

Tito 



XIII 



It was nearly sunrise before the wolver awoke. 

 With the true instinct of a plainsman he turned 

 to look for the Horse. 77 was gone. What his 

 ship is to the sailor, what wings are to the Bird, 

 what money is to the merchant, the Horse is to 

 the plainsman. Without it he is helpless, lost 

 at sea, wing broken, crippled in business. 

 Afoot on the plains is the sum of earthly ter- 

 rors. Even Jake realized this, and ere his 

 foggy wits had fully felt the shock he sighted 

 the steed afar on a flat, grazing and stepping 

 ever farther from the camp. At a second 

 glance Jake noticed that the Horse was trailing 

 the rope. If the rope had been left behind 

 Take would have known that it was hopeless to 

 try to catch him ; he would have finished his 

 den-hunt and found the little Coyotes. But, 

 with the trailing rope, there was a good chance 

 of catching the Horse ; so Jake set out to try. 



Of all maddening things there is nothing 

 worse than to be almost, but not quite, able to 

 catch your Horse. Do what he might, Jake 

 could not get quite near enough to seize that 



34o 





