Beadle's New York Dime Library No. 1092 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Old Cross-Eye, THE MAVERICK -HUNTER; OR, The Night-Riders of Satanta County. A Story of Texas To-day. BY CAPT. FREDERICK WHITTAKER, AUTHOR OF “ ALLIGATOR IKE,” “THE MAN IN RED,” ‘‘PARSON JIM, KING OF THE COWBOYS,” ETC., ETC, CHAPTER I. THE ROUND-UP. Tut Texas of the Lone Star Republic; the land where the wild turkey piped her call to her mate; whtre the spotted mustang roamed in droves, has vanisbed for many a year. The red memories of Goliad and the Alamo: the glorious triumph of San Jacinto, have gone to the limbo of ancient history, which the live American never reads, The earliest memory of the Texan of to-da runs back to the time ‘‘before the war, sir,” when his father owned “five hundred likely field-bands;” but it has become unfashionable to refer to that period; the five hundred bein gone beyond the possibility of recovery, an the motto of Texas being—*GO AHEAD.” The trapper and bunter have vanished from her plains: the ranger of old has given place to the cowboy. The longhorned Texas steers, er and terror of the country in thé days of exican ascendency, are fast being supplanted by Durbam, bulls and red Devons, from the other side of the sea, whose square, sleek forms promise more beef to the carcass than the old style of animal; but are not capable of a tithe of the wickedness and picturesqueness that resided in the “‘ long-horn,” fresh from the pas- tures, when the “ spring round-up” came. There are rich and poor in Texas to-day, where, fifty, or even thirty years ago, there were no distinctions; where everybody bad enough, and no one bad too much. The Texas of old, before the war, with all its wild ways and savage customs, was a land of freedom; where the poorest was as welcome as the ricbest; where millionaires were unknown. The boast of the native then wag that he wasa Texan; now there are ‘'eattle-kings” and ““ cow-punchers;” lords and vassals; aad the machinery of privileged classes is rising up, out of sight of people in the East, with @ rapidity that bas already shaken Texas to the founda: tions of her society, and is likely to'do more be- fore the problem Js settled, Out in the county of Satanta, where the Indians bad been griven,saust so lately that. the boys remembered them; where the total number of farms in the census was set down at twenty four, ina territory that covers many thousand square miles of soil, the inbabitants had not yet come te the grief that attends on Ahé visit of the land-sharks; and the ranchers carrjed on their business in the old-fashioned, good-natured happy: go-lucky style, that was the normal state of Texas, not long ago. “ Judge Colliagsworth asked bis neighbors to help bim in rounding up for the spring drive, and they came, from ten and twenty miles round the county, to taste the old gentleman’s ‘‘rve,” and eat of his corn-dodgers and bacon, with the knowledge that they were likely toget more than they would, anywhere else, on ac- count of the presence of the judge’s daughters. They all called Collingsworth ‘‘the judge,” though he had never studied a line of law, que as they called Callahan, of the Lame Hog day’s service, Ranch,” the eolonel.” Mr. Callahan bad never seen a even in the militia, but he wore a mustache and shaved the rest of his face, while he owned a eae of military-spurs; wherefore they called im ‘* colonel,” and the title stuckto bim.. | The Collingsworth ranch had the distinction of being the only one,.in the county of Satanta, that did not have some nickname attached to it, The fact of the judge baving two pretty daugb- ters had a good deal to do with this; for fhe Texan goes to nicknames as naturally as a duck to water. The neighbors who had come to help in the round-up had each his name, generally founded on a peculiarity of personal appearance. There was ‘‘Limpy” Balstrop, of the ‘ Buck- eh,” who could do more swearing than any man in Texas, but never was known to say worse than a mild “ Geeroosalem,” when ladies were present. He got his name from a halt in his gait, caused by, a fight with a bucking er’s broncho, which had given the name to bis ranch itself. . Limpy was at home only on horseback, and hated to show his halt on the ground, The tenant of the next ranch to Balstrop’s was Mr. Thomas Burleson, known to fame as ‘ Punch,” from the manner in which he handled cattle for market; and his place had acquired the unenviable title of the ‘‘Screw-worm Old Cross-Eye, the Maverick-Hunter. : Ranch,” from the prevalence of that interesting. insect there. “Deaf” Smith, of “Dunderhead Ranch,” jas- | tified his name in