Show 74 S MARY OHARA TOE STORY TITUS THUS FAR thunder head commonly known as ai the goblin Is ii the only white horse ever born bom on the goose bar ranch la in wyoming lie grows from a misshapen colt to a powerful yearling resembling his ireat great grandsire met more e every day the grandsire rands lre ll 11 a wild tal lon llon called the albino one day goblin wanders into a mountain valley meets the albino and barely escapes with his lure life wile when his wounds are heated healed ken mclaughlin his 12 year old owner betins to train him goblin although daf ficula to handle occasionally and runs with astonishing speed and en durance rance charley sa agent millionaire horse breeder teus tells ken that goblin night become a winning racer CHAPTER XIV ken brought his horse over the line as he had done before the same hard gallop with the colt fighting his head and unwilling to obey it made ken mad that just now when he wanted performance thunderhead would do nothing but fight all AH right then let it be war this battling with the stallion was bringing out something in the boy that had never been there before he raised the light crop he held and brought it down on the colts haunches as hard as he could thunderhead leaped in the air and tried to shake ken off ken could feel the power and anger surge into his own body he raised his arm and brought the crop down clown again when the horse lit this time he was going it was the long floating effortless pa pace ce that had been rockets ken sat motionless on the tiny saddle down to the turn around the posts up the other side nell glanced at charley see that she said what I 1 mean and hes not even trying ylga tr said charley in a daze hes hes co screamed howard look at the watch sargent gave a start he had his eyes oil off the colt he timed him he waved his arm and yelled at ken keep goings go around again kens eyes flickered up to him as he passed but he turn his head there was a rapt look on his face goehl he runs in the airl aielo howled sargent he touch the howard was jumping up and down keep it up UPI keep it up UPI nell felt hysterical she suddenly put her face into her hands the beauty of it the super perform M ance and ken sitting so still the victory at last the two year long battle the faith the exhaustion the cuts and bruises and strains she had to bind up and now victory she raised her head and looked gain again a coming back up the home stretch hl coming one long sustained yell from sargent and the horse over the line ken trying to pull him up swinging around in circles howards voice squawking it what did he make mr sargent what did he ma make ke while sargent was trying to scramble down the rock thunderhead had made the h half alf mile in forty seven seconds oh kennie kennie gee ken he did it geel gee 1 that horse lies hes one of the seven wonders of the worlds thunderhead was fighting ile he wanted to keep going ken had hardly come back yet from the ecstasy in which he had ridden his glowing face with the slightly parted lips was half unconscious could he do it again has he ever done it before well let h him lm rest a little then give him another spin ot rest said howard hes not tired he never gets tired he hates to be stopped when he gets going that I 1 s why hes mad now they decided to try the colt again and again they climbed to the ledge and timed his start and again ken fought with him to control him forced him over the line and was shaken by the angry rough gallop by his breaking through throng gh the posts the struggle went on the lashing of the crop the scarlet face of the boy while charley grew grave and the little 9 roup group on the ledge no longer chattered with excitement excite me nt but stood silent I 1 at last sargent was hopeless it t was a fluke he said he hes uncontrollable look look mr Sar gentl hes doing it the colt had broken through his temperamental impediments he burst into his swift floating pace and went streaming around the track As he crossed the line sargent punched the watch they held their breath sargents Sar gents mouth was wide open in a crazy grin his eyes popped the gelding for days and nights ken had been thinking of st it the better the colt behaved the th e more speed he s showed the more despair ken felt they told him anc and I 1 they argued with him and they brov proved ed it to him the colt would lose no iota of his speed might even have more because his energies would n not ot be wasted in fighting in running after mares in breeding them it made no difference to ken lie he had seen the colts bufore gelding the power that flowed through them like hot lava making them rear and play and fight and U wrestle restle making their tails and manes lift like flying banners giving a look of individuality and passion to their faces and he had seen them thein after seen the change in the carriage of the head the look of the eye the appearance of the colt the general behavior nothing would reconcile him but his father had decided what could one do in such a jam fortitude when you have what you wanted you accepted defeat with fortitude his mother said you could pray but you think get what you wanted just get the strength to bear the disappointment those days made a change in kens face and character he said little about it the more you argued and plead the less likely his father was to yield his mother was really on his side but she left such things to his father she felt that he really knew best it happened that on the morning of the day of kens trial race down on the track a call came into the office of the veterinarian at laramie it was from barney the rancher west of the goose bar stating that he had a sick cow who needed to be cleaned out after a premature calving could dr hicks come out and take care of her dr hicks and bill his assistant arrived at the barney ranch about one they worked over the cow for a couple of hours when they were leaving dr hicks said its only a few miles down the back road to the goose bar well stop in there and geld those two year 4 fil ANEU 7 hows bows your muscle Vf asked nell olds of captain mclaughlin they arrived at the stables soon after rob had driven off with the blacks gus went out with a