The Yale expositor., 1901-06-28
FOlRTHOF JULY RIDING AT GALENA

for action. and the man called Curlew
was preparing 40 ride.
lie had barely time to draw his
sleeve across his perspiring face when
ID half-cho&ed and bewildered pony
had leaped, like flash, to his feet;
at the same fractional part of second
Curlew was lightly ensconced in the
saddle, stirruped and pulling off the
pony's hood Blinded by the sun, dazed
and frightened by the weight on his
back, the bay stood quivering for a
short space. But singing cut from
Curlew's quirt discovered his bond
age to him. Up he reared. straight
and unhesitatingly, till, losing his bal
ance, he dropped over backward with
an ugly thud, the broad horn of the
cow sadie digging into. the ground
just where Curlew should have been.
But the red-haired rider was to one
side, waiting. He must have been
quick as light, for ! assure you the
play Of the pony was not slow. Again
and again the bay rose in the air
and repeated the backward fall, Curlew
each time eluding it and each zine
swinging in the saddle as the playful
brute came to his feet. 1t was all
incredibly rapid, and how the boy
handled his long, loose-j ointed legs
is yet n mystery to me. There were
II Of these backward half-somersaults
IN that 90-foot corral, and then the
| manoeuvre was over, forming merely
an transformations prelude to the real
tactics Of the fight.
With a shrill whistle of rage that
! brought my heart against my ribs the
| bay made several sharp sidelong jumps
| and then took to running. Through
the corral gate, across the fiat. up the
! steep pitch, and into the town he went,
the whole company of interested spec
| tators following at their variously best
| PAGES. Curlew set him with swaying
ease, the hackamore rope hanging
loose in his hand; he made no attempt
to stop or to guide.
In the midst OF the town the run
! ended in the inevitable buck, and
| thenceforth the fun waxed fast and fu-
riOus. We were not mistaken in our
horse; the brute was all his looks in
| dicated-and more. The battle only
| lasted some Is minutes. but in that
short space OF time he called into ac-
tive use every resource of equine trick
cry and threw himself into every start
| ling contortion that horse anatomy
! permits of. He bucked straight and
| sideways, and turned and fell. and
reared and Kicked suuealing again AMI
again in that fierce, unholy manner,
till it seemed impossible that the
| plucky red-haired rider could longer
endure the awful back-wrenching
strain. A fall. too, meant death, for
the horse would have slashed him be-
! fore he touched ground or struck with
front feet as he lay. During the first
| L or II minutes of the fight that
boys life was not worth the value of
a cigarette; between rage and fear the
horse was stark mad, and had there
been the sign OF an opening would
have leaped headlong into the reputcl
! inferno half a mile below.
AS the moments wore on and mis-
!
ergy was worked through. without in
the least unfXing his rider, the white
eyed pony began to lose heart: it was
the first time that any man had been
SO tenacious Of grip, and gradually mis-
! leaps became weaker and less vicious.
Then Curlew's quirt and blood-seeking
| spurs urged him to more vigorous ef-
forts. but even these could not much
longer sustain the engagement. Drip
| ping with blood and sweat. nearly
! dead with fatigue. he finally sue
cumbed, and permitted himself TO be
| guided by the rider at will A hearty
cheer burst from the crowd, and Cur
lew, rather pale and weak, but ever
smiling. was rapturously dragged from
the saddle and carried into Dillons,
an inert monument of glory to his
memory and-demonstrative friends.
! After the hero, his worshippers, the
antagonistic party, and all outsiders
had been duly refreshed, which re.
! CURED some little time we bent our
selves again to the matter in hand,
and prepared to witness the second
bout Of the man against horse battle.
There was almost as wide a differ
ence of the two riders as between the
bay and the buckskin. The South
| Valley champion was much shorter
than Curlew. and better knit. If |
had not seen tho confusing dexterity
of the lanky. red-haired boy. | should
I have esteemed this the likeler man.
His movements were alert and he
showed much experience; in complex
ion almost black, with bearded and
somewhat sinister face-"Charley Raw
Inns, late av N'NIixieo, an bad whin
he's dhrinkin." as Dillon catalogued
him.
The buckskin pony remained in Lis
downcast posture and allowed the
New Mexican t. saddle him unresist-
ingly, merely cooking his hairy ears
one forward and the other back-and
watching behind through the tail of
his slitted eye. / was standing along
/