Bellefonte, Pa., March 7, 1902
THAT'S WHY.
1 cannot sing the old songs
With sympathetic strains;
1 cannot sing the old songs,
So full of grief and pain.
1 cannot sing them any more
With doeful, quivering lip—
In fact I can’t sing anything
Because I've got the grip.
A LASSO DUEL.
A STORY OF THE SHEEP-SHEARBING
SOUTH AMERICA.
The shearing was in full blast. The
creamy, silky fleeces of the Merinos rolled
their greasy folds on the boarded floor of
the vast shed as they fell under the snick-
snicking of a hundred pairs of shears. The
Gaucho shearers, men and women, chatted
merrily to each other in their musical Ar-
gentine Spanish as they bent over their
work. From the corral came the barking.
of the well-trained dogs and the low thun-
der of the flying feet as the catchers deftly
raced a new batch of a hundred panting,
lazy sheep into the pens. The men be-
hind the long wool table perspired freely
as they passed their neatly tied fleeces to
the packers, and the packers perspired
more freely still as they carried their buor-
den to the scales before stowing it away on
the tops of the already immense piles.
Through the narrow doors and windows on
the left could be seen the green gloom of
the eucalyptus grove which shaded the es-
tancia houses. Away in front, and also on
the right, over the corral, as far as the
eye could reach, the green, treeless, level
expanse of the pampa lay throbbing under
the blue sky and the dazzling, fizzling sun-
shine of late November. The purple haze
of the summer blurred the sky-line to the
east, while along the horizon in the oppo-
site direction the westing sun banked up a
first-class mirage over the blistering thistle
clumps.
The major-domo stood in one of the door
ways of the shed, riding-whip in hand. He
had just come from a gallop of inspection
down the camp, and was throwing his
practiced eye over the floor to see how
matters were progressing. In the midst of
the shearers stood the burly Irish-Argen-
tine capataz (foreman) vigilantly superin-
tending the work. Seeing that the major-
domo had returned, he looked at him for a
moment, as etiquette demanded, in order
to be informed whether his chief wished to
speak with him ; and in response to a
scarcely preceptible nod accompanied by a
slight gesture of the hand, he left his place
and approached the door.
‘‘Well, James,’ said the chief, ‘‘how are
the things?”
‘Not so bad, Don Eduardo,” replied
, the capataz in accents as round and rich as
if he had been born in Westmeath instead
of on the pampa. ‘‘Not so bad. We've
cleaned off three thousand already, and
ave’re good for another eight hundred be-
fore sundown.”
“That's good,’ said the chief as he stop-
ped and carefully picked up a curl of wool
which the breeze was carrying through the
doorway. ‘‘Wire in to them like one
o’clock, James, while this weather lasts.
‘We must do our best to finish before the
end of the month. How are these folks
working for you ?”?
“‘Fairly well, on the whole. Of course,
the two weeks of wet weather and lolling
about made them a bit lazy ; but to-day
they seem to be putting more of their
backs into what they do. We had a little
unpleasantness here since you went away,
but—"?
“Eh—yes? What was it?'’ queried the
manager, his brows knitting.
‘‘I had to take the shears from Gomez
and suspend him for the day.”
‘‘Gomez? Which Gomez?"
‘‘Esteban.”’
‘Ob, that fellow, eh? At his old tricks
again, I suppose >—gamble all night and
shirk all day.”’
‘‘No, Don Eduardo, not that.”’
“Drunk then ? Yon don’t mean to say
that any scoundrel has been bringing
drink about the place ?”’
“Not that I know of. Gomez wasn’t
drunk. The trouble began about the eld
Josefa’s girl.”’
“Hum?” growled the chief, pursing
his lips and shaking his head. ‘It is al-
ways the same with those girl shearers.
They are more trouble than any thing
else.”
James kept his sharp gray eyes on the
shearers, and called to order a lady of
color who was about to let go a sheep with
the leg-wool unshorn ; and after he had
eased his mind on the question, he said
to his superior:
‘‘You are partly right Don Eduardo,
but what would you have? These folks
will not come without their women, and
there is no doubt that a few girl shearers, if
at all manageable, keep the floor lively,and
attract to the place hands that might other
wise remain away.’
“Aud this Josefa’s girl 2’ asked the
chief. ‘Is she an angel in disguise, then,
or what ?"’
“Well, I must say,”’” responded the
worthy James, shaking his head daubtful-
ly, “she’s the very mischief. I'm afraid
* she'll make plenty of trouble for us before
the shearing is over. I didn’t like the
look of that Gomez when he was leaving
the floor this afternoon—I didn’t like it at
all, at all !”
