by Max Evans
Jimmy rode down to the pickup and horse trailer, then drove back to take the cow home. The maverick calf with tiny nubbin horns was off the road somewhere out of sight, but probably nearby.
The next day Jimmy rode leisurely back to the spot where he caught the cow, expecting to find the bull calf bawling for his mamma. It wasn't there. He slid his horse off down the trail, confident he'd easily find the calf. They'd cleaned the country of wild cattle so many fresh tracks were bound to be the little baby bull's. Well, he rode for several days and although he found the sign, he never saw the calf. The little critter was running the same country as his mama, backtracking and pulling the same tricks she had. Jimmy was getting the first tiny inkling of the marvelous events yet to come. Well, no bother. He had fences, windmills, and other cattle to look after. He'd let Billy Bob rest awhile, then come back and get the little feller.
When Jimmy returned to the scene, he found the calf tracks and other damp sign. He saw him with his own eyes. He ran him with his own horse. The little bull would run—no, he would fall—off the mountains at least three times as fast as the best cowboy and horse possibly could.
Jimmy said, "That calf just wouldn't go where any well-thinking animal should. If I jumped him at the bottom of a canyon, he would charge up through bush so thick it would have stalled an army tank and then he'd bounce across piles of rocks so agilely that if a mountain goat had seen it he would have fallen dead from pure jealousy."
Jimmy never got a loop. He did get very tired. After three hours of these games, Billy Bob was sapped out, too. So, Jimmy decided that all his other chores had suddenly become extra urgent, and besides, if he pulled out for a couple of weeks maybe a rain would eradicate all the old tracks and he'd have a clean shot at him.
Rob Cox came back to help again. They both made runs at the calf, but neither got close enough to throw a loop. The anguish mounted. Jimmy was finding it harder and harder to go into town now. The kind and considerate populace showed its deep concern by asking him about the elusive bull every place he went. One morning, as he was walking out to saddle his horse, even Sue, his patient wife, yelled after him, "Are you gonna go play with Super Bull again today, Honey?" That's the day the maverick got his name. Jimmy humped up like he'd been shot in the butt with a sackful of rattlesnake fangs, and with a great show of willpower kept his teeth clamped together.
Super Bull was getting bigger and stronger every day. Jimmy and Billy Bob were getting weaker. Sometimes Jimmy would spot Super Bull through field-glasses way across a canyon just lying in a flat, grassy spot looking back at him. All the time Jimmy was riding down the canyon and up the mountain, the calf would be resting. He had every advantage.
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About The Author
Max Evans was born on August 29, 1925 in Ropes, Texas and currently lives with his wife Pat James in Albuquerque, NM. He is a writer and director, best known for his novel, The Rounders (which was made into a movie starring Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda in 1965) and The Hi-Lo Country, which also became a movie in 1998.
Evans has published over 25 books and won multiple Spur, Wrangler, and Owen Wister awards.
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