Wl >KK ( >.\ A \.\TK )\.\I. !( (REST 



horse r.'in that no one dared to run in: 

 it kept on slashing the horse, tore liim 

 almost to pieces, cut off one foot, and 

 lie fell over. 



"My horse whinnied as I came up. 

 asked me to help him. held up his '. 

 I just pulled my gun and shot him." 



Thus one gets both comedy and trag- 

 edy in these -imple tales of rangers 

 and their horses. In everv stry up 

 here. OIK- is a])t to tind that a horse 

 reallv belongs somewhere. I have- seen 

 two old friends drop silently apart for 

 a time, and then. -lowly, painfully come 

 together again. It is some colt which 

 In th wanted, or a remark about hrses. 



compani 'ii in hard place- a faithful 

 hor-e ran be. Read Kipling'- "Kast 

 and \\V-t" ballad : read of -real Roland 

 in I'.rouning's poem, and the mighty 

 hlack charger in "Lady < ieraldine'- 

 ( 'oiirtship." Think, too, of that desert 

 "stallion shod with fire." in llayard 

 Taylor's immortal love song. And, of 

 course, yon remember John limit, and 

 his l) lin Fulano. storming on and on 

 through the Rockies to save life and, 

 honor. 



< live us time, up here in the-e great 

 mountains, and perhaps fact- shall 

 make such brave tales as the-r about 

 our horses and our men. and we, too, 



Rangers Ready to Start Out 



stupidK repeated, which ha- made the 

 trouble. Then, seeing this rending of 

 old ties. you can understand the earlier 

 races, the tribe's of forest -men. \vho 

 had only s\\on|s and hor-e-. Yon re 

 member legend- of tall, golden-haired 

 youths who fought to the death for 

 some splendid warrior-steed! You re- 

 member how young Sigurd went to the 

 Meads of i iripir for (irayfell. the (lift 

 < >\ i >din. I "p here, ill < >ur mountains, 

 we love those ancient tales of men of 

 weapons, anil of hor-e-. \\hen the world 

 was new and the -tar- \\erc near. 



Literature and history art' crowded 

 with storie- that illustrate how good a 



shall bee -me legends and inspiration-. 



It may happen that some ranger'- 

 wife. or daughter, or sweetheart, will 

 take an unhrokcn c\[ from the pasture, 

 and ride him at full speed up the p 

 all fearless, ju black midnight. t<> carry 

 sonic fateful message, to gather men 

 to stop a forest tin-, to follow -oine 

 criminal, to save - 1 'me life. Here an 1 

 there, as the years pass, in ( tregon, or 

 Ari/oiia. or California, or elsewhere, 

 all along our chain of forests, men's 

 horses will fall under them, worn out 

 or heart-broken in sudden Stress, and 



given to the Service by its servants. 