‘‘But what is the history of this Gomez
business, anyhow? Who is to blame?’
and the chief’s jaw shut like a trap, and
his chin stood out.
‘Well, you see,” explained James, ‘‘the
girl was a bit civil to Gomez, and a hit
civil to that young idiot Ramon, and dur-.
ing those wet days when there was nothing
else to do she played a good deal with both
of them. Gomez got jealous of Ramon,
and the more jealous he got the more favor
she showed to the other. Look at her now!
There she is over by the front door with
Ramon. Look how she makes sheep’s
eyes at him. That is the way she bas been
carrying on since breakfast time. Gomez
was trying to get her all to himself, but
she flouted him before all the world and
took on with Ramon. So then Gomez be-
came sulky, and began hacking the sheep
in such a way, and giving back answers
when I spoke to him about if, that, not to
have to knock the daylights out of him, I
took his shears until to-morrow. *
“And then?”
‘Then he left the floor in a rage, and
swore that he would not shear again for a
week. I told him that I would tell yon
about it, and he said that both you and I
could go hang,’
He did, eh?”’and the manager ground
his heel into the floor with vexation, for
authority is everything where there are one
hundred Argentine shearers at work, and
the man to hold them in order must suffer
no loss of prestige. Don Eduardo knew
this, and he said:
IN
‘This won't do, James. You should
have knocked him down right off the reel
or sent immediately to look for me. We
can’t afford to have any love-silk skulkers
around this establishment. Where is he
now ?’?
‘‘He is over there at the corral, where he
has just shut in his horses. I expect he is
going to do a little work on his own ac-
count. I notice that he is training a few
young ones of the Peralta mark, aud very
likely he is going to give them a gallop.”
“I’ll gallop him presently,’’ said the
chief as he turned and strode towards his
reeking horse, while James proceeded to
heave a well-assorted collection of Spanish
expletives at an ill-tempered shearer who
was kicking a refractory wether into a
properly submissive frame of mind.
Old Josefa’s girl and young Ramon,
meanwhile, were carrying on a violent
flirtation.- They had already begun fo
shear in partnership. The girl was merely
shearing the necks and sides, and Ramon
was finishing off the rest. He was doing
more than his share, but it pleased him,
and it suited the girl. It also suited old
Josefa. The shearers were paid five dollars
per hundred, and she knew her girl would,
with less labor, bave a larger tally at the
end of the day by shearing in partnership
with Ramon than if she were to do the
work by herself. Of course it was a sacri-
fice on Ramon’s part, for he was doing far
more than half of the work, but that was
Ramon’s affair.
‘Que caramba !’’ said old Josefa to her-
self, is he not in love? And when the
young fellows are in that state they are
fools, and fools are to be fleeced while their
folly lasts, eh’’ Old Josefa was practical.
She had passed through a good deal of
camp life, and knew her way about her
little world. :
Josefa’s girl was not a dazzling beauty,
nor did the greasy rags which constituted
her shearing costume show off her form and
features to the best advantage. She was
only eignteen years of age, she was a mor-
enita, which means that her firm, velvety
skin was even darker than the olive tinge.
Her mischievous, challenging eyes were
black, and so was her crispy bair. She was
a buxom, well-built, hardy young person,
who could shear with her left hand just as
well as with her right. Some of her blood
was Indian and some of it was African.
The rest was creole. She was a child of
the pampa, and had no wish to be any-
thing else. In the eyes of her pampa-born
admirers, and they were legion, she was a
beauty, and that was enough for her. They
were lovers after her own heart, those
Gaucho rough riders. She knew they were
capable of cutting one another’s throats
for her sake, and the thought pleased her.
Ramon was just the sort of youth to cap-
tivate her fancy—a Gaucho of the Gauchos.
He was scarcely twenty years of age, bust
he bad graduated with high honors in the
school of the pampas. He was by trade a
cattle-trooper and horse-trainer like his
rival, Gomez, and like most of the men
around him. He was a shearer for the mo-
ment like them, not because he liked the
work, but because shearing is a time of
horse-racing, gambling, love-making, dane-
ing and devilment, as well as of toil. He
was the best dancer in the district. He
could improvise verses and sing them to
the accompaniment of his guitar. It was
he who had subdued Blanco’s bagaul, the
horse that killed two rough riders out-
right and disabled a third for life. Hehad
trooped cattle to the Buenos Ayres market
and could talk of having seen the won-
drous sights of the city. He was swarthy,
but the blood of youth and health showed
through the brown on his cheeks. Clean-
limbed as a young stag, lithe, sinewy,
above the middle height, and not yet too
bow-legged from the saddle. he was a
handsome fellow—a buen mozo from head
to foot. The light of innocence was in his
flashing black eyes, the guileless ingenuons-
ness of childhood seemed to linger in his
smile, and he was as gay as the summer
sunlight on the wavelets of the lagoon.
