When my antelope got
up to where pa was trying to keep up with his elk. I told pa he better
let go his elk and get the cowboys and Indians to ride around ahead of
the stampede and head them off.
Pa said he couldn't let go of his elk 'cause the rope was tied to his
belt, but for me to hit the ground somewhere ahead and let go of that
jack rabbit I was chasing, and tell the cowboys to head off the
stampede. So when I lit again I let go the rope, and the antelope got
ahead of everything, and I wished I had bet on him.
When the cowboys and Indians got up to me I delivered the message from
pa, and they divided and went around the flanks of the stampeders, and
in another mile they headed them off in a nice pasture, and kept riding
around the animals so they couldn't get away. They soon had the whole
bunch under control, and we all got together to see if anybody was hurt.
Well, pa was the worst sight of all If his belt had broke he never would
have lost his pants, 'cause more than a million cactus thorns had gone
through and pinned them on. We had to cut them off, and pull out the
thorns with pincers, one at a time, and pa yelling murder for every
thorn. The boss canvasman was in the same fix, and everybody that tried
to hold an animal was pinned together with thorns, and they had gravel
up their trousers from sticking their heels into the soil.
Pages:
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196