HOW A MEXICAN WAS TURNED BACK. 



ARIZONA RANGER. 



I met a poor boy yesterday who, in 

 the course of our talk, told me he had 

 read some copies of Recreation and 

 that he hoped to be able some time 

 to get enough money to take it a 

 whole year. I gave him a dollar, told 

 him to send it in, and you should 

 have seen his eyes snap and the color 

 come to his bronzed cheeks. He was 

 prouder than any millionaire ever was 

 of his newest yacht or his latest auto- 

 mobile. The boy is, no doubt, enrolled 

 on your subscription list by this time, 

 and you will never have a more in- 

 terested or a more enthusiastic reader 

 in all your great family than this little 

 chap will be. 



I am greatly interested in your 

 Game Fields and your Gun and Am- 

 munition Department, but most of all 

 in your work for the suppression "of 

 game butchers. I am a Forest Rang- 

 er and am one of the men who do not 

 believe in killing every living thing 

 that comes in sight. In my rides 

 across our Arizona plains, or through 

 our mountains, I frequently see deer 

 and antelope that I could easily kill, 

 but they are always safe, except as to 

 an occasional buck which I may need 

 for meat ; and I kill such only in the 

 open season. 



Some months ago, while riding from 

 Wilcox to Fort Grant, I saw a Mexi- 

 can coming toward me with his horse 

 on a lope. As he approached I saw 

 his ivories shining and he was ges- 

 ticulating wildly. I knew he was 

 greatly excited over something that 

 had happened. On getting still nearer 

 I saw hanging across his saddle in 

 front of him a baby antelope that was 

 pretty much all eyes and legs. The 

 Mexican told me, between his bursts 

 of laughter and his expletives, how he 

 had roped it ; how he was going to 

 carry it to town, where he hoped to 

 be able to sell it for $2. 



I asked him if he knew he was vio- 



lating the law in capturing the animal 

 and that he was subject to a fine of 

 $200 or to imprisonment for 200 days ? 

 He said no, and his broad grin 

 changed to a serious frown in about 3 

 seconds. I told him I was an officer 

 and that it was my duty to place him 

 under arrest and to take him to court, 

 but that if he would turn back with 

 me, find the parents of the little ante- 

 lope and restore it to them I would 

 allow him to go free. He was much 

 more anxious to comply with these 

 terms than he had been to get to town 

 and sell the antelope. We rode about 

 4 miles on his back trail and finally 

 sighted a pair of antelope, a buck and 

 a doe. I told the Mexican to hold the 

 kid up above his head. He did so, and 

 it gazed about over the prairie. Final- 

 ly it sighted the old folks and set up a 

 most eager bleating. The parents 

 heard this, and came toward us on a 

 keen jump. They, did not stop run- 

 ning until within 100 yards of us. 

 Then they circled half way around us 

 and stopped. 



My horse did not like this visitation 

 and went to pitching in a way that 

 kept me mighty busy for the next few 

 minutes. I finally got him cooled off 

 and told the Mexican to let the kid 

 gently down to the ground. He did 

 so and it made a beeline for its moth- 

 er. Then there was another beautiful 

 sight. It was pathetic to see how both 

 the father and the mother went for 

 the little chap, nosed him, licked him 

 and pushed him about. They seemed 

 entirely unconscious of our presence, 

 and, after watching them until they 

 had apparently recovered from their 

 fit of ecstasy, we rode away and left 

 them. I told the Mexican to tell all 

 his people of this experience, and he 

 promised faithfully to do so. I have 

 since told the story many times to 

 white people, Indians and Mexicans, 

 and now there is not a man or a worn- 



