dener found out, the very first time he tried to ride him, that the horse was as bad as he was beautiful. Next day a sign appeared on the gardener's gate: FOR SALE First-class horse, sound THE BEAR BAIT Now at this time a band of hunters came riding by. There were three mountaineers, two men from the city, and the writer of this story. The city men were going to hunt bear. They had 10 guns and everything needed for bear-hunting, except bait. It is usual to buy some worthless horse or cow, drive it into the mountains where the bears are, and kill it there. So, seeing the sign, the hunters called to the gardener: "Haven't you got a cheaper horse?" 15 The gardener replied: "Look at him there, ain't he a beauty? You won't find a cheaper horse if you travel a thousand miles." "We are looking for an old bear bait, and five dollars is our limit," replied the hunter. Horses were cheap and plentiful in that country; buyers were The gardener feared that Coaly-Bay would escape. "Wal, if that's the best you can do, he's yourn." 20 scarce. 25 The hunter handed him five dollars, then said: "Now stranger, the bargain's settled. Will you tell me why you sell this fine horse for five dollars?" "Mighty simple. He can't be rode. He's dead lame when he's going your way and sound as a dollar going his own; no fence in the country can hold him; he's a dangerous outlaw. He's wickeder nor old Nick." "Well, he's an almighty handsome bear bait," and the hunters 30 rode on. 5 Coaly-Bay was driven with the pack horses, and limped dreadfully on the trail. Once or twice he tried to go back, but he was easily turned by the men behind him. His limp grew worse, and toward night it was painful to see him. The leading guide remarked: "That thar limp is no fake. He's got some deep-seated trouble." Day after day the hunters rode farther into the mountains, driving the horses along and hobbling them at night. Coaly-Bay went with the rest, limping along, tossing his head and his long 10 splendid mane at every step. One of the hunters tried to ride. him and nearly lost his life, for the horse seemed possessed of a demon as soon as the man was on his back. The road grew harder as it rose. A very bad bog had to be crossed one day. Several horses were mired in it, and as the men 15 rushed to the rescue, Coaly-Bay saw his chance of escape. He wheeled in a moment and turned himself from a limping, lowheaded, sorry, bad-eyed creature into a high-spirited horse. Head and tail aloft now, shaking their black streamers in the wind, he gave a joyous neigh, and, without a trace of lameness, 20 dashed for his home one hundred miles away, threading each narrow trail with perfect certainty, though he had seen it but once before, and in a few minutes he had steamed away from their sight. The men were furious, but one of them, saying not a word, 25 leaped on his horse-to do what? Follow that free-ranging racer? Sheer folly. Oh, no!-he knew a better plan. He knew the country. Two miles around by the trail, half a mile by the rough cut-off that he took, was Panther Gap. The runaway must pass through that, and Coaly-Bay raced down the trail to 30 find the guide below awaiting him. Tossing his head with anger, he wheeled on up the trail again, and within a few yards recovered his monotonous limp and his evil expression. He was driven into camp, and there he vented his rage by kicking in the ribs of a harmless little pack horse. HIS DESTINED END This was bear country, and the hunters resolved to end his dangerous pranks and make him useful for once. They dared not catch him; it was not really safe to go near him, but two of the guides drove him to a distant glade where bears abounded. 5 A thrill of pity came over me as I saw that beautiful untamable creature going away with his imitation limp. "Aren't you coming along?" called the guide. "No, I don't want to see him die," was the answer. Then as the tossing head was disappearing I called: "Say, fellows, I wish 10 you would bring me that mane and tail when you come back!" Fifteen minutes later a distant rifle crack was heard, and in my mind's eye I saw that proud head and those superb limbs, robbed of their sustaining indomitable spirit, falling flat and limp -to suffer the unsightly end of fleshly things. Poor Coaly-Bay; 15 he would not bear the yoke. Rebellious to the end, he had fought against the fate of all his kind. It seemed to me the spirit of an eagle or a wolf it was that dwelt behind those full, bright eyes— that ordered all his wayward life. I tried to put the tragic finish out of mind, and had not long 20 to battle with the thought, not even one short hour, for the men came back. 25 Down the long trail to the west they had driven him; there was no