Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/388

A EJSAGBEEABliE MTDATZON. 37 J. mencie; they had picnic up ia QuiTira, but the scene Bhiftsi, typifying that "life is real, life is earnest," for the strain "becaiQe unbearable, with the eternail vigi- glenoe to keep tbe wily Comanches froni stealing their stodc. "Bie country is so open that they cannot accomplish anything during daylight, but just as soon asdarlniess sets in,' then the horse thieves be- gin their work, and owing to the impei^tive neces- sity .of allowing the horses to pasture during the night so as to stand the next day's ride, for there is no grain in sight (except what Monte had secreted), an:d erery day the chargers are losing th^ir flesh, and with it their spirit, for whenever a riding horse be- comes razor-backed, the sad^e begins to rub and chafe until the hidte is worn through, causing a Saddle sore, which knocks, out even a good nag and makes it lose heart and become moppy, dropping its head and flopping its ears instead of arched neck and pricked up ears. Even Monte's mule began to show the wear and tear, and the only one that could be re- lied upon for any speed is Babieca, which is accounted for by the secreted shelled corn, and also the persist: ent industry of Alpnso and Monte, for Alonso makes it a rule in the morning before starting to gather a sheai of blue stem grass and ties it to the back of the mule, and after a few hours' ride takes the bit from the horse's mouth and feeds the grass as they travel. Itds remarkable how knowing a horse is. In the early pioneer days of Kansas a riding pony was used to go five miles to work returning in the evening; fre- quently a biscuit or a piece of corn dodger or fat ba- con would be left from dinner, and while riding home