Yet, alas for the deceptiveness of appear-
ance, he was one of the most notorious and
incorrigible horse-thieves south of the
equator. ;
His reputaiion as a horse-thief did not
matter a pin’s worth to old Josefa’s girl,
who was the child of a horse-thief herself.
She had smiled upon Ramon, and forth-
with he bad laid siege to her affections
with desperate impetuosity. It is the way
of the Gaucho. He burns with a consum-
ing passion until he tastes the joys of pos-
session—and then he burns again, but at
the shrine of some other beauty. His love
is like the thunderstorm of the summer on
his native plains. It is never of very long
duration, but while it lasts it is terrific in
its fury and force.
That morning Ramon had been one of
the first on the floor. He was engaged in
picking out a few of the softest-wooled
avimals from the files of sheep which the
catchers had already fettered down, when
Gomez came on the scene. The two men
had been rivals at the dance the night be-
fore for the favors of old Josefa’s girl, and
Ramon had carried off the honors. The
soft-wooled sheep which he was now pick-
ing out were for her. Gomez knew this,
and it added fuel to the flame of his jeal-
ous fire. He caught one of the sheep
which the other had parted out and began
pulling it across the floor by the fettered
legs. It was a direct challenge, and was
accepted as such.
‘‘Stop that ! sang out Ramon in his sono-
rous Spanish, and there was a ring in his
voice that was not of peaceful promise.
‘What is it, boy?’ asked the other.
He was older than Ramon by at least ten
years, and flang the word ‘‘boy’ at him in
pure derision. Gomez was a noted com-
padre (bully.) He was credited with hav-
ing put three men out of the way. and
was always ready for trouble. A big scar
ran across his face from his left nostril, and
was swallowed up near the high cheek-
bone, in the black, bushy beard. As he
spoke the taunting word ‘‘boy’’ to his ri-
val he placed his left foot on the neck of the
sheep which he had annexed, and stood
there tiger-like, peacefully poised, his eyes
ablaze, beautiful in his own way, and en-
tirely dangerous. ;
Ramon did not flinch. He looked Go-
mez squarely between the eyes and said :
‘“You are not treating with a boy. That
sheep is for your betters ; leave it alone.”
‘If you consider it yours, come and take
it," retorted Gomez, and he waved his left
band gracfully towards the floor, while he
planted his right on bis bip, where the tips
of hie fingers touched his knife-haft.
Ramon made a step forward, but a strong
hand grasped his knife-arm and swung him
round in the opposite direction. It was
James, the Irish-Argentine capataz, and he
vetoed the fight.
“Drop that knife !’’ he said sternly, shak-
ing the arm he held in a grip of iron. The
iron dropped point downward and stuck
in the floor. James represented the patron.
In his command lay the delegated authori-
ty of the employer—the only authority
that the Gaucho cares a fig for.
As the knife fell, the capataz released the
arm of the shearer, and turning round, he
said to Gomes :
.and it was evident that Ramon
‘You're at your old game of bullying
again, but it won’t do here—see ?”’
‘‘But, Don Santiago,’’ said the other half
apologetically, ‘‘that fellow over there,’
pointing to Ramon, ‘that saney youngster
has no right to take half the sheep on the
floor to himself. It’s against the rule. He
can only shear one at a time.’’
‘I know that, but you’re not the boss of
this shed, all the same, and there must be
no fighting here. Leave that sheep and
take another. Here, you, Pablo’’ (calling
to a graybeard who had just entered the
shed), ‘‘shear this sheep. and now all
hands to work. You, Gomez, must shear
at the other end of the floor to-day. Do
you hear ?”?
‘‘Si, senor,” answered the bully, and
walked to his oppointed place without a
word. There was no disputing with the
capalaz. He carried neither knife nor pis-
tol, but his word was law. They knew
bim, and knew what it meant to cross
im.
The work proceeded briskly, but the in-
cident was not forgotten. When Josefa’s
girl came into the shed Ramon captured
ber, and they began to shear in partner-
ship. Their heads were nearly together,
was in
clover. Gomez made several attempts to
get her and her mother to go down to his
end of the shed, butin vain. A$ breakfast
time Gomez renewed his attentions, but
she cut him through and through with a
few words.
“I’m not a beauty,’’ he said, ‘but I’m
a man. Ihave a beard. I'm not a mere
boy.” :
‘You have a man’s mark on your face
anyhow,’’ she said with a sneer, alluding
to the scar. He reddened under the sting-
ing gibe, and showed how keenly he felt
it.
