"PENELOPE" 25 



keep an Indian in the ranks when there is a scalp at stake. 

 The fact that an occasional Indian turns out trustworthy 

 merely furnishes the exception which proves the rule. 



The Indians of to-day show a certain similarity in their 

 style of riding to those of the last generation, so far as 

 the constant use of the whip and heels is concerned, but 

 the saddle has completely changed their seat, and the dif- 

 ferent tribes differ as greatly among themselves as saddle- 

 riding does from the bareback. All Indians ride well. 

 Living in the saddle, breaking wild ponies, and using half- 

 trained ones at all times, they cannot help being expert 

 horsemen. They remind me of the old horse-lover who 

 once examined a fine mare I was riding — it was "Penel- 

 ope." "She's a good mare. Deacon Dyer," said I. "That 

 'ere mare," replied he, after looking her all over with a 

 true horseman's delight, and stopping in front of her to 

 give one more look into her broad, handsome, courageous 

 face — " that 'ere mare can't help but be a good un." So 

 with the Indian ; but most of them ride in so ungainly a 

 manner as to be hard to describe to one who has not seen 

 them. 



The first point of difference between them and the civ- 

 ilized rider which is apt to be brought home to a tender- 

 foot turns on the fact that the Indian always mounts from 

 the off side. This was a common habit also of remote 

 antiquity, though Xenophon teaches you how to mount 

 from the near side. Perhaps the habit came from the 

 same cause — that the lance or other weapon was naturally 

 held in the right hand, and could not readily be thrown 

 over the animal without fright or injury. The Greeks 

 had a small loop on the shank of the lance, into which 

 they thrust their right foot in order to swing themselves 

 up on their horse. They had no weapons dangling from 

 their waist to interfere with free action. But the long. 



