Buckshot

“ Having always one barrel loaded with ball and the other with buckshot for this work, I was ready to take a long shot with the bullet, if there was any appearance of the birds taking an early flight. If, however, no signs of impatience were shown, and the pouw tried the hiding dodge, the plan was to get within eighty or one hundred yards, dismount, and run in towards the birds: they could not rise very quickly, and a dose of buckshot, as they opened their wings, was generally effective in stopping them. ”

“ I says, gittin’ on my ear good and plenty, “I’ll just natu’ally take him acrosst my knee and give him a spankin’.”
“And he’ll put enough slugs in you t’ make a sinker,” answers Buckshot. “Why, Cupid, Hank Shackleton can fight his weight in wildcats. You go slow.”
“But he cain’t shoot,” I says.
“He cain’t shoot!” repeats Buckshot. “Why, I hear he was a reg’lar gun-fighter oncet, and so blamed fancy with his shootin’ that he could drive a two-penny nail into a plank at twenty yards ev’ry bit as good as a carpenter.”
“Wal,” I says, “I’ll be blasted if that’s got me scairt any.” ”

“ Next to the fight of Wild Bill with the McCandlas gang, the fight of Buckshot Roberts at Blazer's Mill, on the Mescalero Indian reservation, is perhaps the most remarkable combat of one man against odds ever known in the West. The latter affair is little known, but deserves its record.
Buckshot Roberts was one of those men who appeared on the frontier and gave little history of their own past. He came West from Texas, but it is thought that he was born farther east than the Lone Star state. He was long in the United States army, where he reached the rank of sergeant before his discharge ”

“ Dacey paused. Buckshot John's face told him nothing. The convict was staring straight in front of him, expressionless as if he had been carved out of wood.
"If you think for a minute that you can trust a man of that kind, John," urged the reporter kindly, "you're making a mistake. If there was anything to be split up, and the doc had the ax, your end wouldn't be big enough to buy swimming-trunks for a water-bug. You're in bad, I tell you—awful bad. This fellow will shear you like a sheep. He makes his living trimming smarter people than you ever saw!" ”

“ If any other train robbers want to do business in our territory, they have the same rights that we have, and the world is big enough for all to ply their trade. Now I am going to call upon our friend, Buckskin Bill, my associate in crime, who was wounded by a misdirected load of buckshot in our latest raid, which buckshot were so ably removed from his person by our distinguished friend who is so soon to leave us, and the leader again passed the loving cup and gave way to Buckskin Bill, who said ”

“ I have always remarked, as a general rule, to which there may be some exceptions, that those who show themselves fierce and sanguinary when there is slight or no resistance, are easily cowed by determination and a bold bearing. The very raising of the gun to my shoulder, though at too great a distance for buckshot to have been very efficacious, made the foremost man halt and recoil upon those behind; and two or three slipped in amongst the trees on either side of the path, to be out of the line of fire. ”

“ They didn't want to be taken alive, and they killed six of the posse and wounded a lot more. The boys played even by getting Mexican Frank, Curly Dupree, Joe White, the Whistling Kid, and a couple more who were lucky enough to be killed outright. Bad Jake, Charley Elms, Hairtrigger Jordan, and this fellow Buckshot John were taken alive, all more or less wounded. That accounted for the whole works."
"A nice clean-up," commented Gilmore. "It doesn't happen very often that they get 'em all at the same time. What did they do to Kennedy?"
"The usual," said Dacey. "The boys got impatient. ”

“ It couldn't have been dad, since he had his shotgun loaded with buckshot."
"What difference did it make?" he wanted to know impatiently. "Say I'd have explained till kingdom come that I borrowed the rifle from a friend five minutes after Faulkner was hit—would anybody have believed me? Would it have made a bit of difference?"
Her shining eyes were more eloquent than a thousand tongues. "I don't say it would, but there was always the chance. You didn't take it. You would have let them hang you, without speaking the word that brought me into it. Why?" ”

