The Preacher of Cedar Mountain: A Tale of the Open Country
Page 30
CHAPTER XXIX
The Riders
It is the continual boast of the cowboys that they are the best riderson earth. It is the continual boast also of Cossack, Boer, Australian,Gaucho, and all who live on and by the horse. And when we sift the claimof each of those named we find that it is founded wholly on this, thatthey can sit on the back of any steed, however wild, and defy all itsefforts to dislodge them. All their standards are designed to show thepower of the man to overpower the horse. But there is one very largeconsideration that seems not to enter their consciousness at all, andthat is how to get the best out of the horse--to develop and utilize,not crush its power. We undoubtedly find this idea best established inthe riding schools of Europe. In these grammar schools violence isforbidden, almost unknown. For a man to fight with his horse would be adisgrace; to abuse or over-ride him--a shame; to lade him with athree-pound bit and a thirty-pound saddle--a confession of inability tocontrol or stay on. In every part of the world where the horse has beendeveloped, it has been in exact ratio with the creed of the ridingschools. No one that has seen both classes of riders can have a doubtthat the best horsemen in the world are those of Europe, who control thehorse with skill--not brute force. The cowboys are mere broncho-busters.
Hartigan had gathered not a little of true horse learning in his earlydays, and he was disgusted now to see how lightly and cheaply thewesterner held his horse. "Break him down and get another" was themethod in vogue; and the test of a rider was, "Can he ride a horse todeath?" The thirty-pound saddle used was an evidence of the intent and aguarantee of the result. As soon as he could afford it, Jim sent back toChicago for an English pad, the kind he was used to, and thus he cut hisriding weight down by nearly twenty pounds. Then there arrived at FortRyan a travelling inspector, who spent a month teaching the men thelatest ideas in the care of horses. Among the tricks was the "flatambush." This is how it is done: With reins in the left hand, and thathand in the mane at the withers, you stand at the nigh shoulder; liftthe nigh front foot in your right hand till the hoof is near the horse'selbow; pull the horse toward you with the left hand in the mane; talkgently; pull, and press. If your horse trusts you, he will graduallybend over toward you; lower his body to the ground; and at last lieflat, head and all, with the animal's legs away from you. Behind thehorse's body the rifleman may squat, shoot from cover, and have an amplebreastwork if the animal is trained to "stand the gun." It is a prettytrick, though of less practical use than was expected. It is, however, aquick measure of the horse's confidence in the rider; and it speaks wellfor the 99th Cavalry that more than half the horses learned it in aweek. This was a new game to Hartigan, and he found a fresh joy in it asan excuse for fussing around the stable and playing with his horse.
October came in with glory on the hills. The plains were golden in theirautumn grass, and on a wonderful day in the early part of the monthHartigan and Belle went riding down the canyon.
Belle had a scheme for cooerdinating their church work with that of theBaptists and Presbyterians, both represented now in their town offifteen hundred inhabitants. But before she could get it laid beforeJim, he was extolling the quick responsiveness of Blazing Star, and mustneeds demonstrate the latest accomplishment the horse had learned. Thatover, Belle resurrected her plan; but a gunshot at Fort Ryan switchedthe current of his thoughts to the eventful race.
Belle changed the subject and unfolded a scheme for getting all theBylow children into the Cedar Mountain school the coming winter. Theyhad just come to a little twelve-foot cut-bank gully, and Jim exclaimed:"Now, Belle, just watch him take it," and over they sailed, theperfection of grace. "I tell you, Belle," he went on, "it was a greatidea to get that eastern pad. I've cut down my riding weight nearlytwenty pounds by dropping all that gear. Blazing Star can clear sixinches higher and go a foot farther in a jump, and I'll bet it gives himone hundred feet in a mile run."
Again Belle harked back to the school project. "It could be done forhalf the teacher's salary and every one of the neglected children mightget a chance. It all depends on the attitude that School TrusteeHigginbotham takes. My idea is to approach him through Hannah. She has amighty level head, and if you and Dr. Jebb----"
"Oh! look at this coyote!" ejaculated Hartigan. "I must give him a run";and away he went. For half a mile there was an open flat, and thesuperior speed of the horse reduced the distance, at a very rapid rate.But the coyote reached a gully and disappeared with the quickness andcleverness of its race. Hartigan came galloping back.
Belle was looking amused and also worried. "Oh, Jim," she said, "I don'tknow what I am going to do with you. You won't talk Church, you won'ttalk school, you won't talk shop. All your thoughts are centred onhorses, hunting--and coyotes," she added with a laugh.
"Sure, Belle, I never see a coyote run without thinking of a night Ispent on the Cheyenne, when that puling little English lord spent thewhole night shivering up a tree, to hear me and Little Breeches snoringon the ground and he thought it was wolves eating us up, because alittle while before a coyote yelled in the bushes----" and again he wasoff in a racy account of those thrilling moments.
"Jim," she said, "I am going to say nothing but 'yes' and 'no' for awhile, until you exhaust all your horse talk. Then I am going to makeone more effort."
"A jack rabbit, by the powers!" Sure enough, a big white jack leaped upand darted away. A jack is speedier than a coyote, so Hartigan could notresist. "Hi, Hi, Hi!" he shouted to Blazing Star; and with flat hand onthe croup, he raised the speed to top gear in a few jumps.
It was a fair sight to behold, and to many a cow-man it would have beeninformation. The jack rabbit, next to the antelope, is the speediestquadruped on the plains. The cowboy does not try to follow the jackrabbit, but the blooded racer did. In a quarter of a mile the horse wasnearly on him. He dodged like chain lightning--dodged as his life hadtaught him to dodge before the coyote and the hawk. The horse slowed up;the rabbit crossed a ridge; and when the rider reined upon the top, thejack was no more seen.
But just ahead was a finer sight. A band of antelope sprang forward withtheir white sterns shining. Of all the quadrupeds on the Plains, theantelope is the speediest. The greyhound can catch the hare; but is lefta hopeless laggard by the swift-footed courser. No mounted Indian everdreamed of overtaking the antelope in open chase. In speed it stands thehighest in the West. Jim had often wished to match his steed againstthese plains-born coursers; but, hitherto, although antelope were oftenseen, they were protected by rough gullies or boulders or badger holes.A band of antelope on a level, open stretch was a glorious chance.
Bending low over his horse's neck, he shouted: "Now, Blazing Star, goit; ho! boy, go it!" and struck the flank behind for clearinterpretation. The horse sprang forth at speed. The bounding wildthings, just ahead, laid back their ears and went so fast that not a legwas seen, only a whizzing, blurred maze. And Blazing Star took in thethought and travelled faster and faster. The furlong start they hadbegan to shrink.
"Good boy!" the rider shouted in elation. "Go it! go it, Blazing Star!"The antelope spurted--for a moment held their own; then, weakening at amile, they lost so fast that Jim yelled and swung his hat, and in alittle more the herd was overtaken. Fear seemed to rob them of power asBlazing Star dashed in among them. The bright-eyed pronghorns swerved;and the band split wide, and the horse dashed through. As he wheeled andgalloped back, he shouted: "You saw that, Belle? You saw it? It hasnever been done before. In a fair race, on open stretch, they had twohundred yards' start and I caught them in a mile. Now I know whatBlazing Star is. No creature on legs can beat him; no horse in the Westcan match him."
In a little while the riders turned again to Cedar Mountain. Hartiganled the way--and the talk. It was a stirring ride, but Belle's face worea worried look when he left her.