THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 145 



reluctantly to his importunity the next event was 

 a small crowd eager to witness the cinching up of 

 the saddle. Again disappointment was the out- 

 come. Nina displayed her customary curiosity but 

 nothing more, and walked off, bearing boy and sad- 

 dle without a tremor. When colt and rider reap- 

 peared the former wore an air of pleasurable excite- 

 ment ; evidently for her it had been a case of "a per- 

 fect day." "Well?" I queried. The boy exclaimed 

 — "Nothing doing! She just seemed to think the 

 whole show was got up for her amusement. Scare? 

 Not she!" 



On the other hand, and on the ranch, Nina was 

 the star entertainer. To say she was smart is to 

 say little. The man who bought her sent me a 

 message a year or so later that he would not take 

 any money for his purchase : that this mare, raised 

 and broken by a woman and a boy, was the best 

 and cleverest animal he had ever owned. 



But she was irrepressible. One morning, when 

 she had almost arrived at the dignity of a two-year- 

 old and I was busy in my den, she spent something 

 like an hour trying to shove her soft muzzle through 

 the screen of the only window accessible to her. 

 Why did she act in this annoying manner ? For the 

 reason that she desired to enter and play with me, 

 and was mad because I was attending strictly to 

 the business of the hour and not to her. At length 

 with an angry snort and a wicked toss of the head 

 she made off. For awhile peace reigns. Presently 

 unusual sounds proceed from the end of the long 

 hall running through the old house. I rush forth. 



