Adventure Magazine Cover — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

a ™~ Eas the pressure on bie sore feck he came more - ‘willingly. ~ _ Inacouple of hours Dal had him respond- See ing ‘to the slightest pressure of the rope. In another hour he was able to touch the horse on his face and neck, and by daylight — he figured that it was tractable enough to ~ ride. this operation for several days, but he knew if he did not begin at once the alternative meant a fifty-mile walk. The unusual in- tellizence displayed by the horse encour- - aged him to take more chances than he would have taken with a jar-head. __. Dal was a good rider in the saddle. In fact he had won a number of prizes at vari- ous bucking contests, and he had not given up the game entirely. after becoming 2 rancher; but those prizes had been won in a saddle, and now he was bareback. He had no wish to test his ability against Sport, for the horse showed plainly that he could, if he wanted to, buck hard enough to throw a wood-tick—the best rider in the world. Now he remembered an old trick that he had seen Indians use in breaking colts to ride bareback, which was to tie up one front foot of the horse by a rope across the withers to the opposite shoulder. This he proceeded to do, and then, leaving the Mc- Carty still tied to the snubbing post, gradu- ally wormed himself on to the quivering horse’s back. At first Sport stood trembling with fear, then launched himself into the air in the beginning of a terrific leap. But the hob- bled foot interfered grievously with the effort, and the taut McCarty rope jerked him back on the ground. Again and again he tried it, but quickly grew discouraged over his fgilure to dislodge his rider. Dal grew correspondingly more confident. Soon he had the horse responding to the neck- _ rein of the hackamore, and circling which- ever way he wished him to around the snub- bing post. At length Dal let down the captive foot, and-untied the McCarty rope from the | snubbing post. Then he again climbed on the horse’s back with all the caution he could command. He had placed the rifle on the top of the snubbing post, so he gently reined the horse so close that he could reach out and pick up the gun. This accom- plished he rode out of the cafion. The one thing he now had to fear was that Sport would bolt as soon as he found Rote ra He would have preferred to delay ‘He did increase his ed oo considerably, but by much petting, pulling — es at the hackamore, and coaxing, Dal was at ~ last able to guide his conquest to. Silver. Sport, and staked him by the foot on a bit — of wild grass beside the spring. Then he strolled casually toward the cabin. ae Vincie plainly showed her astanishaiente = “Why Dal—that—that is the leader of the band of wild horses! It is Sport! — Surely you haven’t been able to catch and — conquer him since you left here yesterday?” e she gasped. “Tve done just that,” Dal said proudly. _ ee For the first time he saw in her eyes some- thing beside friendliness or curiosity. There was posits oie egre ee CHAPTER VI DAL ENLARGES, HIS ACQUAINTANCE “Pae remainder of that day Sport was: = allowed to rest, but all the next he = z Dal labored with him, kindly, carefully, yet = firmly. He sogn saw in the gray a horse = the equal of old Spot in his prime for — 2 Ba intelligence, strength, and speed. The phenomenal luck he had thus.far almost caused him to forget he was wanted for murder;-and his mind was at rest on the matter ‘when, on the third day of Sport’s | captivity, he rode the gray into the livery | stahle at Hog-up, and tied him in a stall — beside old Spot. The old see greeted his master with an eager whinny in which there was eceiiet = such infinite relief and pleasure that tears — rushed to Dal’s eyes and he threw his arms a around Spot’s neck. He seemed to be well role enough cared for, though Dal, with that. S intense fellow feeling of his, realized how galling it was for the horse to have ere stand wearily, hour after hour in a- ‘stall surrounded by strangers. Yet there We s- nothing he could do. The stableman scrutinized Sport care | fully, nor did he overlook the fact that the © horse had just been broken, nor the See; ficant fact that he had no brand. * “That’s some horse yu got, mister,” opined. “Yu don’t mean to say: he’s just a desert mustang?” eas (E@)