bucket of oats and called in the colts and the men got to work Is that all asked doc when he had gelded gefded seven 1 I thought the captain said eight deres one more said gus J kens colt de white one oh the throwback said sa id doc the one ken thinks is going to be a racer hows he comin on he runs right gude now said gus maybe they dont want him geld ed de captain wants him gelded gefded all right debbe you cud wait a little while I 1 go down and help tim wid de ken tuk de colt out a while back he might be home any minnit ol 01 doe doc and bill took seats on the corral fence and rolled cigarettes and waited the shadows grew longer they heard the cowbells bowbells cow bells as the cows after being milked wandered out into the pasture then the sound of the separator sepa rater whirring in the milk house as it cut the milk in half pouring a rich foaming white fluid into one jar a thick yellow cream into the other at last doe doc told bill to pack up the stuff stud they got in the car and drove away ken felt almost awed when he arrived at the stables with howard having driven the blacks home in the jouncing cart and heard from gus what had happened there stood the seven gelded gefded colts in the east corral their heads hanging lifelessly their hind legs covered with blood thunderhead said gus had come galloping in with touch and go some ten minutes after doc had left he had unsaddled him and turned them both out into the home pasture yen ken stared at the geldings while the blood rushed through his body and sank again this meant this men meant nt doe doc had made his trip to the ranch his father w v never order him up again to geld one colt ken leaped in the air with a whoop of triumph ag gosh ashl said howard youre shot in the head with W ith luckl so thunderhead was not gelded gefded A year before the albino had recognized in thunderhead a reflection of himself in miniature but gelding would have changed that it would have left the colt perhaps a successful racer it would have made him more useful to men and amenable to their demands but never again would he have been a creature who could have commanded the notice of his royal great grandfather nell had hardly recovered from the emotion she had felt when she saw kens triumph and the fact that the colt had escaped gelding for rob had said that since doe doc had come and gone he could wait another year gave her an even stranger feeling of unreality when obstacles vanished they just floated away as if they never had been he is going to be a racer after all he dad looks like it son and all our troubles will be over what are you going to do with all the money ken iles hes going to pay back a lot that he owes melts me and he can pay for his own education and pay off the note on the ranch and put wooden fences around it hes promised me that mother youve got to tell me what you want ive asked you and asked you and you never haves have can I 1 have three wishes yes three things make them big things mo mother therl 1 I want a swan sleigh all covered with bells I 1 want a monkey treel tree and I 1 want a little girl what is a monkey tree asked charlie its a kind of big old pine tree here on the ranch there are only a couple of dozen of them howard explained we were looking at one one day long ago they are a queer shape with branches all twisting every which way and mother said it had a face like an old monkeys monkey S mother insisted ken tell me some other wishes real wishes that I 1 could get you he wants to buy her joo oo I 1 a clowned crowned howard better cross your fingers ken said charley many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip you know in the inter interchange chance of talk and flashing glances that thal t played around the table nells look crossed robs they stared a moment she felt the impact of his animosity he forgiven her for what she had said last night when they were alone together he was smooth and easy as if it were forgotten but with people around he lowered his guard and let her see the truth while they argued as to whether it would be better for thunderhead to be raced this coming fall or wait until he was a three year om old and decided on the latter she sat at the end of the table feeling all her elation dying down thunderheads Thunder heads success began to seem very remote indeed unlikely no the odds were come of it the colt had apparently run a half mile faster than it had ever been run before could that be true according to recorded runs yes but there were many colts in the world besides those who rant ran in races many colts who had been clocked on makeshift tracks like this one who might have must have broken records and yet for one reason or another never were heard of why things happened they got hurt or stale or proved a flash in the pan or unmanageable for you see said charley we know now hes got it in him its there but hes an unmanageable brute he cant be depended on he needs a lot of training and discipline besides he got his growth yet in another year when hes settled down hell be unbeatable 1 he gave kens back a resounding young fellah me lad have a winner howll it feel to be the famous owner of a famous horse but ken had a thought suppose he said lugubriously we get him all trained for a race and then he runs away and we cant find him R rob ob glanced at ken then at nell his expression was sardonic kin ken you take after your mother more than any boy has a right to nells eyes met robs and clashed again she looked down and finished her sliced peaches what was the matter with him it only the quarrel of last night that had left him hard and cold toward her but now he was in a state had be been en all evening ever since ever since yes ever since he arrived at the race track in that ridiculous cart what had he been doing before oh yes he went out on gypsy went out on gypsy to see bellamy and ask it if he was going to take the lease again this fall fail all ahl she put down her spoon and sat motionless staring a hole through 0 gh the table her mind rushed forward charley was shouting that with a horse of such potential value as thunderhead they would never dream of putting him out on t the range that winter TO BE CONTINUED |