1 82 



RECREATION 



a passel of chickens when they see the 

 shadow of a hawk sail across the barnyard." 

 He had several lines of traps set across the 

 country, and one of these lines extended to 

 the top of a cedar clad hill, the top being 

 flat and covered with Sarvis brush, the west- 

 ern edge fringed with a growth of cedar 

 trees, and here the ground broke into the 

 sand drains that led to Yellow Creek. Bill 

 had never been across, but he made up his 

 mind he would ride over some day and sat- 

 isfy his curiosity, for he could hear shots 

 over there, and occasionally it sounded like 

 a good-sized battle was in full swing. Of 

 course, he knew what it was and in his 

 mind's eye he could see the Utes slaughter- 

 ing the deer, and he would get so worked 

 up that he would swear like a pirate. One 

 cold raw afternoon he had taken a fox from 

 the last trap on the line which led to the 

 top of the cedar hill. He mounted Tom and 

 rode over to the trees which fringed the far 

 edge of the flat. There he left Tom and 

 went through on foot. When he had 

 reached the further side he stepped behind 

 a cedar and peered down on the bed of the 

 coullie. The scene which met his eyes 

 brought a frown to his brow, and a few 

 choice cuss words to his lips. Seated on 

 either side of a campfire, above which hung 

 a large cast-iron kettle, were an old buck 

 and his squaw. To the right of the buck 

 lay a large pile of green deer skins, and this 

 was the cause of the old trapper's anger. 

 He fairly itched to go down and give the 

 greasy old scoundrel a good booting, but he 

 knew that it would not do, so he stood and 

 watched for several minutes without any 

 other demonstration than to swear softly 

 to himself. Presently a sly twinkle began to 

 show in his eye as an idea took shape in his 

 mind, and from his eyes it spread into a 

 broad grin. "By jinks," he muttered, "if I 

 don't do it I hope I may be shot for a 

 coyote," and suiting the action to the word 

 he threw his rifle to his face and as the 

 sights swung into line with the kettle the 

 thin, keen crack of the smokeless cartridge 

 rang out and the kettle leaped into a hun- 

 dred fragments, while its scalding contents 

 flew in all directions. A generous portion 

 dropped down the old buck's back, and he 

 gave a howl of pain and astonishment, and 

 turning an undignified back flipflap, scooted 

 for the woods on the_ further side of the 

 clearing, while the squaw dived head first 

 into a wolf hole which chanced to be handy. 

 The hole only accommodated about three- 

 fourths of her length, and as a consequence 

 her legs were making frantic deaf and dumb 

 signs at the sky in a vain effort to follow 

 their owner into the hole. 



The sight was too much for the old hunt- 

 er's sense of humor and he rolled on the 

 ground in silent convulsions, while the tears 

 ran down his weather beaten face. When 



he could get his breath he sat up and said: 

 "Well I'll be darned if that don't beat any 

 circus I ever saw. If Tom had seen it he 

 would have sure busted his self a horse- 

 laughing." By the time he had recovered 

 from his fit of laughter the Utes from far- 

 ther down the coullie had begun to gather 

 at the scene of the excitement, and every 

 one of them was jabbering and making mo- 

 tions at the same time. Bill thought this a 

 very good time to make tracks for camp be- 

 fore he was discovered. On the way home 

 he had to go over the whole story for Tom's 

 benefit; upon which Tom flipped his left 

 ear back and looked as wise as a basket full 

 of owls. The outcome of it was that the 

 Utes followed Bill's trail to his camp; that 

 is three of the most hostile did. They had 

 made up their minds that Bill was one of 

 the hated Buckskin Police, as they persist in 

 calling the game wardens, and so they had 

 decided to kill him. A warden had been 

 killed by them the year before while trying 

 to uphold the law, and his murderers had 

 never been caught, and as a consequence 

 they thought they had an easy job in 

 assassinating the old hunter. Of course, 

 they could have shot him in daylight, but 

 that would have been contrary to their ar- 

 tistic conception of carrying out an assas- 

 sination. Besides, there was a chance that 

 they might not kill their man outright, and 

 they had too much respect for the white 

 man's aim to take even a remote chance of 

 a return shot. Bill cooked and ate his sup- 

 per, while Tom cropped the short, dry grass 

 about the camp. After he had his fill he 

 backed into a thick Sarvisberry bush, where 

 he stood nodding contentedly. When he 

 had finished his meal, Bill filled his pipe, 

 and after he had smoked it out, he rolled 

 himself in his blankets and was soon in the 

 land of dreams. An hour or two passed and 

 then a figure stole from a bush toward the 

 sleeping form of the old hunter. He was 

 quickly followed by the second and third 

 Ute. Little did they know that a pair of 

 sharp eyes were watching their every move- 

 ment. One of the Indians glided around 

 the bed and bent over the unconscious man, 

 his hand swinging upwards slowly. In it 

 was the gleam of steel. At the same instant 

 Tom flashed from the sarvis bush, and be- 

 fore the descending arm of the assassin 

 had moved a foot on its mission of death 

 the pony's strong teeth had closed upon it 

 with a snap like a sprung bear trap, and he 

 went flying twenty feet away with his arm 

 broken and half severed from his body. 

 Tom did not stop at that. He charged upon 

 the remaining Indians like a whirlwind, 

 knocked one over and stepped on him, and 

 as the other turned to fly the- heels of the 

 pony hit him in the small of the back and 

 threw him into the forked limbs of a cedar, 

 from which he presently dropped and took 