‘“The man who gave me that,’’ he growl-
ed, ‘‘is dead—I killed him.’’
‘‘While he slept, no doubt,’’ laughed old
Josefa’s girl, and left him with the wound
rankling in his wicked heart.
After breakfast Ramon and the girl were
still shearing in partnership, and their
heads were closer together than ever. Go-
mez seeing this, went completely into the
tantrums, and showed such a well-devel-
oped tendency toward nastiness of all kinds
that the capataz, as has already been said,
suspended him for the day.
The major-domo found Gomez venting
his ill temper on a young horse which he
was saddling sorely against the will of that
terrified animal. Don Eduvardo never
wasted words; so stooping from his saddle,
with out dismounting, he pulled down the
cross-bars of the corral and rode in.
‘‘I want to know, Gomez,’’ he said in
his stern, even tones, ‘if yon have any-
thing to say regarding your conduct this
morning ?’’
There was a wicked, sullen look on the
rough rider’s face, and hiseyes were blood-
shot. He did not meet the manager’s
glance, but shrugging his shoulders, he re-
plied in a growling, uncivil way : ‘What
am I to say, senior ? Your capataz took my
shears from me, and that is all, No doubt
he can give you his reasons.”
“I know all about that. I know that
you were skinning the sheep as well as
shearing them, and that you were doing it
for spite. But what I want to talk about
is your insolence as you left the floor, and
I want to know if you are disposed to take
back your impertinence.”
Gomez was silent.
The chief looked him over for a moment,
and repeated his query in more peremptory
tones. ‘‘You are not going to sleep here,
my man, with that insolence to your debit.
Take it back or leave. Is that plain?”
*“Yes, it is plain, assented: the other be-
tween his teeth, and with a contemptuous
shrug of his shouldeis, ‘‘as plain as I want
it. I am not one to eat my words, senor,
and there is no one here capable of making
me do it.”’
‘“Very well, then. Go tothe office and get
your money, if there is any due to yon,
and let me not find you about the place hy
sundown. You know what that means,
eh?’
‘‘Esta bien,” senor, he said doggedly;
‘the world is wide, and there are other
flocks of sheep in the country than yours.
I'll go.”
The manager rode away, and Gomez
smothered a stiing of bloody oaths in his
beard as he stripped the frightened animal
which he had been about to deal with,
slashed it viciously over the eye with his
heavy whip-handle, and cursed it as it stag-
gered away from him. y
He saddled his best horse, and did it
carefully, muttering savagely to himself
the while.
‘“We shall see, my bold Ramon! We
shall see, my devil’s whelp! We shall find
out who is the better man! Oh yes, we
shall ! And the girl ! Ho, my beauty—youn
sneered at my face, eh? Very well, we
shall see about that presently !”’
He retied the slip-knots that fastened the
bolas and lasso to the saddle, and made
sure that they could be undone ata mo-
ment’s notice. Then he led the horse close
to the shearing sheds, where there was a
row of stakes, and tied it there. In a few
minutes he presented himself at the office
.and got the money due to him.
He was now ready to start, and he went
to the shearing floor to take his leave of
the crowd. No one could object to that.
It was his rights. 16 was Gaucho etiquette.
Besides, had he not to ask some of his
friends to look after the horses he was leav-
ing behind him for a few days until he
should return for them ? The sun was high
yet, and there was plenty of time. So ue
strode with a swagger into the shed, and
hanging his whip on the haf of his knife,
proceeded to roll a cigarette.
He talked meanwhile in the very freest
way about his plans. He did not address
himself to anybody in particular, but he
gave more than one meaning look to where
old Josefa’s girl and Ramon had their
heads together, and every one knew his re-
marks were meant for them.
‘Was he going ? Somebody asked him. Oh
yes, he was. He was off to see how the
girls looked at the Pacheco shearing. He
was that kind, look you—a rover, a fellow
who liked to have his fling, a dashing blade
who was on the lookout for his match.
Some fellows, young beardless whelps es-
pecially, imagined that they could teach
him how to court a girl, or ride a horse, or
handle a lasso, but, bless you, he had a
contempt for that sort of cub. ‘He would
take the pride out of such insolent brats,
but not till they grew up, you know—not
till they had beards. For, after all, was
it not so ? None but be who has beard is a
man ? ;
The lean, bent back of Ramon quivered
inside his greasy singlet, but otherwise he
made nosign. He would settle it all with
Gomez afterwards, no doubt, but not now.
