Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-09-07

greengraSS on the sadie Back. win
the first breath he drew, standing
alone on a rise of ground looking
south, new personality entered into
him, and it was so keen an excite
ment that his body tingled. 1t filed
him to bursting with heat and pow
er and fierceness. 1t drove him. He
began investigating the range. The
Goblin no longer scrabbled. His legs
stretched out with long powerful
clutch. The pasterns bounced him
little at each step, so that he went
as if on springs. He trotted tireless-
ly the length Of the Saddle Back.
Goblin climbed the peaks to stand
as Banner had so often stood, his
nostrils tremulous for every scent
that came, his ears so alertly
pricked that they caught sounds
from miles away.
Facing the ranch, as Banner was
wont to do, the same quivering ran
through Goblin at the sight and the
scent Of it. It was Nell. The re-
membrance of her hands touching
him, gently untangling the strap
from his foreleg, quieting him with
her voice-then, when it was all
over, the way he had rested, his
face hidden against her, shutting
out the confusion and fear; the way
her being there, holding him, had,
for the moment, ended all his striv-
ing and violence.
Nell and the oats. Nell and the
oats and the ranch and the hay
managers where he had found shell
ter and food in the winter storms.
His heart had been won-haf his
heart. The other half!
His quivering ceased. He turned
away and searched the plains and
the high mountains to the south. His
nostrils f1ared, tremulous for wind
messages from Colorado, from the
jagged peaks of the Buckhorn Hills,
from the high plateaus that lay be-
yond them.
He faced the ranch and immedi-
ately the trembling began. A long
cry reached him, faint with the dis
lance. Just Rob shouting to Gus
then dog barking-But the sounds
went shuddering through him, max
44AS P1ullSS as IL
about to rush down the hill.
Then with grunt and sudden
twist Of his body he turned again.
The air today was so crystal clear
that the Buckhorn Hills, etching
their fantastic outlines against the
deep blue of the sky, displayed
variety of rugged detail. The soft
breeze came, sweet and wild and
perfumed, and strange
It was all strange and incompre-
hensible-the fierce desire within
him to leave the ranch that he
loved and seek out those far and un-
known places. But it happens some
times, even to human beings, that
they are propelled in the direction
of their destiny without conscious
understanding of what is happening.
Something called to the Goblin. He
answered with loud neigh, and
flung himself down the slope. Level
ing off, he fell into his long springing
trot, his head high, his nose pointing
up, taking the way toward the open
country and the Buckhorn Hills.
Once the yearlings were out on
grass, there was no regular inspec-
ton of them during the summer. If
anyone CHANGED to be riding on the
Saddle Back report would be
brought home as to their condition
and growth, any changes of coloring
or appearance, whether the band
was split, or whether it had dis
appeared altogether - which would
mean that they were feasting in one
of the little ravines of the mountain
side and that the next day would
see them out in the open again.
But it happened that the very day
after COLLINS departure, the boys
came home from school. The first
thing they did was to fling them
selves on horseback and ride out to
see the yearlings-the Goblin in
particular-and after thorough aft
ernoon's search, returned and re-
ported him missing.
Everyone hunted for him. Rob
drove the car to the neighboring
ranches and made inquiries. He
posted a notice at the Post Office.
The ranch itself was combed from
CIu W SiiA, III ~ was PooolDlG llldt
the Goblin, with precocious
and unseemly interest in mares,
might have joined one of the older
bands. But at the end of a week,
Rob gave up, and the work of the
ranch went on as usual. He said,
shortly, that the colt would turn up
again. He had run away-he would
come back. Horses always did.
Once oriented. they returned to the
place of their birth.
Ken was stupefied with grief All
winter long he had been thinking OF
the Goblin, of being with him, of be-
ginning his training. With the money
he had been able to save from his
allowance. he had bought a stop
watch before he left Laramie. His
fingers found it almost unconscious
ly-smooth and round and cool there
in the little pocket of his pants be-
meath his belt. To touch it even had
been exciting-as full of promise as
dinner bell. Now it was like a
dead thing-cold and heavy.