évery respect; and the last man of the buach to deserye.a cognomen was Hank Kimble, who went by the name of “‘the Nailer,” because his favorite form of amusement was driving nails with rifle or pistol, bullets, whenever he hed a little time to spare and money to buy ammunition. That morning, when they came riding up to the judge’s ranch to help him im tbe round-up, they were a fine-looking crowd, and bad the true, old-fashioned Texas flavor about them. They were all healthy, strong fellows, with long hair—from the-searcity of barbers-—-and they rode hardy, vicious little bronchos, good for sixty miles a day for a week; but carrying more vice to the square inch in their rough hides than twice their number of ordinary American horses. Colonel Callahan was the neatest and most dandified in his dress, for he prided himself on his military appearance, and had an eye on Diana Collingsworth, who was to come out with the men, that day, and see the round-up, with the intention of helping at a pinch, for Diana could ride like any man, and had the pluck, too, Her sister, Helen, who presided over the house, stood in the dcorway, smiling at the cavaliers as they came up, and by no means too proud to offer them the buge demijohn, that had been filled that morning, and was getting low, after the arrival of the fourth party of riders. : Each rancher brought his cowboys along with him, and the whole party of horsemen numbered more than twenty, when they set out at Jast. All around them the prairie lay, covered with its luxuriant growth of grass, rich and heavy beyond anything known in the North, and the little mottes of timber that used to be such a feature of Texas landscapes had not yet been ee RE by the settlers for fuel and fence- rails. Satanta county was still the Texas of old, and game had not yet taken itsdeparture under the desolating advances of the breech-loading shot-gun. The judge rode in the cavalcade, and the young fellows dashed on ahead of the main party,.to explore the country and find where the herds lay. Collingsworth’s Ranch covered some three miles square of land, but the cattie roamed over the prairie for a long distance away from the limits of the grant, and had to be gathered up for the branding, by circling round them and driving them into a common center ‘ The purty divided into groups as it advanced, and the long yells of the cowboys echoed over the plain, as they roused up the cattle from the shelter of the mottes, where they were lying down chewing the cud,.and started them in to- ward the center.of the: ranch, with a view to getting them into control as easily as possible fore they got scared and stampeded. The first part of the work was easy enough, for the-circuit was large and the men did not try to. drive the cattle fast. The bard riding would come soon enough, and the existence of a berd of ‘* Mavericks,” which was reported as having strayed into the range, and to be lying down in one of the mottes, made the riders anxious to spare their horses all they could, in the early hours of the day, These Mavericks were said to be all long- horns, of the wildest kind, and ready to fight as soon as they were approached, ‘‘ Maverick” is a nickname, in Texas, for a wild, unbranded steer which has never known anowner, The name comes from an serie set- tler of the Lone Star Republic, who left a lotof cattle on an island till they grew so numerous thgt they had to be taken cff it, when. they proved too wild to move, and scattered all over he country. Since that day, wild cattle in Texas and all through the West are called "$6 Mavericks,” It had got to be noon when the cowboys, in the advance of Collingsworth’s main party, were seen to stop and eye a motte of timber in a way that showed they saw something they had not expected, and which alarmed them. ‘Instead of going:on as they had done, swing- ing their long whips end yelling to start the cate Up from their -lumbers, they bad _ halt- ed before the motte, which was nearly two miles.across, and “were eying it with suspicion, ponee into a group and talking together, ut not approaching the timber. “Reckon they’ve struck ’em,” said Limpy, sententiously, and he stooped from bis saddle to draw the girth tighter—a feat which a man can perf m in a Texan-saddle, where a rider of the orfh would have to dismount. Deaf Smith, who payee hear a word, saw the stoppage of the cowboys, and observed to Collingsworth, who wasriding by bim: © | ‘“Thaw’s a heap of ’etp, in thar, jedge. Reck- on we hain’t got men enough to master ’ém.” ‘If they are too wild, we shall have to drive them off the ranch,” answered the judge, ‘‘ Old Cross-Eye can