And then as to the girls, Gomez went on
in hie comprehensive way. Look you, he
had known scores of them, could pick and
choose among the best of them, need not,
for his part, pay court to the daughter of
any horse-thief, nor make a fool of himself
‘shearing in partnership with the child of
any nigger hag. It was so! Caramba! it
was so ! He was Esteban Gomez, look you
—a man with a beard, a rider who acknowl-
edged no master, who, who scorned suck-
ing children—ha—ha—ha ! And the fellow
laughed immoderately at his own not very
brilliant joke.
But nobody else laughed. Every one
there knew that the man was up to mis-
chief, and there was muider in his mirth.
The shears shook in Ramon’s band, but
that was all. He would wait, no doubt,
until Gomez left the shed—time enough,
time enough !
“Well, then, senores all,”’ said Gomez
loudly as he threw away his cigarette and
gave his belt a hitch. ‘‘Adios ! I'll see you
again some of these days.”’
And with that he took his whip from
where it hung behind his back and moved
towards the door. With one swift bound
he reached Ramon and old Josefa’s girl,
his eyes flashing and his teeth stripped.
The girl saw him coming, but there was no
time to prevent him doing what he did. Ic |
all happened, too, so rapidly and unexpect-
edly that every one was taken by surprise.
He struck Ramon ou the head where he
was stooping and knocked him flat on the
floor. Then, with a single leap, he had the
girl in hisarms. In an instant he was
through the door; in another he was at his
horse’s side; in another he was in the sad-
dle, the girl held before him screaming
with terror, and then, with a defiant yell,
he turned towards the open pampa and gal-
loped madly away with his captive through
the yellow sunshine.
Roman was not badly hurt. ‘He scram-
bled to his feet just in time to see Gomez
gallop off with the girl. He wasa little
stunned and dazed and did not seem at
first to realize what had happened, until
old Josefa caught him by the arm, and
shaking him violently, shrieked :
‘Fool, coward, stupid! Are you afraid
to go and bring my girl back? You want
her. I heard yousay so. She promised to
give herself to you. I heard her. And now
you stand there like a sucking lamb—you
are noman! You are a sheep, afraid of a
dog—see? Afraid, coward! I spit on
oun!”
It all broke in on Ramon then like a
flash. He flang the old woman violently
from him and darted through the door with
a curse. A saddle horse was tied in the
shade of the trees. He ran towards it and,
in an instant, the reins were over the neck
and his hand twisted into the mane.
*“The cinch ! the cinch ?’’ shouted a score
of voices; ‘‘tighten the cinch !”’—for it
hung loosely under the horse’s flank. With
a few quick tugs he tightened it, and then
vaulted into the saddle. As he rode
through the gate a coiled lasso hanging on
one of the posts caught his eye, and he
snatched it up as he passed. As he gallop-
ed off in pursuit he buttoned the lasso on
the cinch ring, and then used the coils as a
whip to flog the horse into racing speed.
Others followed, but Ramon led by full a
hundred yards. He turned in the saddle as
be rode madly ahead, and shouted at them
to go back. ‘‘This is my affair,’’ he yell-
ed. ‘‘Leave him to me. I don’t want your
help. Go back and tell them I’m coming
with that hound at the end of the lasso,”
and he flourished the coils over his head,
bringing them down once more with a re-
seunding whack on the ribs and quarters of
the frantic horse.
Gomez was mounted on the best horse he
owned—a fleet, strong, tireless brute that
could gallop at half rein for leagues—but
the extra weight of the girl told. More-
over,Ramon was riding the better horse—a
raking, clean-limbed, three quarter bred:
chestnut, and one of the swiftest of the es-
tancia mark. It wasin fact the horse of
James O'Reilly, the capataz who never sad-
dled anything but the cream of the breed.
A straight chase is a long chase as a rule,
but in this instance the pursuer rapidly
gained on the pursued. Before the first
‘half mile had been covered Ramon had
gained three hundred yards on Gomez. and
at cvery leap he saw with savage joy that
the odds were diminishing. Gomez threw
a swift. fierce look over his shoulder and
saw that the desperate game was against
him. His left arm crushed the girl in a
savage embrace, and in his free right band
be held his unsheathed knife. - He thought
of killing her. She had, however, already
heard the triumph shouts behind them,and
the reckless, untamed blood that flowed in
ber veins had asserted itself. The terror
and stupor of the first moments had passed
and now as the Gaucho’s knife gleamed in
the sun above her the Gaucho girl laughed.
With a swift, snake like wriggle she caught
his knife hand, and, pulling it towards her
bit into the wrist until the weapon fell
from his grasp. The oath which the pain
wrnng from k'm had scarcely died on his
lips when the hoof beats of Ramon’s horse
were heard.
