ARE YOU LOOKING FOR US?
Johnston had a pair of these dogs, and used to assist his neighbors in rounding up their wild hogs. In one case, he and several other men went with an old German ranchman away up into the mountains to bring out a drove of these pine-skinners, many of whom had scarcely seen a human being since they were pigs, and at sight of the party the hogs stampeded of course, and ran like so many deer. The dogs were turned loose, took up a trail, and soon had a vicious critter by the ears, when the packers came up, muzzled and tied it securely. The dogs were then turned loose again, and another hog was rounded up in the same way. These two were hung onto a pack-animal with their backs down, their feet lashed together over the pack-saddle, and their long, sharp snouts pointing toward the horse's head. They were duly cinched, and the horse turned loose to join the train. This operation was repeated until the whole herd was corralled and swung into place on the horses, and the squealing, groaning, and snorting of the terrified brutes was almost deafening. One pair of hogs were loaded on a little mule which had never been accustomed to this work, and, as the men were all engaged in handling the other animals, the old ranchman said he would lead this mule down the mountain himself. Johnston and his partner cinched the hogs on in good shape, while the Dutchman hung to the mule.
A BUCKING MULE.
As they were giving the ropes the final pull, Johnston gave his chum a wink, and they both slipped out their knives, cut the muzzles off the porkers when the old man was looking the other way, and told him to go ahead. He started down the trail towing the little mule, which did not relish its load in the least, by the halter. The hogs were struggling to free themselves, and, as the thongs began to cut into their legs, they got mad and began to bite the mule.
Then there was trouble; stiff-legged bucking set in, and mule and hogs were churned up and down, and changed ends so rapidly that for a few minutes it was hard to tell which of the three animals was on the outside, the inside, the topside, or the bottom-side. The poor little mule was frantic with rage and fright, and what a mule can not and will not do under such circumstances, to get rid of a load can not be done by any four-footed beast. He pawed the air, kicked, and brayed, jumped backward, forward, and sidewise, and twisted himself into every imaginable shape. The old Dutchman was as badly stampeded as the mule; he shouted, yanked, and swore in Dutch, English, and Spanish; he yelled to the men above to come and help him, but they were so convulsed and doubled up with laughter that they could not have helped him if they would.
Finally, the mule got away from the old man and went tearing down into the cañon; he overtook and passed the balance of the pack-train, stampeded them almost beyond control of the packers, and knocked the poor hogs against trees and brush until they were almost dead. He ran nearly six miles, and being unable to get rid of his pack, fell exhausted and lay there until the men came up and took charge of him. The old man accused Johnston of cutting the muzzles off the hogs, but he and his partner both denied it, said they certainly must have slipped off, and they finally convinced him that that was the way the trouble came about.
THE BUCKER AND THE BUSTER.