“ Next day the Buck was lying behind a fallen tree, chewing his cud, when the breeze brought him a whiff of an unpleasant human odor. He jumped up and hurried away, and the judge heard him crash through the bushes, and searched until he had found his trail. An hour later, as the Buck was nosing for beechnuts in the snow, a rifle cracked and a bullet went zipping by and carried [217] off the very tip of his left antler. He dropped his white flag and was off like a shot.
Chase a wounded deer, and he will run for miles; leave him alone, and if he is badly hurt he will soon lie down. ”

“ For the second time that day he heard the whine of a bullet. He thought that the shot came from the cliffs just at the head of Squaw Creek cañon. But he could not be sure. There was ample protection there for a man hiding, tall brush in a hollow and three or four stunted trees, wind-twisted. He'd make the climb to-morrow and see about it. Now he'd keep right on moving. Little used to travelling save on a horse's back he was shot through with odd little pains when at last he came to the border-line fenced and the waiting horse. Tommy Burkitt held it for him while Lee mounted. ”

“ Tim and Red rose slowly, so that they could see beyond the rock. Two men had dismounted. They were bending over a fallen third. A short grisled man, built like a gorilla, held a rifle at the ready, and the other—a young, dark-haired man—clutched a shotgun in his hand. Red took aim and caught the short man square in the head. The man’s [177] body slumped to the ground and two of the horses rose on their hind legs, whinnied and bolted in terror. As the third man grabbed at the bridle of his horse Red straightened up, holding the revolver. ”

“ I had brought out a shot-gun of my own, and I borrowed a cheap Mauser sporting rifle from the store. I had been born with a good eye and a steady hand, and very soon I became a fair shot with a gun and, I believe, a really fine shot with the rifle. The sides of the Berg were full of quail and partridge and bush pheasant, and on the grassy plateau there was abundance of a bird not unlike our own blackcock, which the Dutch called korhaan. But the great sport was to stalk bush-buck in the thickets, which is a game in which the hunter is at small advantage. ”

“ He knew what that action meant, and that a keen knife was being drawn over the holding lariat.
Now Buckskin was free from his tether. He could be seen for the first time rearing in the air, as a cow pony always will when full of spirit, or excited.
Frank had thrown his rifle half way to his shoulder on the impulse of the moment. Then, as if on second thought, he let it drop again; and Bob actually believed he heard him give vent to a chuckle.
“Why don’t you shoot at him, Frank?” the latter cried, excitedly. “Look! he’s going to run away with your horse!”
“Is he?” answered Frank. ”

“ Buckskin dared not disobey. Possibly he had in a measure satisfied his desire for revenge, and felt that he could afford to let the thief get away in a crippled condition.
“Good old chap!” said Frank, as he fondled the muzzle of the intelligent pony. “The rustler that gets you will have to be a better man than that one you just nibbled at!”
“Isn’t he a wonder, though!” declared the admiring Bob. “I never would have believed that a horse could be so smart. And if you hadn’t called him off, Frank, ten chances to one that fellow would have paid dearly for wanting to get our mounts.” ”

“ Keeping as close to the face of the wall of stone as possible, and stepping carefully, Brickdust crossed the broken spot in the cliff trail.
“Sim, you help Bob get his mount over,” said Frank, as he started to follow the example of Mr. Riley.
Of course Buckskin gave no trouble. He had been brought up amid such wild surroundings, and was as sure-footed as a mountain goat. Besides, doubtless during the innumerable gallops taken by Frank, they had frequently been compelled to navigate ticklish paths, where a slip meant disaster; so the horse was used to such things. ”

“ The hair on the crown of his head parted violently as the bullet from the gun in Buckmaster's hand hit its mark.
The gun became a weight too heavy for Buckmaster's lifeless fingers and dropped to the floor. The last spark of life flickered for a brief moment where it had fled in some inner recess of his brain and he felt the Force for the last time. ”

“ For us the Englishmen had become a target, and nothing more.
Bucks was the most eager of us. He showed his teeth like a wolf.
The Englishman reached the water and stooped over to fill his pail. Bending, he forgot himself and thrust his head beyond the board. With a quickness that I have never seen surpassed, Bucks threw up his rifle and fired. The Englishman fell into the water as dead as a stone, and, his board and his pail falling too, floated off down the stream. ”