*‘Pull up, pull up,’”’ she cried, as she
struggled and panted in his grasp. ‘‘Pull
up and face him if you dare—coward that
you are. It is only a girl you have the
courage to fight.”’
He looked behind him once more. Ra-
mon had made his lasso ready. A bunch of
coils was in his right hand, and the long
ten foot loop dragged behind him, snipping
the tops from the clover and grasses through
which he swept like the wind.
Gomez with a powerful jerk slackened
the speed of his horse. ‘‘I am going to put
you down, my beauty,’’ he hissed while his
hot breath ‘stirred her hair. ‘‘Stay yon
here for a moment and watch how I shall
kill this boy before your eyes.’’
As he handed or rather shoved the girl to
the ground Ramon was only fifty yards
away, and Gomez did not waste any time
in useless words. With a shower of whip-
cuts to left and right on the neck, breast,
and flanks of his horse, he loosed the reins
and galloped away at right angles to the
course which he had untii then held. This
he did in order to allow his pursuer to pass
him. Ramon was going at a pace too furi-
ous to turn very quickly, and by the time
he had checked and faced around again,
Gomez was galloping in a circle towards
him fully prepared. The half minute's
grace had sufficed for him to make ready his
lasso, and as he wheeled, keeping his horse
on a tight rein, and approaching his enemy,
he shook the coils above his head and glanc-
ed approvingly at the trailing loop. It was’
in perfect order. Ramon threw up his right
arm and swung his lasso around his head
from right to left. Gomez did the same.
Neither spoke, but there was more in the
glance they darted on each other than could
be put into words.
It was to be a lasso duel to the death.
On this both had already decided. The
girl remained where Gomez had left her,
watohfual of their slightest movements, the
passions of her untutored nature in her
eyes, but as quiet as a statue. She wanted
Gomez killed; she wanted Ramon to kill
him; and she would as soon have thought of
praying for Gomez as interfering. The men
who had joined the chase were still five
hundred yards away, and the fight would
be decided before they could arrive.
The duellists galloped in a circle round
each other, whirling their lassoes and wait-
ing, lynx-eyed, for a favorable moment to
throw. They sat as easily and as gracefal-
ly in their saddles as if they were riding for
mere amusement. The legs were rigid ; the
toes pointed outwards and upwards from
the stirrups ; and, as if the hip joints were
delicately made swivels, the bodies swayed
to left or right, backward or forward, un-
consciously yet perfectly keeping the bal-
ance, while the horses planged or checked
to the touches of the reins or the pressure
of the knees. Each right hand was held
aloft, the inside of the elbow close to the
ear, the arm straight and firm, but with
the sinewy, supple wrist moving as if on a
pivot and making the lasso hum and
whistle and whine as it cut through the air
in long, sweeping. undulating loops.
Round and round they galloped, now clos-
ing in, now withdrawing to longer range,
now swiftly turning outward or inward
while the lassoes were reversed and swung
from right to left, always bordering on
throwing distance, yet never quite passing
inside it.
‘Come on,” shouted Gomez, hurling a
few of his foulest words at Ramon. ‘‘Come
on. That girl over there is waiting for yon
or for me. He who leaves here alive shall
bave her. Throw, then, thou cat-face ;
throw, I say, swine-fed pup that thou art ;
throw, and get thy reward !”
‘Throw thou first, and teach me,’’ cried
Ramon in fierce derision. ‘“Thou shalt find
me anxious to learn. Thou art a man with
a beard, no? Very well, render a man’s
account of thyself. Thou art skilful in
capturing girls, eh? Come on, and see if
thou canst catch a boy.
Gomez stood in his stirrups and pretend-
ed to let fly his loop. It was a clever feint
enough, but it failed. Instead of ducking
or swerving to save himself from the threat-
ened danger, Ramon pulled with all his
strength and weight on the reins, and as
the chestnut reared under the strain of the
cruel Spanish bit, he airily kept his balance
in the saddle, while with a lightning like
twist of his arm he reversed the swing of
the lasso. This feat surprised Gomez. It
was far more than he had thought the
youth could do, and it disconcerted him for
a moment--only for a moment. Ramon’s
face, hard aud set in hate, wore a grim
smile as it lay pressed against the mane of
the rearing horse. He saw that his chance
was coming. He saw that Gomez was rid-
ing straight into his power, aud that by the
time he came round abreast of his lasso
stirrap he would be well within range.
