A RANCHMAN'S RECOLLECTIONS 



If he does, git your change ready for a hat prize, an' 

 I am a-goin' to start it with a five." 



As boy and steer came out of the chute, the stillness 

 fairly hiirt. Every heart in that great crowd seemed 

 to stop for the first three jumps, but "Little Boy" was 

 sitting tight. From the crowd there came a mighty 

 roar: "Stay with him, 'Little Boy'! He's got a 

 booger on him. >Ride Him 'Little Boy' !" 



At the tenth jump "Little Boy" was still up, his 

 grin growing broader and his seat getting steadier, 

 while the yearling, maddened by his clinging burden, 

 pitched and weaved, but, like Sinbad's "Old Man of 

 the Sea," "Little Boy" kept "a-ridin'." 



The crowd went daft. Every one was standing 

 and shouting. The noise seemed to infuriate the 

 yearling, and, turning from the end of the enclosure, 

 he made straight for the grandstand, struck his head 

 against the protecting wire, stood stock still, and 

 glared, while "Little Boy" sat and grinned. Some 

 one cried "Speech !" and, as stillness came, "Little 

 Boy," still sitting on the dazed steer, broadened his 

 grin and said, "I jest had to ride him. I needed them 

 boots and thet John B., so's I could be a real cow- 

 boy, an' this yere speckled yearlin's done done it." 



[235] 