bave them if he bankers after a that kind of thing. I am not anxious, unless thesp omise to be more profit than trouble, an Sts what they seldom are.” ; Deaf Smith watched his companion, and made out enough, from the motion of his lips, to answer: ‘‘That’s what I told Hank Kimble, when he: axed me to come over and help the round-up. Says Ito him, says I: ‘If thar’s any Mavericks: in the lot, my advice is to shoot the darned critters. Isee the new company’s a-settin’ up the posts fur the wire, jedge. Ain’t it a scan- dalous shame?” But the conversation never got any further, for, at that moment, the men in front were seen to turn their horses; and, the next mo- ment, out of the. motte burst « grand herd of bulls, most of them black, with long horns that waved wildly in the air,as they shook their heads and eyed the cavalcade in front of them. There were twoor three hundred of them, and everybody knew that they were only the forerunners of the herd of cows that were be- hind them. They came: ramping out of the timber, shak-. ing their heads defiantly, as if they threatened any one who should dare to come within charg- ing distance. They were all bellowing at once, in low grumbling tones, that were not as yet furious, but had a streng flavor of anger and warning. ‘‘Punch” Burleson came riding back from: the advance to say: “Look out, boys. Keep Miss Di out of the. way. The brutes are going to charge.” CHAPTER IL. THE MAVERICKS. THE cowboys in the advance began to turm their horses and ride back singly, leaving a few on the watch, as soon as the bulls came out. They knew that, if they all galloped away to- gether, the cattle would take it as a sign of alarm, and come out in full charge. As the last man turned to go back, a bull tossed his head and pawed the ground in the menacing way that showed he was trying to work himself into a passion, and the action was imitated by several others, while the heads of the cows came peering out of the timber, to see what was the matter. Then ‘‘ Punch” Burleson shouted out, as he waved his long quirt: “Come, boys. If we're a-goin’ to hey a round up, now’s the time! Sail in!” With that, the men of the party made a line; like the skirmishers of an army,and. slowly advanced in the direction of the phalanx of bulls,, eracking their long whips like pistol-shota, and! ber chorus the long cry: «WHA YO—W HOOP!!” The bulls that had been pawing the ground 4 moment before, preparing to charge, hesitated as soon as they saw the resolute attitude of the men, and the bindmost retreated to the shelter of the timber, while the foremost began to look from right to left, with every sign that they- suspected a trick in the advance, ; he object of the cowboys was to drive thenr through the timber, where they would be met by the other party, which had gone round tha. other side of the ranch. It was hoped that the sight of other cattle). in quiet subjection, might induce the Mavericks to go into the corral, where there would be some chance of controlling them. Out in the open, it was impossible; and the problem was to keep them from stampede, long enough to get them behind the bars, The line gf horsemen went forward steadily, not endeavoring to drive the cattle, so much as to keep them from breaking into a charge: and they might bave succeeded in their design, when there was a sudden motion in the herd, that sbowed something was disturbing the ani- mals, as a man in a flaming red blanket, v-hich waved from his shoulders Jike scarlet wings appeared in front of the cattle, as if he ha dein! ridden round, from the other side of the: mole, The sight of the hated color set them at once into a fit of fury that knew no Wounds, There was a loud explosion of bellowifg; the bulls began to tear up the sods again, and throw the dust in the air, and, before the cowboys could stop them, the whole herd, followed by the cows, dashed out of the motte, full charge, and made straight for the man-in the red. blanket, who turned his borse and fled from be- fore them, taking the direction of the party of cawboys, and yelling as he came. The boldest,amovg the ranchers Pajed slight- ly as the 1ush_ began; for hey all knew that it would be impossible to stop it, and difficult to get out of the way. - Collingsworth shouted to his daughter, who was riding in the rear of the party: ‘Run, Di, run! Make for the rock of tho mesquites,” He himself spurred i Sree turned tail as. hastily as any there, an down came the rush of the herd, breaking through: the thin line of cowboys as if they bad been dummies, and scat- tering them like chaff. lt was no use trying to stem that charge; fur~ — Cc Ss * ~