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Instead of taking a deliberate pot-shot at an unsuspecting victim, he was obliged to face about, to fire hastily at a charging enemy, and to spring nimbly aside to save himself from being ridden down. The saving jump was an awkward one: it brought him into breath-taking collision with the upjerking head of the mustang.
They were on their way back to a general rendezvous ordered by the Sheriff, but Harry continued on his way up the mountain. Mile after mile the little mustang put behind him while the sun was still high. On the slope of a hill they came to a crossroads, and Harry, riding almost blindly, reined to the right. The pony swerved wildly to the left.
It may be so in a room, or a prison; but assuredly not in a Texian prairie. I am quite certain that the fifth day would have seen the last of me. I should never have been able to mount my mustang, but he had fortunately lain down, so I got into the saddle, and he rose up with me and started off of his own accord. As I rode along, the strangest visions seemed to pass before me.
The cowboys took no notice of him. Jim was bandaging a leg of his horse; Bludsoe was wearily gathering up his saddle and trappings; Lem was giving his tired mustang a parting slap that meant much. Moore evidently awaited a fresh mount. A Mexican lad had come in out of the pasture leading several horses, one of which was the mottled white mustang that Moore rode most of the time.
The Don also remounted his half-broken mustang; they proceeded in solemn silence through the corral, and side by side emerged on the open plain. Poindexter glanced around; no other being was in sight. It was not until the lonely hacienda had also sunk behind them that Don Jose broke the silence. "You say just now we shall speak as business men. I say no, Don Marco; I will not.
"Dad, I don't believe Joel is perfectly right in his mind," Lucy said, solemnly. "Haw! haw! Fine compliments you're payin' yourself." "Listen. I'm serious. I mean I've grown to see -looking back that a slow, gradual change has come over Joel since he was kicked in the head by a mustang. I'm sure no one else has noticed it." "Goin' batty over you. That's no unusual sign round this here camp.
Before reaching the spot where he is still prospecting, they see him give a sudden spring forward, like a frog leaping over meadow sward, then pause again, scrutinising a track. A second examination, similar to the first, tells of another discovery. In like manner explained, by his speech close following, "An' hyar's the track o' the mare the yeller mustang as war rid by the saynorita.
The mustang burst into a tremendous gait at this moment, and was drawing away from his pursuers so rapidly that the lasso dropped off his haunches and the flying pony was almost instantly beyond its reach. But the second Apache was near at hand and threw his thong from a closer point, and with a venomous spitefulness that would not be evaded.
It was a rough, uneven, winding road they followed, apparently but little used, littered with loose stones and projecting roots; yet, after a moment of fierce but useless rebellion, the lively mustang sobered down into a cautious picking of his passage amid the debris, obedient as a dog to the soft voice of his mistress.
Basil saw this with surprise. He looked to discover the cause. As his eye glanced along the ground, he perceived that it was uneven covered, as far as he could see, with little hillocks. The mustang was among them. It was this, then, that was causing him to run so strangely. Basil had hardly made the observation, when he felt his horse sink suddenly under him, and tumble headlong upon the prairie!
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