The Sky Pilot | Page 6

wilder jump than
ordinary threw my cape up over my head, so that I was in complete
darkness. And now he had me at his mercy, and he knew no pity. He
kicked and plunged and reared and bucked, now on his front legs, now
on his hind legs, often on his knees, while I, in the darkness, could only
cling to the horn of the saddle. At last, in one of the gleams of light that
penetrated the folds of my enveloping cape, I found that the horn had
slipped to his side, so the next time he came to his knees I threw myself
off. I am anxious to make this point clear, for, from the expression of
triumph on the face of the grinning boy, and his encomiums of the pony,
I gathered that he scored a win for the cayuse. Without pause that little
brute continued for some seconds to buck and plunge even after my
dismounting, as if he were some piece of mechanism that must run
down before it could stop.
By this time I was sick enough and badly shaken in my nerve, but the
triumphant shouts and laughter of the boy and the complacent smiles
on the faces of Jack and the half-breed stirred my wrath. I tore off the
cape and, having got the saddle put right, seized Jack's riding whip and,
disregarding his remonstrances, sprang on my steed once more, and
before he could make up his mind as to his line of action plied him so
vigorously with the rawhide that he set off over the prairie at full gallop,
and in a few minutes came round to the camp quite subdued, to the
boy's great disappointment and to my own great surprise. Jack was

highly pleased, and even the stolid face of the half-breed showed
satisfaction.
"Don't think I put this up on you," Jack said. "It was that cape. He ain't
used to such frills. But it was a circus," he added, going off into a fit of
laughter, "worth five dollars any day."
"You bet!" said the half-breed. "Dat's make pretty beeg fun, eh?"
It seemed to me that it depended somewhat upon the point of view, but
I merely agreed with him, only too glad to be so well out of the fight.
All day we followed the trail that wound along the shoulders of the
round-topped hills or down their long slopes into the wide, grassy
valleys. Here and there the valleys were cut through by coulees through
which ran swift, blue-gray rivers, clear and icy cold, while from the
hilltops we caught glimpses of little lakes covered with wild-fowl that
shrieked and squawked and splashed, careless of danger. Now and then
we saw what made a black spot against the green of the prairie, and
Jack told me it was a rancher's shack. How remote from the great world,
and how lonely it seemed!--this little black shack among these
multitudinous hills.
I shall never forget the summer evening when Jack and I rode into
Swan Creek. I say into--but the village was almost entirely one of
imagination, in that it consisted of the Stopping Place, a long log
building, a story and a half high, with stables behind, and the store in
which the post-office was kept and over which the owner dwelt. But the
situation was one of great beauty. On one side the prairie rambled down
from the hills and then stretched away in tawny levels into the misty
purple at the horizon; on the other it clambered over the round, sunny
tops to the dim blue of the mountains beyond.
In this world, where it is impossible to reach absolute values, we are
forced to hold things relatively, and in contrast with the long, lonely
miles of our ride during the day these two houses, with their
outbuildings, seemed a center of life. Some horses were tied to the rail
that ran along in front of the Stopping Place.

"Hello!" said Jack, "I guess the Noble Seven are in town."
"And who are they?" I asked.
"Oh," he replied, with a shrug, "they are the elite Of Swan Creek; and
by Jove," he added, "this must be a Permit Night."
"What does that mean?" I asked, as we rode up towards the tie rail.
"Well," said Jack, in a low tone, for some men were standing about the
door, "you see, this is a prohibition country, but when one of the boys
feels as if he were going to have a spell of sickness he gets a permit to
bring in a few gallons for medicinal purposes; and of course, the other
boys being similarly exposed, he invites them to assist him in taking
preventive measures. And," added Jack, with a solemn