José — page 147: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

140 JOSE. him with her voice, in the meantime conversing with the overseer upon matters relating to the Indians, the fort and its surroundings, until through the medium of her charming ways, she completely fascinated the old man, little used as he was to female loveliness. After the intelligent horse had learned to dis- tinguish her soft hand and voice, she startled the overseer one morning by going to the stable alone and after untying the animal, allowing him to run loose in the yard. She coaxed him to her side, and after repeated failures, at last succeeded in placing the bridle over his head. On repeating the experi- ment the next morning she found the stable dry and clean, and at the end of -several days, the pony, confident of being rewarded for his obedience by a handful of sugar.and cake, was so far under her control as to follow her as freely about the yard as a dog. Her novel occupation had been furtively watched by a number of the domestics, and though she at first paid no attention to it, it was evident that gradually she began to dislike it. One morning she placed the saddle on the pony’s back unaided, declining McAllister’s assistance with the laughing remark: “A denizen of the wilderness should. learn to help himself,” while she directed him to open the small, iron-bound door in the rear wall, facing the valley. “J’ll not stray a great distance from the fort. There is no danger, is there?” she added, in re- sponse to a look of alarm from the overseer. “JI simply desire that my enjoyment be not marred by so many curious faces leering at me, as is the case in the yard.” | And away she went, patting the animal’s neck, Eomichooks com