chance for him to turn aside. He must go on, and the men behind felt safe in that. Farther away from his old home on the Bitterroot River he had gone each time he journeyed. And now he had passed the high divide and was keeping the narrow trail that leads to the valley of bears and on to Salmon River, and still away to the open, wild Columbian Plains, limping sadly as though he knew. 30 His glossy hide flashed back the golden sunlight still richer than it fell, and the men behind followed like hangmen in the death train of a nobleman condemned-down the narrow trail till it opened into a little meadow, with rank, rich grass, a lovely mountain stream, and winding bear paths up and down the waterside. "Guess this'll do," said the older man. "Well, here goes for a sure death or a clean miss," said the other confidently, and, wait5 ing till the limper was out in the middle of the meadow, he gave a short, sharp whistle. Instantly Coaly-Bay was alert. He swung and faced his tormentors, his noble head erect, his nostrils flaring; a picture of horse beauty-yes, of horse perfection. The rifle was leveled, the very brain its mark, just on the cross 10 line of the eyes and ears, that meant sure, sudden, painless death. The rifle cracked. The great horse wheeled and dashed away. It was sudden death or miss-and the marksman missed. Away went the wild horse at his famous best, not for his eastern home, but down the unknown western trail, away and away; 15 the pine woods hid him from view, and left behind was the rifleman vainly trying to force the empty cartridge from his gun. Down that trail with an inborn certainty he went, and on through the pines, then leaped a great bog, and splashed an hour later through the limpid Clearwater, and on, responsive to some 20 unknown guide that subtly called him from the farther west. And so he went till the dwindling pines gave place to scrubby cedars and these in turn were mixed with sage, and onward still, till the far-away flat plains of Salmon River were about him, and ever on, tireless, as it seemed, he went, and crossed the cañon of 25 the mighty Snake, and up again to the high, wild plains where the wire fence still is not, and on, beyond the Buffalo Hump, till moving specks on the far horizon caught his eager eyes, and coming on and near, they moved and rushed aside to wheel and face about. He lifted up his voice and called to them, the long shrill 30 neigh of his kindred when they bugled to each other on the far Chaldean plain; and back their answer came. This way and that they wheeled and sped and caracoled, and Coaly-Bay drew nearer, called, and gave the countersigns his kindred know, till this they were assured-he was their kind, he was of the wild, 35 free blood that man had never tamed. And when the night came down on the purpling plain his place was in the herd as one who after many a long hard journey in the dark had found his home. There you may see him yet, for still his strength endures, and his beauty is not less. The riders tell me they have seen him 5 many times by Cedra. He is swift and strong among the swift ones, but it is that flowing mane and tail that mark him chiefly from afar. There on the wild free plains of sage he lives; the stormwind smites his glossy coat at night and the winter snows are driven 10 hard on him at times; the wolves are there to harry all the weak ones of the herd, and in the spring the mighty grizzly, too, may come to claim his toll. There are no luscious pastures made by man, no grain-foods; nothing but the wild, hard hay, the wind and the open plains, but here at last he found the thing he 15 craved-the one worth all the rest. Long may he roam-this is my wish, and this-that I may see him once again in all the glory of his speed with his black mane on the wind, the spurgalls gone from his flanks, and in his eyes the blazing light that grew in his far-off forebears' eyes as they spurned Arabian plains 20 to leave behind the racing wild beast and the fleet gazelle-yes, too, the driving sandstorm that o'erwhelmed the rest, but strove in vain on the dusty wake of the desert's highest born. How to Gain the Full Benefit from Your Reading The reading of "Coaly-Bay, the Outlaw Horse" besides giving you pleasure has no doubt given you a new idea of the unbreakable spirit of a horse chafing under restraint, and an insight into the nature of animals that has set you to thinking. But if you are to get the full benefit from the story, or in fact from any story or poem in this book, you will need to pause long enough to notice certain facts. These will help you to enjoy more keenly and to understand more clearly what you read and at the same time to train yourself in good habits of reading. |