Alpine pasture

Chapter 271 It's Fortunately Not Bottom

A total of more than 20 people arrived and took off their saddles, and drove the horses to the surrounding grass to graze. Some sat directly on the saddles, and some simply sat on the ground without a stall. Drinking beer and chatting in small groups, Ju An waited for a long time, drank two or three bottles of beer, and put water in the woods twice, but there was no sign of starting. A group of cowboys gathered together and chatted about their ranch Or cattle and sheep, a few ranchers chatted with Ju An mostly about the naughty boy. After the Triple Crown, the naughty boy would go to various parts of the United States to participate in one or two games from time to time, constantly refreshing himself The consecutive victories, but also spit out small money for Ju An, of course, the prize money cannot be compared with the Triple Crown, and each game is like 10,000 + 20.Basically, Ju An was chatting with these old cows about the naughty things he knew. After chatting, he found that half of the ranchers came with their sons, and some of them went to the battle with three fathers and sons, which directly changed the game. It has become a parent-child event. It is a bit exaggerated to say that it is a parent-child event. It is fun for the old cowboys in their 60s and [-]s to bring their sons who are at least in their thirties to compete together.

After waiting for almost an hour, a large group of cowboys estimated that they had just finished drinking, so the old Taylor stood up and clapped his hands on the top of his head a few times: "Guys! Guys! It's almost time, everyone is ready to start the game In this competition, archery is first, then ax throwing, and finally revolver shooting. Each person shoots three arrows, and each person throws an ax once. In the pistol competition, each person has five bullets. More to say, if he didn’t understand this time, he will know next year.”After speaking, he looked at Ju An with a smile, and the rest of the cowboys laughed too. Ju An also raised the beer bottle in his hand and gestured to Old Taylor.

As soon as Taylor finished speaking, two cowboys lifted the archery target aside. They said it was an archery target rather than a chopping board. It was similar to the common old chopping boards in our country. It was neatly cut from a big tree. The circle is five or six centimeters thick, and there is no need to draw the circle of the target. It is directly represented by the growth rings of the tree, and a group of several growth rings is painted with white paint.

As soon as the target was set up, the cowboys gathered around ten meters in front of the target. Old Taylor was the first to pick up the bow and arrow. After shooting three arrows, all three arrows hit the bull's-eye. An old cowboy next to him smiled after seeing it. Joking with Taylor: "It's much better than last year. Is it because I haven't had any special practice for the couple's life at night for a year?"After speaking, the old cowboys who watched beside him burst into laughter.

Old Taylor waited for the scorer to record the score, then handed the bow and arrow to the old cowboy on his ranch and said, "Shut up, old Charlie, you won the championship when old Zach wasn't here last year, and this year our team is human!" The horse is strong, and the champion has been booked by us."After speaking, he patted a Zach next to him.

The archery skills of these old cowboys are really not good. Basically, everyone is close to each other. The three of Ju'an Ranch are the last wave of archery. The first one to appear is Ju An. Waiting for Ju An to shoot the first shot One arrow almost missed the target, and when Ju An finished shooting all three arrows, the cowboys beside him laughed, and someone in the crowd laughed and said, "Ann! Your archery skills are far away." It's far inferior to the speed of the naughty bag."

Ju An laughed and said haha: "Taylor just informed me a week ago, I don't have much time to practice, and I will let you know how good it is next year."Before he finished speaking, the cowboys next to him laughed and booed.

Both Thomas and Lawrence were well-regarded. As soon as the archery results came out, the scores of the cowboys in several pastures were not too big. It's not a regular competition. The old cowboys counted to the decimal point. When the results came out, Ju An found out that the old cowboys divided the ten annual rings into one ring. The entire tree trunk has only five rings. Ju An's three The arrows were all shot in the outermost circle, and the final result was naturally that Ju'an's group was at the bottom.

When it was time for the ax throwing competition, a poker card was set in the middle of the target, and those who threw the poker cards were counted as points, and those who did not hit were not scored. Watching the two or three ranch players in front of them finish throwing, Ju An expected others to make mistakes The incident didn’t happen, so it was my team’s turn. Ju’an was the first to play, but this time there was no joke. The small ax was obediently nailed to the playing cards. Almost half broken.

After letting Thornton next to him see it, he said to Ju An: "Is this your luck or accuracy? That's it. Your strength is really strong enough."

Watching Thomas go to the target to pull out the axe, Lawrence said with a smile, "Ann's strength is not small, and the axe is not bad, but the archery skills are not flattering."