Gomez saw hi: peril and drove home his
spurs in a desperate attempt to take him-
self clearaway. It wastoo late. Ramon’s
quick eye had already made the distance to
be less than he needed, and with a ery of
savage joy he gave one final back hand swing
to his lasso and let it go. Upward and
outward it curved for a good fifteen yards,
uncoiling its snake like folds with easy
grace as it soared and sped through the
sunshine on its errand of death. The big
loop quivered for a fleeting instant over the
head of the doomed horseman, and as it fell
over his shoulders, despite his wild effort
to escape its deadly embrace, the iron ring
rattled along the hard, rawhide plaiting.
Ramon gave his horse a free rein. and urg-
ed him to the utmost of his speed. With a
mighty plunge the high spirited horse leap-
ed forward, and as the end of the lasso was
reached the tough strands twanged under
the strain. There was a cry of rage and
despair answered by a yell of hate and tri-
umph ; an awfal jerk ; a still more awful
thud; and then a helpless, choking, strug-
gling, gasping wretch was dragged away at
a gallop, bumping, ciashing, tumbling,
writhing, dying. :
The other horsemen dashed up, but they
arrived too late. They called to Ramon for
mercy ’ssake to stop. They tried to head him
off, but the fiends had got possession of him
and they dodged them all. Oce of them
tried to lasso his horse ; another tried to
ride himdown. It wasall invain. When
at last they closed on him, the bruised and
shattered thing which they found at the end
of the lasso was beyond all human aid.
Away in the distance old Josefa’s girl
still stood in the full glare of the sun.
Ramon went to her.—By William Bulfin,
(‘Che Buona.””) in Everybody's Magazine.
Prince and President.
Took a Gallop of an Hour and a Quarter Through
Rain Yesterday in Washington.
Prince Henry yesterday afternoon ac-
cording to a special in the Pittsburg Gazette,
enjoyed one event not on his official itiner-
ary when he and President Roosevelt went
in a rainstorm on a horseback ride of an
hour and a quarter through Rock Creek
Valley and the suburbs in the northwest-
ern section of Washington City. The ride
was arranged personally between the two
men during one of their talks at an official
function. 3
The Prince returned from Annapolis be-
tween 3 and 4 o’clock.in the afternoon and
went direct to the White house to pay a
farewell visit, the members of his suite ac-
companying him. The farewell call was
entirely informal. Captain Gilmore, of
the artillery, met the Prince and his suite
at the door and escorted them to the blue
room, where they were received by the
President and Mis. and Miss Roosevelt,
each of whom gave the Prince a hearty
welcome and godspeed.
The ceremony lasted only about five
minutes, and then the Prince drove to the
Embassy and exchanged his Admiral’s uni-
form for a ‘riding suit of dark blue, with
buff leggings and a Fedora hat. The Prince
smoked several cigarettes and chatted with
Ambassador von Holleben in front of the
Embassy about fifteen minutes while await-
ing the arrival of the President, Mr. Roose-
velt’s riding garb was similar to that of the
Prince, save for a slouch hat of the Rough-
Rider style.
While the Prince was mounting his
horse, which was a handsome chestnut bay
belonging to Senator Lodge, Ambassador
Holleben stepped forward to greet the
President, and as he did so the President
remarked : !
‘‘Ambassador, I am sorry to put the
Prince to this trouble. I only hope he is
not being too good-natured.’’
In a drizzling rain, which later turned
into a downpour, the two started off for a
ride,accompanied by a sergeant of artillery.
As they were leaving the President waved
his hand to Ambassador Holleben and in a
voice loud enough to be heard across the
street said : !
“We will be back in an hour and a-
half.”
A large crowd in front of the Embassy
greeted the distinguished pair as they rode
off. They returned to the Embassy at 6:10,
having been gone an hour and a quarter.
Rain fell a large part of the time, but both
riders seemed to enjoy the outing.
Our Beautiful Language.
A highwayman in Albuqurque
Stole a horse, a mule and a turque.
They chased him a mile
Till they caught him in style,
And his ending was sudden and jurque.
—Seed peas may be dipped in hot water
for a few minutes, or exposed to the gases
of bisulphide of carbon in order to destroy
the pea weevil. The late peas are not so
subject to attack as those sown early.
The Metamorphosis of the Commercial.
The Growth of a Country Telephone—How the Mod-
est Beginning Made by W. L. Goodhart has Grown
to be a Great System Which Ramifies All Parts of
Pennsylvania. -
Few people thought when W. L. Good-
hart, of Millheim, came to Bellefonte a few
years ago and talked about a new tele-
phone system that the great pictures he
painted then would ever be any more than
the creation of fancy. Some were even
rude enough to ask him what he knew
about the telephone business, but they
didn’t know that he had been working on
a little country line down in the vicinity
of his home and in the «' .iet, undisturbed
atmosphere of Millheim he had been work-
ing out the practical as well as the theoret-
ical side of telephoning.
