Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-09-14

air.
Goblin looked at the river a long
time. He raised his head. What
was beyond? Up there? His nostrils
f1ared. The river and the rock walls
were so steep and SO high that he
could no longer see the sky, only
craggy peaks, and ever more Of
them. But up beyond all that was
where he must 60.
Cows and horses are by instinct
expert engineers and will always
find the easiest way through noun
famous country. Goblin detoured
from the river on the eastern side.
He had stiff climbing to do but there
were breaks in the river walls and
running with the brood mares on
the Saddle Back had made him
as sure-footed as a goat. Hours of
hard going brought him at length
to the last grassy terrace before the
rocks shot up in an almost sheer
Cliff. The place was like park with
clumps of pine and rock, little dells
and groves; and, scattered at the
base of the cliff and on its summit,
| AAAAAADSAo VI lllC huge
faced stones like the one balanced
on the top of Castle Rock on the
Goose Bar ranch.
Some of them as large as houses
and perfectly smooth and spherical,
these boulders are to be found all
through the country of the Cont
mental Divide, creating wonder in
the mind Of any beholder as to
what great glaciers in what bygone
age could have ground and polished
them and left them at last hanging
by hair on narrow shelves of rock,
or balanced on peaks, or suspended
above crevices where one inch more
of space on either side would have
freed them to 60 crashing down.
Goblin was hungry. He took his
bearings first, then began to Craze.
Rounding a clump of trees he halt
ed and lifted his head sharply.
There, not hundred yards away,
close to the base of the cliff wall,
were two handsome bay colts graz
ing.
Goblin was quiet for a moment,
savoring the interest and delight of a
meeting with some of his own kind.
Then he whinnied and stamped his
foot. The colts looked up. With in
nocent friendliness they trotted to-
ward him. Being a stranger Goblin
had to discover certain things i'm
mediately. We're these mares or
stations? Where did they come
from? Would they be friends or enc
mics? So, just as children, meeting,
always ask each other, What's your
name? How old are you? Where do
you live?-these colts exchanged in
formation, squealing and snorting
and jumping about.
This was interrupted by ringing
neigh that came, it seemed, right
out of the wall of rock. The colts
responded Immediately. They whin-
MED in answer and galloped toward
the wall, angling off to place at
some distance where a ridge ran jag
gedly up the cliff. And then, to Cob
Inns amaZement, they galloped right
into the wall and disappeared.
Goblin galloped after. Turning the
shoulder of the ridge, he found him.
self in narrow chasm which split
the rampant of rock and led some
distance into the heart of it. There
was no sign of the colts, but the
passageway was full of the smell Of
horses. Goblin trotted confidently
on.
Suddenly there was harsh
scream from above, and the shadow
of wide wings drifted across the
chaSm.
AS long as he lived moving shad-
ow falling upon him from above
would galvanize Goblin into terrified
action. He crouched, backing, and
his up-fung head and straining eyes
tried to spy out his enemy. But
not by looking could the colt see
and apprehend the eagles eyrie,
clinging to a ledge far up on the
peak, with one eagle sitting on the
edge of the nest, and the other-the
one-legged eagle-drifting down over
the chaSm.
Colts and eagles live on different
planes. Only by the cold shadow
falling on him, only by the scream,
with it's strange mingling of ferocity
and sadness, only by the horror
and shuddering within himself could
he know his danger.
He plunged forward, driving
straight toward the rock which ap-
parently closed the path. But ar
irving there, the passageway turned.
He went on, zigzagging. He saw
and heard nothing more of the eagle.
At last the sides of the chasm
sloped away, exposing wider
wedge of sky. And in front of him
was a mass of the great boulders
which seemed to have been rolled
down the sides, choking the chasm
completely.
But there was still the smell Of
horses-Goblin went on. And turn
showed him an open way through
a sort of keyhole, rooted with single
great boulder which hung on slight
unevenness on the side walls. Be-
yond, Goblin glimpsed blue sky and
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