Red Saunders Pets and Other Critters | Page 9

pounds. When he reared on his hind legs and came for you,
screaming, his teeth snapping like bear-traps, his black mane flying, a
man seemed a pigmy. One blow from those front hoofs and your
troubles were over. Once down, he'd trample, bite, and kick until your
own mother would hesitate to claim the pile of rags and jelly left. He
had served two men so; nothing but his matchless beauty saved his life.
Nowhere could one find a better example of hell-beautiful than when
he tore around his corral in a tantrum, as lithe and graceful as a black
panther. His mane stood on end; his eyes and nostrils were of a colour;
the muscles looked to be bursting through the silken gloom of his coat.
His swiftness was something incredible. He caught and most horribly
killed Jim Baxter's hound before the latter could get out of the
corral--and a bear-hound is a pretty agile animal. We had to tie Jim, or
he'd made an end of Geronimo. He left the ranch right after that. The
loss of his dog broke him all up.

We fed and watered Geronimo with a pitchfork, and in terror then, for
his slyness and cunning were on a par with his other pleasant
peculiarities. One of the poor devils he killed entered the stable all
unsuspecting. Geronimo had broken his chains, and stood close against
the wall of his stall in the darkness, waiting. The man came within
reach. Suddenly a black mass of flesh flashed in the air above him,
coming down with all four hoofs--and that's enough of that story.
A nice pet was Geronimo. An excellent decoration for a gentleman's
stable--stuffed.
Well, Oscar turned him out this morning, and then he, Steve, and I
went for hay. As it was toward the last of winter, all the near stacks had
been used up, and we had to haul from Kennedy's bottom, eight miles
away. When we started, the air was still and frozen, with a deep, biting
cold unusual to Dakota; the sort that searches you and steals all the heat
you own. We were numb by the time we reached the stack, and glad
enough to have warm work to do. We fell to it with a rush for that
reason, and because a dull grey blink upon the western skyline seemed
to promise a blizzard. We were tying down the last load, when I heard
the hum of wind coming, and looked up, expecting to see a wall of
flying snow, and continued looking, seeing nothing of the kind. There I
stood, in the air of an ice-house, when a gust of that wind struck me. A
miracle! In a snap of your fingers I was bathed in genial warmth. All
about me rode the scent of spring and flowers! It was as if the doors of
a giant conservatory were thrown open.
"Chinook, boys! Chinook!" I called, casting down my fork. They ran
from the lee of the stack, throwing their coats open, drinking it in and
laughing, for, man! we were weary of winter! First it came in puffs, at
length settling down to a steady breeze, as of the sea. The sun, that in
the early morning was no more than a pale effigy, poured on us a
heart-warming fire. We hustled for home, knowing that the Chinook
would make short work of the snow. In fact, we had not covered more
than half the distance before the prairie began to show brown here and
there, where it lay thin between mountainous drifts. We sang and
howled all the way to the sheds, feeling fine.

Here Steve left us, to go to the house, while Oscar and I unloaded the
sleighs.
Suddenly I felt uncomfortable, for no reason in this world. The land
about us was rejoicing with the booming of that kind, warm wind, yet a
sharp uneasiness stopped me and forced me to raise my head. For
three-quarters of a circle nothing met my eyes but the vanishing
snow-drifts. I reached the house; nothing wrong there. Steve was
walking briskly out toward us, smoking his pipe. Then the corrals--all
right, number one, two, three, four--Lord have mercy!
"Oscar!" I shrieked, and snatched him to his feet. He rose, bewildered
and half angry, then looked to where I pointed.
Through the centre of number four corral tripped Sally, dear little timid
Sally, glad to be out in this lovely air, her eyes and mind on Oscar
doubtless, and in the same corral, shut off from her sight by a
projection of the sheds, stood Geronimo. And he saw her, too, for as
she waved a hand to us, he bared his great teeth and clashed them
together. The earth seemed to rock and sink from me.