East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-09-14

There was that subdued hum and buzz, and atmosphere Of ez-
of three men and two horses in the arena. There was one man
mounted, taking half bitches in a rope around his saddle horn at the
other end of which rope was what seemed for the time being a balky
horse, and two men on foot, one standing beside a saddle and the
shoulders. The man on the horse threw all his weight on one stirrup
reached far out and caught the rope, then gently spurred his mount
The horse stepped forward, the man took a quiet twist on the rope
and The horses were side by side.
That's not a good boss to snub to-" said a voice in the grandsand
just behind me. turned around. A man in a stiff hat, chaps and
wearing a brown shirt with a large red handkerchief around his neck,
"a " iT o thst =! ," I miaH e ng5 to I iearn y anything from anybody.
.o "Y L% see" he i. informed 5anea me without ,jauo;d 5tak 5Rs his eyes eyes from es the &sn arena eG,
getin' him" he concluded, excitedly.
I turned quickly to the arena. The man on the horse had the
the halter straps and over the eyes of the wild horse.
across the track bawIed at the grandstand through a m~egaphone.
That's him there" a dozen voices informed me a S a short, heavy
Judges stand and, walking to the saddle, picked it up and approached
the . Wild horse prs 80, which r3 had sm been e . sGsees stu y bjndfo l5@ -
back seat, "but for the real thing Just you wait till his brother, Sid,
Everybody looked at the big man from the sage brush.
His legs is too sudden" said a man from the middle seats of the
Don't you worry about them there legs" said the big cattleman,
che don't use 'em for distress signals"
A half dozen other localities voiced their opinion of the physical
fitness of the man from Squaw Greek to ride Blue Blazes, but l was
inteanttly interested in what was going on in the bucEing field
die at his left side was quietly %stroking the back Of Blue Blazes. But
it was not this which interested me so much. 1t was the other man.
was not alone in this curiosity, for a woman a few seats from me
who had been watching the events through a pair OF opera glasses
suddenly exclaimed in a shrll voice:
"What in the name of heaven is that other man doing there?'
Which man, marin Z, said the big cattleman with the stiff hat
and the bandana around his neck.
That other man on the other side of that horse there" she re-
piled without removing her eyes from her opera glasses, whats he
doing with that horses ear y
"Chawin' it marin; chawin' it." the big catteman explained
good naturally.
Chewing i'll" exclaimed the woman, s. shocked or surprised
in the face. "Heavens!'
the world to quiet a fractions cayuse. Just try it once, marin, don't
take my word for it, and if you jest chaw his ear good and hard like,
prhes him and maybe tickles him, you know, and he forges where
ooh, horrors" was the only answer the woman made and the
cattleman turned his attention to the arena.
Bud Summers now had the saddle resting safely on place. Blue
Blazes was pulling back on the halter rope with all her weight and
strength. The s sn9b Der was standing on one foot in the off strHp,
Blazes breathed deep with rumbing exhalations.
deep, excited breathing of the multitude,
The helper passed the girth under to Summers, who caught it,
slipped the cinch straps and began tightening it up. Blue Blazes
pulled farther back, sustaining her weight against the halter rope
front feet, Tighter and tighter Bud drew the cinches, while Blue
ground. 1T It looked fort the M minute as if she must STf fall Td DOWN. o"T BUT the te
snubber threw his weight farther on the opposite side of his horse and
the gray braced his front feet farther apart and dropped slightly
down on his haunches.
There he goes" It was a common impulse. The people in the
Slowly Bud Summer put his left foot in the stHirrupa caught the
grunted with anger and fell back harder on the halter rope. Slowly,
with caution, Summers lifted himself into the saddle. The halter
rope was passed to him and the hitch taken from the horn of the
snubber. Summers set himself in the saddle. The snubber grabbed
the gunnysack from off the eyes of Blue Blazes and, squirting his
mount was away, let due DlaZeS standing quVerng, shaking, start
led, alone in the big arena with a man on her back.
1t was not the first time that Blue Blazes had found herself in
that same condition. But she had never grown accustomed to it, or
reached that stage of subiugation where she would submit to it with
out voicng her displeasure with all her soul and strength, and with
every art and vile she knew. All her life she had run wild and free
over in the beautiful Harvey. And now, at the tender age of three
years she had been rounded up with others of her kind and thus dis
graced. 1t was a condition of affairs that her wild nature could not
accept.
Her finely shaped flanks quivered, her nostris burned red, her
eyes gowed with the force of anger as she blinked once or twice at the
sudden flood of sunlight, and then all the resentment of her wild Ma
ture mustered itself in a mighty effort to hurl this thing from her
back.
Lowering her shapey head until her nose was almost between her
front feet, she gathered her strength and went into the air, coming
down to the earth with all four feet planted firmly on a patch of
ground not larger than a mans hat, her back bowed until the saddle
rocked on a round, Quivering, earthquakesricken promintory.
Scarcely had her feet touched the ground when she whned half
around and was in the air again, the saddle rocking alamingly, the
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