class cutting horse is a treat indeed.

During these last few years of ranch life my leisure gave me time to
make odd excursions here and there. Good shooting was to be had near
Amarillo--any amount of bobwhite quail, quantities of prairie-chickens,
plovers, etc. And, by-the-bye, at Fort Sumner I had all to myself the
finest kind of sport. There was a broad avenue of large cotton-wood
trees some miles in length. In the evening the doves, excellent eating,
and, perhaps for that reason, tremendously fast fliers, would flash by
in twos or threes up or down this avenue, going at railroad speed. But
my pleasure was marred by having no companion to share the sport.

Then I made many trips to the Rocky Mountains to fish for rainbow trout
in such noble streams as the Rio Grande del Norte, the Gunnison, the
Platte and others. In the early days these rivers were almost virgin
streams, hotching with trout of all sizes up to twelve and even fifteen
pounds. The monsters could seldom be tempted except with spoon or live
bait, but trout up to six or seven pounds were common prizes. Out of a
small, a ridiculously small, tributary of the Gunnison River I one day
took more fish than I could carry home, each two to three pounds in
weight. But that was murdering--mere massacre and not sport.

During a cattle convention held at El Paso I first attended a bull-fight
in Juarez and I have since seen others in the city of Mexico and
elsewhere. The killing of the poor blindfolded horses is a loathsome,
disgusting sight, and so affected me that I almost prayed that the
gallant, handsome matadors would be killed. Indeed, at Mexico City, I
afterwards saw Bombita, a celebrated Spanish matador, tossed and gored
to death. The true ring-bull of fighting breed is a splendid animal;
when enraged he does not seem to suffer much from the insertion of
banderillas, etc., and his death stab is generally instantaneously
fatal. Certainly the enthusiasm of the ring, the presence of Mexican
belles and their cavalleros, the picturesqueness and novelty of the
whole show are worth experiencing.

It should be remembered that the red cloth waved in front of him is the
main cause of Toro's irritation. Why it should so irritate him we don't
know. When a picador and his horse are down they are absolutely at the
mercy of the bull; and the onlooker naturally thinks that he will
proceed to gore man and horse till they are absolutely destroyed. But
the cloth being at once