a] 
Coaly—-Bay, the Outlaw Horse 
The rifle was levelled, the very brain its mark, 
just on the cross line of the eyes and ears, that 
meant sure—sudden, painless death. 
The rifle cracked. The great horse wheeled and 
dashed away. It was sudden death or miss—and 
the marksman missed. 
Away went the wild horse at his famous best, 
not for his eastern home, but down the unknown 
western trail, away and away; the pine woods hid 
him from the view, and left behind was the rifleman 
vainly trying to force the empty cartridge from his 
gun. 
Down that trail with an inborn certainty he went, 
and on through the pines, then leaped a great bog, 
and splashed an hour later through the limpid 
Clearwater and on, responsive to some unknown 
guide that subtly called him from the farther west. 
“y, And so he went till the dwindling pines gave place 
~“ 
\ to scrubby cedars and these in turn were mixed 
%# with sage, and onward still, till the faraway flat 
bi 
plains of Salmon River were about him, and ever 
“on, tireless as it seemed, he went, and crossed the 
canyon of the mighty Snake, and up again to the 
high wild plains where the wire fence still is not, 
and on, beyond the Buffalo Hump, till moving 
specks on the far horizon caught his eager eyes, 
and coming on and near, they moved and rushed 
14 
