12 SADDLE AND CAMP 



to halt for an hour to feed our horses and re- 

 fresh ourselves. 



Upon leaving Snowflake, juniper, scrub oaks 

 and stunted pine brush were encountered, and 

 with each mile, as we proceeded, this scrubby 

 growth increased in size until presently it at- 

 tained the dignity of trees, suggestive of the 

 forest we were approaching and were soon to 

 enter. 



At Taylor, another small Mormon settlement, 

 five miles beyond Snowflake, we were fortunate 

 enough to discover for sale a plump little six- 

 year-old sorrel saddle pony, weighing about 

 eight hundred pounds, warranted sound, tough 

 enough to carry me over rough trails indefi- 

 nitely, and thoroughly tamed. This last qualifi- 

 cation was, in my estimation, by no means the 

 least of the pony's virtues. I had heard much 

 of the bucking broncos of Arizona and had en- 

 tertained a fear of being sent sprawling down 

 some rocky trail by an ill-broken or over-play- 

 ful animal; and I was never ambitious to dis- 

 tinguish myself as a "bronco buster." 



Many times I had been warned to beware by 

 men who had innocently and unwittingly been 

 lured by practical jokers to mount broncos ad- 

 dicted to bucking. Therefore, on a level road 

 I tried the pony out, even mounting him with 



