Loading Load-ing tho horses around we packod tho buck bohlnd my companion's snddlo, and then rodo back for tho doo, which I put bohlnd mlno. But we woro not destined to roach homo without a slight adventure When wo got to tho rlvor wo rodo boldly on tho lco, heedless ot tho thaw; and nbout midway mid-way thoro was a sudden, tremondous crash, and men, horsos and deer woro scrambling togothor In tho wator amid slabB of floating Icq. Howovor, It was shallow and no worse results followed than somo hard work and a chilly bath. But what carod wo 7 Wo woro returning triumphant -with our Christmas Christ-mas dlnnr.fl ' v' f |
