Horses -- Juvenile fiction; West (U.S.) -- Juvenile fiction
The big buckskin back there in the draw knowed their way, and it
showed in his action, he'd quit pawing for grass and instead put all
his attention to the tops of the ridges that was all around him and
the bunch. The way them three wolves had sized up the bunch and then
disappeared had made him restless and mighty spooky and finally that
draw got to be too much of a hole for him, too good a place for an
enemy to come into without being seen till that enemy was too close.
The older mares showed a lot of spookiness too which all got Smoky
riled up so that he begin acting the same, and when the buckskin took
the lead out of the draw to where a good look of the country around
could be got the whole bunch was mighty anxious to follow. Even the
little colts seemed to have the hunch that something was up, the white
of their eyes showed and they stuck mighty close to their mammies' side.
* * * * *
A big moon came up and the light of it reflected a path that shined
on the crusted snow, the air was mighty still, still with the cold
that'd gripped the range and made everything that lived and carried
hoofs come to a stand so that no air would be stirred; a breeze at that
temperature would froze stiff every standing animal in that territory.
Smoky, the buckskin, and the bunch stood on a knoll where they could
see well around 'em, they looked like petrified or froze there so still
they all stood, there was no sign of life from 'em excepting for an ear
that moved once in a while and which was on the job to catch any sound
that might come from near or far.
The "yip, yip," and howl of a cayote was heard, another answered, and
pretty soon them two filled the air with their serenading--. The echo
of that hadn't quite died down when the long, drawed out, and mournful
howl of a wolf made that of the cayotes seem like a joke. The little
bunch of horses on the knoll hadn't blinked an eye while the cayotes
was serenading, but at the sound of what followed, every head in the
bunch went up, every ear pointed towards the sound, and the buckskin
with a few others snorted.
Restlessness had got in the bunch. Smoky started out a ways and came
back, then pretty soon and keeping as close together as they could they
all begin moving. They moved on like shadows, and like more shadows
three grey shapes had took up their trail.
The big buckskin had stayed in the rear of the bunch and he was first
to notice the wolves, a loud whistling snort was heard from him as he
landed in the middle of the bunch and kettled 'em into a stampede and
the run for their lives. The cold air was split forty ways and crusted
hunks of snow was sent a flying as the ponies all wild eyed broke their
way thru the drifts at the edge of a ridge and run on towards the big
flat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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