April 5, 2026
It's time for another installment of On the Border with Boze.
Mule Smarts
A military pack train picks its way higher and higher towards the summit of the Sierra Madres when a sudden stop at the top, ricochets down the line and five mules collide on a narrow turn, sending a heavily packed mule towards the abyss and certain death.
Spreading out flat and reaching out with his front hooves, the mule calmly grabs an outcropping of rocks while his handler and the other muleteers look on in horror. Slowly and with some determination, the mule reaches forward and hooks his hoof on a sturdy rock and starts to pull himself back up from his precarious position. Then, slowly but surely he gains the ledge, and with a toe hold he leverages it to gain access back up on the ledge. Once free of the precipice, the mule climbs back up on the trail, shakes himself off, and continues on as if nothing had happened.
A nearby civilian scout mutters to no one in particular, "I want one of those!"
And that is how Mickey Free came to ride a mammoth Jack, eighteen hands high.
One of the eye witnesses to this incredible and perhaps even true story was this guy:
"About half of what I say you should take with a grain of salt, but the rest is just honest to goodness BS."
—Tom Horn, lead packer and BSer extraordinaire
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