The Ranche on the Oxhide: A Story of Boys' and Girls' Life on the Frontier by Janet D. Wheeler
CHAPTER II
THE HOUSE IS FINISHED--BUILDING CORRALS--THE HOUNDS--THEIR FIGHT WITH A LYNX--ITS HIDE GIVEN TO GERTRUDE--THE IMMENSE HERD OF BUFFALO--CAPTURE FOUR CALVES--GET THEIR PONIES IN A STRANGE MANNER--BREAKING THEM
IT was quite late in the season, towards the end of October, when thestone and log cabin was completed and ready for occupancy. The familyhad meanwhile lived in their big tent which they had brought with themfrom the Missouri River. They had carried in their wagons bedding andblankets, a table and several chairs, enough to suffice until thearrival of their other goods, which had been stored at Leavenworth whilethey were hunting for a location. At the end of two months after theirsettlement on the Oxhide, a freight caravan arrived with their things,much of it the old-fashioned furniture from the homestead in Vermont.This caravan was en route to Fort Union, New Mexico, the trail to whichmilitary post ran along the bank of the Smoky Hill River, not more thantwo miles from the ranche.
Joe and Rob were constantly busy helping their father to make matterssnug for the winter, building a corral for the cows, a stone stable forthe horses, and a chicken house for the fowls, of which they had morethan a hundred, Plymouth rocks and white leghorns, the best layers inthe world. Up to that time they had not had as much time for sport asthey wished for. They had been kept too busy, until long after the coldweather set in, when all the streams were frozen over and the woods werebare and brown.
A near neighbor who had taken a fancy to the bright lads when they firstarrived in the country, had given them two fine greyhounds, which theynamed Bluey and Brutus; the former on account of his color, and theother because they had recently been interested in Shakespeare's play of"Julius Caesar," which their father had read to them. With thesemagnificent animals they had lots of fun during the long months of thewinter, hunting jack-rabbits, digging coyotes out of their holes in theledge above the banks of the creek, or fighting lynxes and coons in thetimber.
One bright day they were out among the hills with their hounds, whichhad run far in advance of their young masters, when suddenly the boys'ears were startled by a terrible commotion in a wooded ravine about ahundred yards ahead of them. The dogs were barking furiously, sometimeshowling in pain, and they could see the dust flying in great clouds. Ina few moments all was still; the turmoil had ceased, a truce evidentlyhaving been patched up between the belligerents. The boys hurried on andpresently came to a sheltered spot where the timber had been apparentlyblown down by a small tornado many years before; and there as they cameup to it, in a triangle formed by the trunks of three fallen trees, aspace about ten feet square, they saw the hounds holding a great lynx atbay! The cat was standing in the apex of the triangle, crowding her bodyas closely as she could against the timber so that the dogs were unableto attack her without getting a scratch from her sharp claws. Her hairwas all bristling up with battle, and the dogs had evidently triedseveral times to drive her out of her almost impregnable position, buteach attempt had ended in themselves being driven back discomfited. Assoon as the hounds saw the boys, however, their courage rose, and Bluey,the oldest dog, at an encouraging "Sic 'em!" from Joe, made a suddendash, caught the ferocious beast by the middle of the back and commencedto shake her with the awful rapidity for which he was noted, and in afew seconds she was dropped dead at Joe's feet.
Bluey first became famous as a shaker several months before hisencounter with the lynx. One morning Rob got up very early for somereason, and went into the chicken house, and as soon as he entered it hesaw a skunk half hidden under one of the beams of the floor. He did notdare to call Bluey, who was sleeping on a pile of hay a few feet away,for fear the animal would take the alarm and run off. So he quietly wentto where the dog was, and lifting him bodily in his arms carried him tothe chicken house and held his nose down to the ground so that he couldsee or smell the skunk. In an instant that skunk was caught up by theneck and the life shaken out of him before he could have possiblyrealized what was the matter with him.
"By jolly!" said Rob, a favorite ejaculation with him when he wasexcited, as he saw the cat lying perfectly still where Bluey had droppedhim. "I say, Joe, what a set of teeth and a strong neck old Bluey musthave to shake anything as he does! Why, if he could take up a man in hisjaws, the fellow would stand no more chance of his life than that lynx!"
"The hound," replied Joe, "has a strong jaw and a powerful neck; but helacks the intelligence of some other breeds. His brain is not nearly aslarge as that of a Newfoundland, a setter, pointer, or even a poodle.Hounds like Bluey and Brutus run by sight alone; they have no nose, andthe moment they cannot see their game they are lost. You have oftennoticed that, Rob, when a rabbit gets away from them in the long grassor in the corn stalks. They will jump up and down, completely bewildereduntil they catch sight of the animal again. Now, with the other breed ofhounds, they hunt by scent; the moment they get wind of anything theyrun with their noses close to the ground and commence to howl. Thegreyhound, on the contrary, makes no noise at all."
