The Black Swans 



And probably experience has taught 

 them that their own way — which they, 

 like some of the rest of us, dearly love 

 to have — is apt to be the best way, at 

 least for themselves. 



To begin with, they are "broken" 

 literally, not figuratively, speaking. 

 As colts big enough to be bitted, they 

 will not surrender their native inborn 

 love of liberty, their right to run the 

 range without restraint, until con- 

 quered by a force they are incapable 

 of indefinitely resisting — such as Ray, 

 for instance, at the end of that long 

 and merciless rope. They are sub- 

 jected to the gross indignity of the 

 saddle only by the exercise of brute 

 force ruthlessly applied. And a game 

 fight, too, the best ones make before 

 they sue for peace, and in the case of the 

 more indomitable spirits among them, 

 they accept their bondage with a well 

 defined mental reservation. Some of 

 them have therefore to be "broken" all 

 over again now and then. Ray is quick 

 [80] 



