Show the old settler my dear san Jua ners for two years at intense intervals ter vals we had been chasing that black colt the more we chased and the more we got to see him at close quarters as we rode neck or nothing in the dust and sweat the more keen ws w became to get him he was wag a magnificent specimens ciment of a horse when at last we outsmarted him with a blind corral he hal haj spent all his four years since hi his s babbling wab bling with the w wild 11 id band possibly it was too much to expect of him after all this glorious time in th wild to yield his freedom to these hard limits so strange to all he had ever known heretofore his liberties had been absolute could he ever tolerate a man on his back dictating his every step the question occur to us then it did occur to us later when the black colt found himself shut in by the ugly barriers biers 0 of f that blind corral he whistled his loud da fiance and glared at us through his fiery eyes causing us to pause and wonder londer he fought the rope he fought the saddle he fought us he could kick or strike with electric suddenness sud deness he came at us with open mouth and ears laid back like a rabid wolf yet the more spirit he showed the more sure we were that he would be worth all the trouble it took to conquer him he wrestled a long time with cross hobbles before he quit kicking and striking and it took a muzzle and some other devices to discourage the vicious ise of his teeth when we first firs fi tightened ight ened the haragos la fastening fas the saddle on his back he h simply went into convulsions he bawled and plunged landing with his head had between his knees he whirled in midair mid air like a released spring but 0 what a beauty the flowing black mane on his arched ne neck ck the powerful limbs the shape the glory of mature we just simply had to master him to add him to our mount he was worth too much for us to be discouraged whatever happened when he seemed to have surrendered and allowed us to ride it was a great thrill of achievement we had never had such a horse before but midnight as we called him was not yet converted all my crowing was premature some lethal essence of his indig nation was accumulating in his s system to explode with fury when it reached the bursting when it blew up like u blast at an unexpected instant I 1 escaped by a hair breah mar ain in I 1 thought my confidence in midnight was shattered beyond reconciliation such stark teach ers was terrifying but he was such an unusual beauty 1 I found myself standing there in in rapt admiration as if he had me hypnotized I 1 ventured to ride him again and every succeeding day of his good behavior built up my confidence I 1 petted him talked to him and lavished my love on him in the belief and hope that he understood I 1 loved him and that he loved me I 1 rode him through a wilderness of rolling hills and scattered cedars and as we neared the top of a ridge we heard the squealing of a stallion in a wild band of horses just coming comin c in sight midnight jumped as if he had been shot and was flying at breakneck speed for that wild band before I 1 had time to think his start was so abrupt that it left me leaning dangerously back over the cantle and it was difficult to get straightened up and then I 1 saw that he was going coins to pass under a huge cedar limb going at any sane gait I 1 could have leaned forward dorward and gone un underpin derlin safety I 1 began to lean forward now it was too late it would break my neck in th 3 last desperate second I 1 threw myself back again over the cantle and the bark of the limb brushed my face as I 1 shot by I 1 shudder when I 1 think of it and then with my head on midnight rump and trailing behind that cantle like a helpless tail of a shooting star nothing but the dangling stirrups to hold py my feet down it was all but impossible to get erect in the saddle again we were shoo shooting through space so fast it was difficult to breathe the wild band in a mad stampede ahead of us and we gaining on them at every jump midnight ignored my tugging at the reins and ahead the band was disappearing into a dense growth of trees I 1 would be torn to pieces I 1 leaned forward and caught the reins in each hand near to the steel bit jerking first on one side and then on the other I 1 got his chin clear back against his neck and was resolved to cut his tongue off I 1 came so nearly doing that very thing that he stopped in four jumps I 1 barely escaped going on over his head I 1 pulled myself out of the saddle and sank to the ground holding the reins my throat was bloody and raw my lungs afire blood was draping from midnights mouth and he twisted his lips in pain in fervent lang continued on 4 the old settler continued from page 1 aage unprintable I 1 told the black colt I 1 would never trust him ag again in lie ho was a traitor I 1 had lavished my love on him in vain I 1 met a man who wanted him eager to own him even when li he had been told the whole story he said he know horses and was not afraid the price agreed on was ridiculously low that man may have known ordinary horses but he found in midnight something lie he had never known just how he found it I 1 was not told but when somebody met him carrying his saddle and asked about the black horse he answered hes down there in the bottom of that wash with a bullet through his black treacherous head albert R lyman |