be lynched; then they thought that they were to drown, which was even
worse; finally, however, when they realized what the boys really meant
to do, their rage knew no bounds. The marshal would almost have
preferred to be hung, for he quickly foresaw that when they were
rescued, the ridicule the affair would cause throughout the county would
everlastingly kill his chances for any office. Had they been hung, or
even drowned, they would have been heroes, even though dead ones; but
this trick would turn a laugh against them as long as they lived.
Luckily for the two unfortunates, right below the place from which they
were lowered, instead of the river running in its regular channel, there
was a great eddy, or swirl, where the water had cut a deep hole in the
sandy river bed. Here the water was quite deep and had but little
movement, except a slow circling motion. In this they swung at anchor,
from midnight until broad daylight. The water caused the ropes to shrink
and draw until they suffered a great deal where they cut into their
wrists, making it an utter impossibility for them to untie the knots,
although they worked diligently trying to get them loose in some way.
The water was cold and their limbs soon became so numb that they could
hardly move either hands or legs. They wore their voices out calling for
help.
The boys, in lowering them down, had been cunning enough to fasten them
far enough apart so they could not aid each other to get loose, and
while from the motion of the water they occasionally bumped against one
another, they quickly drifted apart, as helpless as if in two
strait-jackets.
About sunrise, a Mormon boy, belonging to a freighter outfit, which was
camped over in town, going out after the horses which had been taken
across the river the night before to graze, came whistling down the road
to the bridge, and started to cross. As soon as his footfalls were heard
on the flooring of the structure, the almost helpless men below roused
and began to call as loudly as they were able with their numb lips and
jaws chattering like castanets. It took him a minute or two to locate
the voices.
The lad took one hasty look over the railing of the bridge, and, with a
shriek of horror, fled toward town as fast as his feet could carry him.
Here he told the first man he met that he had seen two bodies hanging to
the bridge, and a crowd was soon on the way to the river, expecting to
find the results of a vigilance committee suspended from the stringers.
The two men were quickly pulled up on to the bridge and the ropes that
bound them like steel bands were cut from their bodies. Both men were so
stiff that they had to be carried to town, and the doctor and several
men worked over them for more than an hour trying to restore the
circulation in their stiffened limbs and almost frozen bodies. The story
of their capture set the whole town to laughing, and the more people
laughed, the more ridiculous the happening grew. Nor did it lose
anything in the telling and soon the entire county was also laughing
over the misfortunes of the two peace officers. Jenkins' chief political
opponent naturally made the most of it and under such conditions that
gentleman was literally laughed into political obscurity.
About that time the Wells-Fargo Express Company feared a hold-up on the
railroad, and Jenkins and Tex, glad to leave the scene of their
water-cure adventure, secured positions as guards and soon dropped out
of polite society in Horse Head as represented by the gang around the
"Bucket of Blood" and its immediate vicinity.
[Illustration: "_They gave the money to Jackson, the Cross J wagon
boss_"]
The next time they came to town the "Cross J" boys chipped in a dollar
each and gave it to old "Dad," the cook, counted the luckiest "wheel"
player in the bunch, who took the coin and with a burst of good luck
soon ran it up to something over a hundred dollars at the roulette
wheel. This entire amount he gave to Jackson the wagon boss, who went
down to Chinese Louie's place, and poured it out on the counter before
the heathen's astonished eyes, as a peace offering from the "shoot 'em
up" crowd that had wrecked his place.
That night about midnight Louie and his assistant set out to the boys
the very swellest "feed" his culinary abilities could prepare, and the
affair of the shooting up of Horse Head and the putting of the marshal
and his aid-de-camp to soak under the bridge in the cold nasty waters of
the Rio Puerco was thus amicably settled over the viands that the
Chinaman furnished.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Transcriber's notes:
The following is a list of changes made to the original.
The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
she's a-grazin' and' it's a sure shot the calf's hid away in
she's a-grazin' an' it's a sure shot the calf's hid away in
It was the end of the road for the blue roan.
It was the end of the road for the blue-roan.
like videttes on guard over the canon.
like videttes on guard over the cañon.
deep box canons impassable for miles.
deep box cañons impassable for miles.
It brought very man in camp to his feet, for high above
It brought every man in camp to his feet, for high above
the Little Colorado River 'bout the mouth of the Canon
the Little Colorado River 'bout the mouth of the Cañon
"I'll never miss them spurs, said Bob pointing to an
"I'll never miss them spurs," said Bob pointing to an
steer round up" he asked of the new comer.
steer round up?" he asked of the newcomer.
burst from my eager lips."
burst from my eager lips.
I sent one of the boys back with the hoss, an tole him to
I sent one of the boys back with the hoss, an' tole him to
"Then the captain he sort of grins an' sez. 'That's
"Then the captain he sort of grins an' sez, 'That's
Then the captain, he bein' a fine old sojer man, with
"Then the captain, he bein' a fine old sojer man, with
iver seen in all his life. 'Twas sure no fault wid thim steers
iver seen in all his life. ''Twas sure no fault wid thim steers
of the Stars and' Stripes a-flyin' overhead. I was busy
of the Stars an' Stripes a-flyin' overhead. I was busy
End of Project Gutenberg's Tales from the X-bar Horse Camp, by Will C. Barnes