At all times is Riverside beautiful, but most beautiful when the sun
draws down through the openings of the hills. From each one a stream
comes flowing clearly out into the plain, and fields spread green along
the margins. It was beneath the long-slanted radiance of evening that
we saw Blue Creek and felt its coolness rise among the shifting veils of
light. The red bluff eastward, the tall natural fortress, lost its stern
masonry of shapes, and loomed a soft towering enchantment of violet and
amber and saffron in the changing rays. The cattle stood quiet about
the levels, and horses were moving among the restless colts. These the
brother bade his sister look at, for with them was his glory; and I
heard him boasting of his skill--truthful boasting, to be sure. Had
he been honest in his dealings, the good-will that man's courage and
dashing appearance beget in men would have brought him more employment
than he could have undertaken. He told Jessamine his way of breaking a
horse that few would dare, and she listened eagerly. “Do you remember
when I used to hold the pony for you to get on?” she said. “You always
would scare me, Nate!” And he replied, fluently, Yes, yes; did she see
that horse there, near the fence? He was a four-year-old, an outlaw, and
she would find no one had tried getting on his back since he had been
absent. This was the first question he asked on reaching the cabin,
where various neighbors were waiting the mail-rider; and, finding he was
right, he turned in pride to Jessamine.
“They don't know how to handle that horse,” said he. “I told you so.
Give me a rope.”
Did she notice the cold greeting Nate received? I think not. Not only
was their welcome to her the kinder, but any one is glad to witness bold
riding, and this chance made a stir which the sister may have taken for
cordiality. But Lin gave me a look; for it was the same here as it had
been in the Buffalo saloon.
“The trick is easy enough,” said Nate, arriving with his outlaw, and
liking an audience. “You don't want a bridle, but a rope hackamore like
this--Spanish style. Then let them run as hard as they want, and on a
sudden reach down your arm and catch the hackamore short, close up by
the mouth, and jerk them round quick and heavy at full speed. They quit
their fooling after one or two doses. Now watch your outlaw!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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