Twenty Miles From A Match: Homesteading In Western Nevada

Chapter Six

.~[ Six I~ I had to get Alice to the doctor. It was eleven o'clock at night when I decided, and our old horse was loose without hobbles and always very hard to catch. When we turned him loose we had to walk two miles and a half to the Winnemucca Ranch to get two cowboys to lasso him for us. I have seen them run after him for hours and try in every way to fasten the loop on him. Johnny could dodge and slip through loops with the greatest of ease and skill. The boys would cuss and call him and his ancestors all kinds of names and finally succeed in catching him after hours of hard work. When I went to A.J.'s bed and said, "I've got to take Alice to the doctor," it was small wonder that he gasped out, "Old lady, you're crazy. You'll never catch Johnny." "Well, I'll go out and try. I can't let this baby die without trying to get help for her." Johnny was running with a bunch of twenty gentle horses. I had glimpsed them earlier that evening feeding on a grassy flat about half a mile from our cabin. Hoping they were still there, I started out to find them. Tying an old-fashioned apron around my waist, I filled my lap with grain, and armed only with the grain and a prayer, "Oh, God, help me catch old 48 TIVENTY MILES FROM A MATCH Johnny," I walked out into the moonlight. Sure enough, the horses were still on the flat·. I approached them, talking low, "Corne, boys. Corne now. Don't be afraid," and rattled the grain in my apron. At their first sight of me they all turned and ran. I slowly followed, still talking and rattling the grain. Soon they turned and carne toward me with mincing steps, snorting, their heads going up and down inquisitively, circling round and round me. I held out a handful of grain and kept on speaking to them softly. First one and then another took a taste of the grain as I held it out in my hand, then they all crowded around me, trying to get a handful of grain. All the while Johnny was sneaking along in the background. Had he seen a rope he would never have corne near me. Seeing none, he carne up from behind, put his head over my shoulder, and ate grain from my lap. I reached around with my free hand, untied my apron strings, and slipped them around his neck. I stood there letting him finish the grain and led him horne. Any kind of a string would hold him, once he knew he was caught. I believe that was the only time he was ever caught without a wild chase. But also it was the only time he was ever caught with a prayer. It took some time to get hitched up. Then I had to make Alice's bed in the wagon and put up a lunch for myself. It was two A.M. when I loaded my sick baby into the wagon. I kissed A.J. good-bye and started out with many misgivings. I wondered if I was doing right. What if A.J. should die with Edson too sick to hold up his head, and only eight-year-old Jessie to take care of things. What would she do? It would frighten her to death if Daddy CHAPTER SIX 49 passed away. All these and many other troubled thoughts went through my mind. Why, I began to wonder, had I undertaken such a thing? Why had I thought I was so smart? Why had I thought I could do what everyone told me couldn't be done? Why hadn't I listened to them? With all these self-condemning thoughts I drove the mile down to the gate that opened onto the county road. When I closed the heavy gate I was facing our cabin outlined so clearly in the moonlight. It was then I had to truly decide whether to go on or to turn back. One minute I would think, "Yes, go on. Take Alice to the doctor. Save her. I can't do anything for Daddy." The next second I would think, "Don't leave A.J. alone in there to die." In sheer...