THE-:- HORSE 



roo foreman of San Emidio Ranch, and 

 knowing he was in want of a horse, I nat- 

 urally had him in mind, and sent the animal 

 to him without delay. In order to keep the 

 ranch records balanced, it was his privilege 

 to return a horse to me for the one I had 

 sent, and, it is true, a great deal of disturb- 

 ance was caused by the hard-bucking animal 

 which I received from Ramon, one of the 

 cowboys having a leg broken as the result of 

 its advent at Stockdale. 



Except for the courteous expression of 

 gratitude for the horse I sent him, I heard 

 nothing for many months as to how the 

 animal fared in San Emidio's remuda. Long 

 afterward I chanced to hear two men dis- 

 cussing the loss of a very good saddle. It 

 appeared that Ramon had received as a pres- 

 ent a fine looking horse, and that he took the 

 precaution, which is the usual wont of com- 

 petent foremen, to order one of his men to 

 bestride the newly arrived animal, before 

 mounting it himself. The animal being un- 

 able to buck very hard, and ridden in a corral, 

 did not have a fair chance to show off his real 

 paces, so Ramon, encouraged in this manner, 

 subsequently bestrode the animal and led his 

 cowboys to a round-up in the hills. 



Before reaching their destination, to the 

 marvel of the assembled men, Ramon dis- 

 appeared at break-neck speed over an ad- 



73 



