Jack the Young Cowboy: An Eastern Boy's Experiance on a Western Round-upGrinnell, George Bird
General
Jack the Young Cowboy: An Eastern Boy's Experiance on a Western Round-up
Grinnell, George Bird
Cowboys -- Juvenile fiction; Western stories
"That's easily explained. In the first place, the sun was shining
square in his eyes, and we were between him and the sun, therefore he
could not make out what we were. Besides that, you see he's a yearling,
and it's quite possible that he never before heard the sound of a gun.
Evidently it did not scare him at all."
"Well," said Donald, "I'm glad to have that explained. If you had not
told me how it was, I should certainly have believed that I had killed
a patient that had escaped from some antelope lunatic asylum."
"That conundrum was an easy one," laughed Jack. "One trouble with most
of us is that we look at things from our own little view-point, and
imagine that other creatures look at things as we do. You ought to talk
to Hugh about that. He's thought more about it than anybody I ever
talked to, and he's given me whatever ideas I may have."
By this time the antelope was dressed and the team had driven up close
to it. The carcass was loaded in and they went on again. About eleven
o'clock they crossed a little stream which was the last water they
would find until they reached camp at night, and they would have a long
drive of twelve or fifteen miles across a dry flat. Accordingly they
stopped here, unsaddled their horses and let them drink and feed, and
cooked themselves a cup of coffee. An hour later, hitching up again,
and with Jack in the wagon as driver, they started on; and an hour or
two before sundown reached the willow-grown bottom where their camp was
to be pitched.
As Jack and Donald were unhitching the team horses, Jack Mason, who had
been riding off to one side, galloped up and, dismounting and throwing
down his reins, jumped into the wagon and began rapidly to throw out
the beds, tent and tent-poles. Donald took the team horses down to
water, and the grub box and meat were lifted out. In a moment they had
picked out a place for the tent and were soon putting in the tent-poles.
"Before we unsaddle, Jack," Mason said, "you and I had better ride off
to take a look at some cattle that I see feeding on the prairie off to
the north. If they should happen to be Mr. Sturgis' cattle, we ought to
turn 'em back to the ranch. It seems to me I heard Rube speak the other
night of seeing some tracks leading off in this direction, but somehow
he lost the trail and couldn't find 'em. It may be that these are the
cattle, and if there's any beef among 'em they certainly ought to be
thrown back now."
"Right you are," said Jack. "Let's get the tent up and then we'll leave
Donald to pack wood and water and build the fire, and we'll go off and
look at the cattle."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account