It would make a long story to publish
the details of Mr. Goedhart’s ups and
downs in the effort to get the little line he
had built in the lower end of Penns-valley
connected with the outside world, but the
object was attained though he, as so many
earnest promoters before him have been,
has been entirely lost sight of and his name
is rarely heard of in connection with the
great enterpise that has sprung up in our
midst.
The matter of an independent telephone
line in competition with the long estab-
lished and magnificently equipped Bell
system was a much mooted question, but .
the success of independent companies in
other places finally induced a lot of local
capitalists to take it under advisement,
with the result that the Central Commer-
cial Telephone Co. was organized in June,
1898. A system of lines to reach all parts
of the county was at once mapped out and
a great force of men put to work erecting
them. With a growth that was almost
Aladdin-like in its completion trunk lines
were built and exchanges installed in
Bellefonte, Centre Hall, State College,
Millbheim, Snow Shoe and Lock Haven,
giving service to over seven hundred cus-
tomers .and establishing a free talking rate
between all these points.
The Central. Commercial company kept
improving its service wherever possible and
equipped itself for the great break into
state territory that was made July 1st,
1901, when it was merged with the United
Telephone & Telegraph Co. and by that
stroke secured service from Pottsville on the
east to Johnstown on the west. And the
work of extension is just in its infancy, for
by the close of the coming summer the new
company will have over eight thousand
telephones in Pennsylvania and New York
in service. It is now reaching Pottsville,
Ashland, Girardville, Mahanoy City,
Shenandoah, Tamaqua, Bloomsburg, Ber-
wick, Dauville, Lewisburg, Milton, Mt.
Carmel, Shamokin, Sunbary, Williams-
port, Lock Haven, Jersey Shore, Belle-
fonte, Tyrone, Altoona, Hollidayshurg,
Johnstown and numerous other interme-
diate points.
An immense amount of work is being
planned for this summer. The most im-
portant to the local patrons of the concern
is a trunk line of four sets of wires that is
to be run from Mill Hall to Tyrone. This
will relieve the State College and Pine
Grove Mills lines of all the western traffic
they are now compelled to carry and ob-
viate much of the personal annoyance of
that too frequentanswer: ‘‘The lines are all
busy.’”” Then the Snow Shoe line is to be
extended to Philipsburg and Clearfield and
the completion of a seven mile line south
of Potter’s Mill will carry the United into
Lewistown.
These are the improvements that will di-
rectly benefit the local patron ere long, bus
outside of this district even greater ones
are to be made. The Lancaster and Leb-
anon districts are to be added, the inde-
pendent company in Harrisburg, with seven
hundred phones, will be taken in, the fran-
.chises of the Cumberland valley system
taken over, Chester, Coatesville, Consho-
hocken, Downingtown, Kennet Square,
Media and Norristown connected with the
United’s lines and a traffic arrangement
completed with the Keystone company in
Philadelphia. All this and more, for a
trunk line is to be started up into New
York from Williamsport, gathering in a
great number of small companies about El-
mira, Rochester, Buffalo and Syracuse.
These are some of the many promises the
United intends to fulfill with the coming
summer and with it done it will have serv-
ice in central and eastern Pennsylvania that
will be most comprehensive. But with it
all we look for most of our satisfaction from
the local exchange at Bellefonte which is
the operating center of the fifth district. -
A. C. Savidge, district manager, and H. W.
Smith, resident manager, are both capahle
telephone men. The latter has at his call
inspectors George Barclay aud Fred Owen
and has lately introduced a system where-
by phones can be put into service with a
minimum of inconvenience and delay to
patrons. :
In the exchange here there are five ope-
rators : Misses Clara Robb, Elizabeth Long-
well, Regina Rapp, Blanche McGarvey and
Maud Woomer who work day and night,
Sundays included, at one of the finest in-
terchangeable switch boards made by the:
Western Telephone Construction Co. They
have in direct service 275 phones in Belle-
fonte, 96 of which are on private lines, 98
at State College, 57 at Centre Hall, 48 at
Millbeim, 58 at Snow Shoe and 260 at Lock
Haven and to give you an idea of how busy
they are on last Fridav they say they had a
very light day yet there were 257 calls to
Centre Hall alone. :
It is really remarkable that a concern
that is not yet four years old has grown to
such proporticns already and we hope that
with its continued extensions will come a
realization that its duty to Bellefonte, where
15 has been treated so fair, is to remove the
line of poles that an indifferent council per-
mitted it to plant across the ‘‘Diamond?’’.
That is the one black mark the new corpo-
ration has and it will surely see that it is
wiped off ere long.