Joe skinned the lynx, assisted by Rob, and after throwing the carcass inthe ravine where the battle had been fought, slowly walked back to theranche, followed by the dogs, that kept close to their heels, tired andsore from the struggle just ended.
"Let us give the hide to Gert after we tan it, to put at the side of herbed; you know she is fond of such things," said Rob.
"All right," replied Joe. "We'll do it, and if we have good luck ingetting other animals, we'll just fill her room with skins. Won't thatbe jolly?"
Mr. Thompson had but two teams of horses on the ranche, and they couldnot often be spared from work, for the mere amusement of the boys. Itwas a constant source of regret to them that they did not have ponies oftheir own. On their way home the oft-repeated subject came up again.Both Joe and Rob felt keenly that they were obliged to go where theywere sent, or desired to go themselves, on foot. How to obtain thecoveted little creatures was a source of continual worry to them.
"I do wish that we had ponies," began Rob for the hundredth time, "sothat we could go anywhere in a hurry; don't you, Joe?"
"Father would buy them for us if he felt that he could afford it; and hemeans to as soon as he can see his way clear. I heard him tell motherso, several times when she wished that we had 'em," replied Joe."Maybe," continued he, "some band of friendly Indians will come alongafter a while; it's nearly time for the Pawnees to start out on theirannual buffalo hunt. When they come up here, we may be able to trade 'emout of a real nice pair. They are always eager for a 'swap'; so old manTucker told me the other day, and he is an old Indian trader andfighter. He has lived on the plains and in the mountains for more thanforty years; so he knows what he is talking about."
"Golly! couldn't we have lots of fun," he continued, "with old Bluey andBrutus, after jack-rabbits and wolves, if we only had something toride?"
"Couldn't we, though!" answered Rob. "I tell you, Joe, it's awful hardwork to climb over these hills on foot; we can't begin to keep up withthe dogs; can't get anywhere in sight of 'em. You know that, and I justbet that we lose lots of game; don't you?"
"Oh! I know it," said Joe; "for the hounds become discouraged when theyfind themselves so far away from us. Often, when I'm out alone withthem, Brutus will come back to hunt me instead of hunting rabbits.Sometimes I can't get him to go on after Bluey; he, the old rascal ismore cunning; he gets many a rabbit we never see, and eats it. That iswhat makes him so much fatter than Brutus, though he does twice as muchrunning. Did you ever think of that, Rob?"
That night when the tired boys went to bed, they little dreamed thatthey were to have something to ride sooner than their fondest hopes hadflattered them, and from an entirely different source than the Indians.
Before the sun's broad disc rose above the Harker Hills next morning,although its rays had already crimsoned the rocky crests of the butteswhich bounded the little valley of the Oxhide on the west, Rob hadrisen without disturbing his brother. He was always an early riser; heloved the calm, beautiful hours t
He took the tin wash basin from its hook outside of the kitchen door,and started for the spring, only a few yards away, to wash himself. Justas he arrived there, chancing to look towards the hills, he saw that thewhole country, upland and bottom alike, was black with buffaloes. In hisexcitement, he threw down the basin, and ran back to the house as fastas his legs could carry him. He rushed into his father's room, andunceremoniously seizing him by the shoulder, waking him from a soundslumber, shook him, and shouted as loud as he was able:--
"Father, get up! Father, get up! the whole country is alive withbuffaloes, and the nearest one is not a quarter of a mile away. Quick!father."
Mr. Thompson roused himself, and instantly got out of bed and dressedhimself quicker than he had ever done since he had lived on the ranche.He threw on only clothes enough to cover him, for he had already caughtsome of his boy's enthusiasm.
He told Rob to go to the closet, bring him a dozen bullets and hispowder-flask, while he commenced to wipe out the barrels of his twoold-fashioned rifles and the Spencer carbine, that always hung on a setof elk antlers fastened to the wall of his bed-chamber.
As Rob had declared, the whole region was literally dark with a mightymultitude of the great shaggy monsters, grazing quietly toward the east.There were thousands in sight, and for just such a chance Mr. Thompsonhad been anxiously waiting to get a supply of meat for the family.
Of course, every member of the household got up as soon as Rob had endedhis noisy announcement. Hurriedly dressing, they rushed out under agroup of trees that grew near the door, and watched Mr. Thompsoncrawling cautiously round the rocks as he drew nearer and nearer to theyet unconscious herd.
In a few moments he was lost to sight, and almost immediately they sawthe herd raise their heads simultaneously. The family then knew that Mr.Thompson had been discovered by the wary animals, for the alarmedbuffaloes began their characteristic quick, short gallop, and the boyswere fearful that their father had not gotten within range and thatthere would be no meat for breakfast. But at the instant they wereexpecting to be disappointed, the loud crack of a rifle echoed throughthe valley once, twice, then a short silence; three, four times.
