144 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



so calm and confident, and in a minute or so he is 

 marching along, unperturbed but decidedly interest- 

 ed. 



The breaking of the first colt to harness had its 

 amusing side. Two young men who made a busi- 

 ness of breaking horses were kind enough to prof- 

 fer their assistance and arrived on the ground with 

 ropes and other paraphernalia commonly used in 

 that business. To their unbounded amazement they 

 beheld the above untroubled incident; further ad- 

 vanced, however, as the boy and I were by that 

 time seated in the cart being drawn along by a 

 pleased and spirited colt, head and tail carried in 

 an airified manner but otherwise "nothing doing." 

 For some days, acting on the advice of an ex- 

 perienced Southern horseman, the colt was held 

 down to a walk, kept well up to the bit but not al- 

 lowed to break, this being the Southern way of de- 

 veloping a rapid walker; and of all things slow 

 walking is the most intolerable to the Southern 

 horseman, more especially if he hail from a section 

 of bad roads where good time must be made yet 

 fast trotting is impossible. 



Meantime my colt has been ridden barebacked to 

 water many times. When Nina, the "boldest" colt 

 of all, was some fifteen months old — or in other 

 words "rising two" — came along the Fourth, and 

 with it the boy, imploring permission to "saddle her 

 up" for the first time and ride her in to town so 

 that she might acquire experience with firecrackers 

 and the like exciting adventures. "She won't scare 

 with me!" he persisted. Having yielded somewhat 



