The Story of Ben 23 



This was on a day when we had a difficult mountain to 

 descend, and we thought we would lighten Buckskin's 

 load by putting Ben on another horse that was carry- 

 ing less weight. We got him settled on Baldy, as we 

 called the other caynse, without any trouble, and 

 started out in the usual order; but just as we were on a 

 particularly steep part of the hill, working our way 

 down through a track of burned but still standing 

 timber where the dry dirt and ashes were several 

 inches deep and the dust and heat almost unbearable, 

 there was a sudden commotion in the rear. We turned 

 to see what was happening, and out of a cloud of dust 

 and ashes Baldy bore frantically down upon us. His 

 back was arched and with his head down between 

 his forelegs he was giving one of the most perfect ex- 

 hibitions of the old-school style of bucking that any 

 one ever saw. 



Now it is useless to try to catch a bucking horse 

 on a steep mountain side. The only thing to be done 

 was to get out of the road and wait until the frightened 

 animal either lost its footing and rolled to the foot of 

 the declivity or reached the bottom right side up and 

 stopped of its own accord. So we jumped to one side. 

 But, just as Ben and his maddened steed enveloped 

 in a cloud of ash dust swept past the balance of the 

 now frightened horses, the pack hit against a dead tree 

 whose root had nearly rotted away and the result com- 

 pleted the confusion. For the force of the shock first 



