Out on the meadow a chipmunk had mounted a stone. His voice rang out. “Chock! Chock! Chock!” like the rattle of an old alarm clock. Instantly every chipmunk in the meadow raced to his sing perch and the meadow rang with their song. The fat yellowbelly on guard stretched his neck and blasted a short whistle, then pulled in his neck with a deep chuckle. He always disapproved such a chatter. Sam’s pipe rolled to the corner of his mouth and turned upside down. One fumbling hand found the gold chain of his big watch. He pulled it out and bent above the dial. His lips moved as he counted. When the chorus died away he was grinning happily. “One hunnert eighty a minnit,” he mumbled. “That there’s a youngster jest comin’ into his growth. Come spring he’ll do two hunnert.” As he tucked the ancient watch back into his pocket he sniffed the air. Twisting his neck he looked up at the spruce ridge. Gray clouds raced above the tops of the trees, and he could hear the moaning of a cold wind rushing through the needles. Below the clouds moved a curtain of white, swirling flakes. Sam got to his feet. His watery eyes rested for a moment on a pile of baled hay stacked against the end of the cabin and flanked by a great stack of split firewood. Tex had fixed everything. Let the snows come, he’d be snug as any one of the yellowbellies. And the two horses would not have to worry either. “I reckon I’ll jest hole up fer a spell,” he said. Down on the meadow Midnight had jerked up his head and was watching the storm sweep across the mesa. Sam stood at the door looking out on the scene until the form of the big stallion was swallowed by the wall of snow. As handsome as he is wild--that’s MIDNIGHT Son of a beautiful purebred mare and a wild stallion, the gangling colt grows up under the stern law of the wild ... until his flying hooves and bitterly learned store of experience make him leader of his own untamed band. The thrilling tale of a freedom-loving horse in the Western mountains. SCHOLASTIC BOOK SERVICES =SBS= New York · London · Richmond Hill, Ontario Transcriber’s Note: Spelling and hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original publication except as follows: Page 20 and cerainly limited _changed to_ and certainly limited Page 95 Midnight back away a few yards _changed to_ Midnight backed away a few yards Page 103 One moonlight night as Midnight _changed to_ One moonlit night as Midnight End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Midnight, by Rutherford George Montgomery (1894-1985)