Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 202

                                
202 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES.

not pursue me   far, and I dis-
mounted and took the rope fromll
the ill-smelling little beast, and
returned to  where  Wess   was
waiting for me. We worked the
same plan over again, witl thel
result this time that I got my
horse under the tree. and .Tol.;l
jumping quickly down, without
even waiting to pick up his gun,
which he had thrown down upon
our arrival. vaulted  upon nm
horse with me. and then the flun
began! (?). The horse I was rid-
inj had not been broken to carry
double and 11no  sooner  had  he
struck, than with a snort and an
arching of the back the iiifernal
beast tried with a vim to unseat
us both. Things were certainly
getting bad. when the same thing
that got us inll the trouble got us
out, namely, the javelins. One
of the little savage devils coming
back from  the pursuit of X\ess'
horse. saw the horse there, and
apparently did not wait for an in-
vitation to join in the fun, but
eame right in with a right good
will. The first intimation I ha(1
of his presence was to hear hil
snapl his teeth  directly  behind
the madly pitching horse-and the
next  thing  I knew    he  had
slashed the horse's right hind leg
w ith   his  razor-like  teet h.
Well, if the situation  had  not
been so serious, it would have
been funny no doubt to have seenii
how quickly the horse's objection
to  our presence on   his back
changed to the javeline's on Ins
hind leg! With a blood(-curlling
sereami of brute terror thai- was

half human, tin horse di( d not wait
for the seeon(l attack, buit ironie-
(liately started  oi  a  wild r 1n1
1)aek ill the' (iirction we had collie
from. IThis piece  of hlind  luck
was lllcky, iid eed(l,. for us. for t'he
horse was ablu5iltely li1n1ial(
ahlle, all(i it was not  untii  we
leare(1  tlhe  ('ail;),. an(d J.oli : risk-
ing broken lI ones and lpear   iorfns,
jimpetl  (ownd as we were near-
ig the ('aip, and I then     sue-
(eeded( iii (uietiig tle ')leedi g
horse eiinough to let h i  ii ea(led
more slowly tow':ird our cai)p.
It was 1ow well P ast 1i(1lnight
but we woul(l not let .Jolhii retire
until he hal recounltedl his ldvn-
tire at lengti to us. It seems as
if the leader of the javelins w as
a evry large hoa)',. ail(d this par-
ticular javelin was making th iigs
interesting for J011  I)y miaiian
leaps straight lp ii the air to 1Irv
to slash him with h is teet  , and ii
was not until he had fired four
shots at hin (lid lie scceee( i kill-
ing himn on acc.ol1n1t of the lin icr-
tain shooting in  the s5'-1111ark-
ness. One things' .oihn  a was  p11-
zled over, was where llii is l ('ol(r
of the 1)an(d was when hle first shot
the one in the brush, as lie diniirot
appear up)on the scene 1o'r ,over an
" hour after lie hiad heen tr ed Us-
ually, the leader of the indl is
the first one upon the job: 1)ut
we decided  he  was   wan(ier1in,,
about with sonie of tille oli(rs
in search of some food. W\Ve agreed
that there must  have   ben    at
least 35 of the lpec'caries iii that
l)lln(h and a visit to the spot the
next lday sho\Ve(l seven( I11 (111
(dead.

II  F~I7.