As the sound of the discharges died away, they saw their father climb tothe summit of the divide, in full view of all, and wave his hat. Thenthey knew he had been successful, and eagerly watched him as he cameslowly down the declivity toward them.
When he had come within hailing distance he cried out that he had killedfour fat cows; one for each shot. Then the boys and girls took off theirhats, and, vigorously waving them, gave three hearty cheers.
Just beyond the cabin and corral, which latter was surrounded by a stonewall nearly five feet high, was a single hill whose summit was round,and to which had been given the name of Haystack Mound, because at adistance it exactly resembled a haystack. When the buffaloes hadstarted to run eastwardly, this mound cut off some of the animals of theherd, about three hundred in all, the majority going south of it, thesmaller number north, which brought them near the house. Seeing thefamily standing there, they suddenly turned and rushed right over thecorral; the gate was open, and a few dashed through it, but the most ofthem leaped over the wall. The buffalo is not easily stopped by anyordinary obstacle when stampeded; he will go down a precipice, or up asteep hill; madly rushing on to his destruction, in order to get awayfrom the common enemy, man.
Rob saw the buffaloes first as they were turned from their course by themound, and when they began to rush over the wall of the corral andthrough its gate, he shouted to Joe:--
"Come, Joe, let's try to shut some of them in; maybe there are calvesamong them. If there are, we can keep 'em in, for the little ones cannever mount that wall on the other side."
Instantly acting on the suggestion, both boys ran as fast as they couldto the corral, and succeeded in closing the entrance just as the last ofthe herd was leaping over the far wall.
As Rob had surmised, four calves remained inside, too young to followtheir mothers over the wall. Both he and Joe were nearly wild withexcitement at their luck in having been able to shut the gate in time tocorral the baby buffaloes. They were about to rush to the house to tellthe rest of the family of their wonderful capture, when Joe chanced tolook into the door of the rude shed that was used to shelter the stockin stormy weather, and saw jammed against the farther wall two animalsthat were too small to be full-grown buffaloes, and too large forcalves. It was so dark in the corner where they were that he could notmake out at first what kind of animals they had caught. He called Rob,who crawled nearer to where the beasts stood huddled against each other,trembling with fear at their strange quarters.
In another moment, as soon as Rob's eyes became used to the dim light,he came bounding out with the speed of a Comanche Indian on thewar-path, and catching Joe by the shoulders was just able to gasp:--
"By jolly, Joe, they're real ponies!"
They were so astonished for a few seconds that they stood paralyzedbefore they ventured in the shed to take a good look at the littleanimals. They boldly went in, and the moment the ponies saw the boysthey made a break for the outside and vainly attempted to dash over thewall. Their frantic efforts, however, were of no avail; they could notmake it: they were regular prisoners, and Rob and Joe were almost out oftheir senses with delight.
After their excitement had somewhat subsided they went to the house andbrought out all the rest of the family to see the cunning littleanimals. They lost all their interest in the buffalo calves now thattheir brightest dreams of owning ponies of their own were realized.
The diminutive beasts which the boys had so successfully corralled weresorry-looking animals enough. They were so dirty, thin, angular, andtheir coats so rough, so filled with sand-burrs and bull-nettles, thatit was hard to determine what color they were. All the family made aguess at it. Kate said she thought they were mouse-color, while Gertrudebelieved they were gray. Joe thought they were brown, and Rob white. Mr.Thompson, however, who knew more about horses than his boys, told themthey were bays, but it would take a few days of currying and brushing upto determine which of the family had guessed correctly. There wasevidently lots of life in them, for they cavorted around the big corral,prancing like thoroughbreds.
That afternoon, when they had taken care of the buffaloes which Mr.Thompson shot, and had stretched their robes on the corral wall to cure,the ponies were roped by Mr. Thompson, who could handle a lariat withsome degree of skill, and halters were put on them. They were nearly ofa size, and both of the same color, so they could hardly bedistinguished from each other, but on a closer examination it wasdiscovered that one of them had a white spot on his breast. This was theonly apparent difference between them, so the boys drew lots to seewhich should have the one with the white breast. Their father selectedtwo straws, one shorter than the other, and holding them partlyconcealed so that only their ends showed, told Rob to draw first. He gotthe longer straw, and so became the owner of the pony with the spot ofwhite on his breast.
In less than two weeks, through kindness and good care, they werechanged into clean, sleek, beautiful bays, just as Mr. Thompson had saidthey would be. In a month the boys could ride them anywhere, and theacme of their happiness was reached.
The animals had strayed from some band of wild horses and had driftedalong with the herd of buffaloes, as was not infrequently the case inthe early days on the great plains.