I Conquered""

oof an

rk ceased to exist, and a new man took his pl

Jed one morning, watching with interest as th

er see!" Jed boasted. "I picked him up out at Co

m? What's his name?"

" replied Jed, squinting at a distant peak. "An

eard it in Ranger bore it off into the hills, for even such a small bit of news is a meaty morsel for those who sit in the same small company about bunk-house stoves months on end. The boy became kn

n recite with the variations that travel gives to tale

and to meet the exigencies of the range; he learned the country, cultivated the instinct of direction

At times-and they were not infrequent-the thirst came on him wit

r than doubtings, could not endure without faltering. The ideal was ever there, but

d wind put on him. During the daytime it was bad enough, but when he woke in the night, sleep broken sharply, and rais

ame in after a day of hard, rough, effective toil, having done all that a son of the hills could be expect

rel horse they had brought in the day before. He watched from a distance,

eyes twinkling, as he crawled

found out!" was the answer, and in i

arly in the mêlée. He clung desperately to the saddle horn with one hand, but with the othe

ge was there and when he was thrown it was only at th

t and wiped the d

" aske

he saddle again, got one foot in the stirrup, and, aft

nd made for the horse a third time Jed s

pride that he could not suppress. "T

e up!" protested the boy

ve been born in the hills. You'd have made a fine bronc twister. Ain'

ubbed the nose of the frant

ed, if I could ever get a leg over that

hinkin'

ng in this country-the strongest-and I want to show him that there's something a little st

n," Jed said, casually, thou

eard me talk this way. Me, a greenhorn, a tenderfoot, talking cr

busted you twice, but you've got th' stuff under your belt that makes horses behave. That's th' only stu

om where he looked down on a scene that drove home even more forcibly the knowledge

e gulch. "It's a Percheron-one of Thorpe's stallions. He'

he black, stepping proudly along over the rough gulch bottom, tossing his hea

ing the last of them into the bunch as VB came in sight

clearly as he pranced slowly along, parading his graces for the mares up there, displ

to his mares. His tail moved slowly, easily, from side to side. His e

forty, thirty. He paused, pawed the ground,

for the Captain, striding forward to humble him under the very noses

s slowly, head shaking, forefeet waving in the air, as though

m of rage the black horse hurtled. He seemed to be under

cease from the time he left his tracks until, with front hoofs raised, a catapult of living, quivering hate, he hurled himself

t stiffly into the ground, plowing great ruts in the earth in his efforts to stop and turn and meet the rush of the other, as he recovered from the first shock, gathered headway, and bore

ed to poise, the Captain holding against the fury that had come upon him, holding even against the odds of lightness and up-hill fighting.

nder the might that was brought to bear in the assault and resistance. A dozen times they rushed upon each other, a dozen times they parted and raised

t th' fear of death in him! Look at them ears! Hear him holler! He's too quick. Too

bs with his hoofs until the blows sounded like the rumble of a drum. The challenger threw

roke his back

him bite!"

levolent teeth. Again and again they found fleshhold, and his neck bowed with the

onlooking mares; no attacking; just impotent resistance, as the Ca

trove to make his escape and the Captain relentlessly fo

he moving fight. But they were no more than mounted when the Captain came back, swinging along i

itch to his band with all the vigor of stride he had displayed in flying from it to answer the presumption of the gray. And the mar

in the boy's face made him nod

e whispered exultingly. "Y