WHAT JACK LEARNED FROM PEDRO.
Some weeks passed, and still Jack stayed on with his new friend. The
time had not been lost for the boy, as he had learnt many things which
he had not known before, and which were very useful to him in
after-life. He was quick and deft with his lingers, and Pedro taught
him in a few days how to cut and plait long strips of leather into
lariats and bridle-reins, and to make ornamental belts.
'I wish you'd teach me to throw a lariat like the cowboys,' said Jack
one day.
'Come and try, then,' returned Pedro, taking down a long leather rope
that was coiled round the tent-pole and going outside. 'Now watch me.
I take the rope up in loops, leaving the noose end out. Then swing it
round in a circle over your head, quicker and quicker, while you take
aim and try and throw it over the beast's head like that;' and as he
spoke, Pedro let the noose fall gently over Senor's neck, who was
running past at some distance away.
[Illustration: 'PEDRO LET THE NOOSE FALL OVER SENOR'S NECK.']
He then put up a post, and showed Jack how to drop the noose over it.
It was very hard at first to aim straight, but Jack had a quick eye,
and after two or three days' hard practising, he made a very good
attempt at throwing the rope in the right place. Day after day he went
at it, until one never-to-be-forgotten morning he also succeeded in
lariating Senor as he trotted by. This was a great achievement, and
quite repaid Jack for the trouble of practising so hard to accomplish
it.
One place that pleased Jack very much was a prairie-dog village close
by. Many an hour did he spend watching the fearless little prairie
dogs, who came out of their holes and barked defiantly at him like so
many cheeky puppies, until the tears ran down his face from laughing at
their antics. Sometimes for fun Jack pretended to throw stones at
them, and the instant he raised his arm they disappeared down their
holes as if by magic, but peeped out again in a minute or two, quite
ready to venture forth again.
Jack saw a great many rattlesnakes when he wandered about with Pedro on
the prairie. He was very much afraid of them--and no wonder, for their
poisonous bite is often fatal. Pedro was so familiar with them from
his childhood, that he did not mind them in the least, and killed them
by an extraordinary native trick. He would fearlessly follow a
retreating snake, seize it by the tail, swing it rapidly round, and
with a dexterous twist of his wrist would crack it like a whip, and
dislocate its spine. Being thus rendered helpless, the reptile was
easily despatched. As a rule, they tried to escape, but if by chance
one showed fight, it was harder to kill, as it would twist itself up in
a coil, shaking its rattles noisily, with its head out ready to spring
and strike.
Jack had a boy's love for possessing things, and in a short time, with
Pedro's help, had a small collection of treasures to carry away with
him. He found plenty of rattles on the prairie, as the snakes cast off
their rattles every year, and Pedro gave him a skin of a horned toad, a
curious creature covered with tiny horns all over its body.
One day Pedro killed a strange-looking animal called a skunk. It was
very handsome, like a large black-and-white striped cat with a
magnificent bushy tail, but it had such a disagreeable smell it made
Jack feel ill.
'You surely can't skin that nasty thing?' he asked.
'Wait and see,' returned Pedro, carrying the dead animal towards a
creek. 'I'll show you how the Indians skin 'em.'
He put the skunk quite under the water and kept it there while he took
off the skin, as this process destroyed the strong odour belonging to
the creature. Jack was very interested, and watched him until the skin
was hung out to dry.
Pedro taught Jack to know some of the principal grasses that grew on
the prairie. There was the bunch grass, the buffalo grass, and the
funny sickle-shaped 'gamma' grass, on which thousands of cattle fed,
and amongst others, Pedro pointed out a terrible plant, the dread of
many a ranchman. With its pretty white flowers it looked harmless
enough; but woe to the poor animals who ate much of the plant, for it
contained a deadly poison which had first the effect of driving them
crazy, and ended by killing them. It was called 'loco,' which in
English means 'crazy,' and some people call it the 'crazy weed.'
A great number of cactus bushes grew round the tent; some were quite
big, with long arms stretching out, covered with prickles, and others
grew close to the ground, and Jack had to look carefully when he
walked, or he would have got badly pricked.
Pedro was a grand story-teller, and often as they sat watching the
sheep or working in the tent, he would tell wonderful tales. When they
heard the dismal howls of bands of coyotes, or prairie wolves, he would
tell Jack what cowardly creatures they really were: how they were
afraid to attack strong cattle, but would persistently follow a weak,
sick animal for days, dogging its footsteps until the poor thing fell
from exhaustion. Then they would pounce on it and tear it in pieces.
He would tell him, too, about the time when he lived on the Indian
frontier, and had to help to protect the settlers from the bands of
fierce Apaches, Utes, and Navajo Indians, who came making raids for
cattle over the border, often setting fire to houses and killing the
settlers. He described how the Indians had massacred thousands of
buffaloes by driving them into deep ravines where they could not
escape, and then killing them, not so much to provide themselves with
food as to prevent their enemies getting them. It was cruel slaughter,
and the result has been that the buffaloes are almost extinct now,
where years ago they swarmed in vast herds on the prairie.
As Jack listened to Pedro's tales of wonderful escapes from mountain
lions, wolves, and bears, he saw himself that the Mexican was right,
when he said it was impossible for a little child like him to attempt
to cross the big mountains all alone, and he wisely made up his mind to
stay contentedly with Pedro until he got the chance of travelling with
some nice companion. He would have been quite happy with the Mexican
and his good dog, except for the great longing to see his parents,
which sometimes almost impelled him to resume his journey at all risks.