OH, SHOOT! 



they are simple, that is, if one carries a cow- 

 boy in one's baggage, but to the inept they 

 are as mysterious, as elusive as the Aurora 

 Borealis. 



We rubbed practically all the plush off the 

 abdomen of that quadruped; we pulled and 

 hauled until we wore his tread clear down to 

 the fabric. We wrapped him round and round 

 with rawhide rope and pieces of string and gal- 

 luses and bale wire ; then we cross-hauled and 

 cinched him up until he bulged dangerously at 

 both ends. But he could teach tricks to Hou- 

 dini the Handcuff King. Before he had 

 walked a quarter of a mile he had loosened 

 our knots and the steel cylinder had slipped 

 until he carried it as a kangaroo carries its 

 young. By the time we had unlashed and 

 reloaded it, we were so thirsty that we had to 

 uncork the tank and drink. It became a nice 

 problem whether we would get out of sight of 

 the spring before our water was exhausted. Fi- 

 nally, we invented a hitch of our own, braced 

 ourselves, and heaved in on the corset strings 

 of that burro until he was a perfect thirty-six. 

 We all but vivisected him, but, believe me, we 

 anchored that tank. He would have worn it 

 to his grave. 



252 