After hearing this, Taylor said with a smile: "If others are good at sports and respond well, they can learn almost any sport. Is Ann blind in archery?"

Ju An shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands: "I can't help but feel that the bow is fluttering when I pull it up, and it doesn't work well."

Thornton thought for a while and said, "That may be a problem with the bow. Don't use any compound bows. It should be better to find a harder bow for practice."

Ju An nodded, and then followed everyone to watch Thomas throw the axe. The old Thomas and Lawrence did not make any major mistakes. The ax fell steadily on the playing cards. The ax throwing competition was about to end. Ju An thought that he was going to secure the last place again, but who knew that the last team to appear, the rancher Old Charlie threw his ax sideways at the beginning, which was not considered a sideway, but the tip of the axe was tight. It was tightly attached to the periphery of the playing cards, and the playing cards were not scratched around when they were taken off, so in the end, it was considered a miss amidst the unanimous laughter of everyone.

Old Taylor proudly teased old Charlie: "Charlie, you won't be able to take back this year's trophy. I think you should honestly take out the fifty dollars in your pocket."

"My hand slipped, everyone let me throw another one to make sure I hit it." After wiping his hands, he wanted to pick up the ax again, and the surrounding immediately shouted: "no! no! This is a competition".Hearing everyone's yelling, old Charlie laughed dryly twice, and handed the ax to the next team member in his ranch.

There was nothing to talk about in the final marksmanship competition. The distance of ten meters was not a problem for the cowboys who grew up with guns. Ju An also hit the bullseye with all five shots. Thomas There was nothing wrong with Lawrence and the two of them. The three of them firmly embraced the second-to-last seat, and the last-to-last seat was held by last year's champion, Old Charlie. As soon as the results came out, the Old Taylor Ranch won the championship as it wished.

Now that the champions have been produced, the rest of the ranchers took out fifty dollars from their pockets and handed them to Thornton. Next year's event will be organized by Thornton, and the fifty dollars can be considered as the organization expenses for next year. , Then everyone held a small awards ceremony, and the last rancher at the bottom presented the championship trophy to the champion.The rest of the cowboys surrounded the city and continued to drink beer.

After hearing this, Ju An smiled and said to Thomas next to him: "It's okay, today's luck is good, everyone is not at the bottom, if I didn't participate in it for the first time, I would give a trophy to someone."

Thomas said with a smile: "It is true that our luck is good. Old Charlie's luck is too bad this time. He is very good at throwing an axe. He is not lucky this time. In fact, the award is not bad, and there is still a testimonial to say about the award." .

After hearing this, Ju An became interested. While drinking beer, he looked at Taylor Thornton and old Charlie next to the pickup.

While waiting for Thornton to take the trophy out of the pickup truck, Ju An saw a very ordinary trophy, a golden trophy with a dark base, and something was written on the base, the whole trophy was not too big, the trophy probably That is 25 centimeters high, plus the base is about [-] to [-] centimeters. The three of them walked to the middle of the circle surrounded by the cowboys. Thornton handed the trophy directly to old Charlie, who took it The trophy gathered the trophy over his head, turned around and handed it to the old Taylor next to him, and put it in the old Taylor's hand and said: "The old Taylor hasn't won a trophy for several years. I have been working hard behind the scenes for several years, and with the help of God this time, I finally won the championship. We congratulate you. Remember to prepare fifty dollars and a speech for the award next year. When the time comes, give me an award, so that you don’t miss it when you get it. I know what the award is about, oh, I forgot, the old Taylor may not know what the award acceptance speech is about, but the award acceptance speech is better than everyone here."The cowboys below all laughed when they heard old Charlie's words.

Old Taylor took the trophy and replied immediately: "I will put the trophy in the most conspicuous place on my table, and you will be able to see it when you come to me, old Charlie, to remind you every moment that I am the champion this year, so that you It’s hard to think about the next year, and next year, our team will still be the champion team, and we will definitely beat you old Charlie to tears like a girl.”Before he finished speaking, there was a burst of applause and cheers from all around.

After listening to the testimonials, a group of cowboys chatted around for more than half an hour about the severe drought that swept across the western United States. Then they prepared to leave. Everyone put their finished beer bottles and some leftover garbage on the pickup truck. The rear of the truck, and then looked around to see if there was anything missing. Then it was over. Ju An whistled, and Doucao ran over with small steps. Ju An put the sweat mat on the ground first, and then After getting on the saddle and waiting for everything to be ready, he turned over and got on the horse, followed Thomas and Lawrence to greet the other cowboys, and then trotted towards the direction of their pasture.

(End of this chapter)