“ Maybe the shoe is on the other foot; and Buckskin is going to run away with him! Watch what happens, Bob!”
“Oh! look at the pony kick up!” gasped Bob. “But that’s a good rider, Frank. He sticks like a leech, and he may beat the horse at his own game!”
“Wait!”
Frank knew his horse. He had won a victory over the vicious little beast only after the longest fight recorded in the history of Circle Ranch. [Pg 60] And among the cow punchers there were few indeed who could stick on the back of Buckskin when he started his bucking tactics. ”

“ Buck tapped the heavy barrel on the table. "I say it changes a hell of a lot of things." Tap went the barrel. "You wanta argue?"
"Not with the gun," the professor said calmly. "It always wins. I'll talk with you, however, if you'll talk with your mouth instead of with the gun."
By this time I was filled with admiration for the professor's guts, and fear that he'd get a bullet in them ... I was all set to duck, in case Buck should lose his temper and start throwing lead.
But suddenly Buck's gun was back in his holster. I saw the professor blink again in astonishment. ”

“ Gun shot them."
Buckskin twitched from head to foot with excitement. He made inarticulate sounds of joy.
Fawnie came to the door of the millinery shop with a blue hat on her head. Did darling like it? Darling thought it was horrible and said so. It made her sallow. Then she came wearing a red one with black wings. Not so bad; but it was a little brown one he chose with a fur band; just like a little French hat, the milliner followed Fawnie to the door to say. It certainly became her, and she wore it when she left, carrying her old one in a paper bag. ”

“ He made noise enough for a pack of dogs and simulated a fury that gave the bear the surprise of his life. Bucks realized that only his four-legged friend stood between him and destruction and that so unequal a contest could not endure long. Skilful as 106 the little fellow was, he was pitted against an antagonist quite as quick and wary. The clumsiness of the bear was no more than seeming, and any one of the terrific blows he dealt at Scuffy with his huge paw would have stretched a man lifeless. Bucks, collecting his disordered faculties, raised his rifle to help his champion with a shot. ”

“ Bucks raised his rifle and began to take aim. I sprang up and dashed his rifle aside. I am afraid I swore at him too. I hope I did.
“What are you about, Bucks?” I cried. “Would you shoot a woman?”
“Mr. Shelby,” he replied very coolly, “we’re put here to keep the British from that water, man or woman. What’s a woman’s life to the fate of a whole army? You may outrank me, but you don’t command me in this case, and I’m going to shoot.”
I stooped down and with a sudden movement snatched the gun from his grasp.
“Don’t mind it, Bucks,” said the man in the tree; “I’ll shoot.” ”

“ Stretched full length in a crevice near the top of a mesa lay the other hunter, his rifle trained on a small bowlder several hundred yards down and across the draw. His first shot had been an inexcusable blunder for a marksman like himself and now he had a desperate man and a very capable shot opposing him. If Buck could hold out until nightfall he could slip away in the darkness and do some stalking on his own account. ”

“ On one occasion his master descried a band of 100 warriors, who gave them chase from the headwaters of the Republican River to Fort McPherson, a distance of 195 miles. It was at a season when the ponies were in good condition, and the savage band, though thirsting for the scalp of their well-known foe, Pa-he-has-ka (the long-haired scout) , dropped behind until on the last fifty miles but fifteen of the fleetest were in pursuit, Buckskin leaving them out of sight twenty miles from the fort. ”

“ The intending horse thief was indeed a clever rider. No other could have held his seat on the bare back of that jumping pony for half a minute, with only the assistance of a fragment of rope to give him support.
And it was the admiration Frank felt for the fellow’s grit that really kept him from resorting to his gun to wind matters up. Besides, Frank believed that in due time Buckskin would amply prove that he was able to take care of himself.
Sometimes the maddened pony would seem to have its four hoofs in the air at once. ”

“ I could hear your Buckskin snorting to beat the band, and pawing just like he does when he's worried. Reckon they didn't know what to make of it, either, seeing that there's nary a sign of a storm cloud around. But both horses have quieted down again. They think all danger of a howler has passed away."
Frank made no reply. He was already getting ready to resume his interrupted nap; and Bob lost no time in following his example, both confident that in the alert Buckskin they had a sentry capable of giving ample warning should peril threaten. ”