THE prairie grass began once more to and grow grey. The winds assumed again their autumnal sadness and moaned with an aimless complaint. Again dead thistles began rolling over the plains, expressing somehow in their helpless rolling the of change. Frosts rewhitened the morning earth and geese again on their flight to the south.
The was grazing on a hillslope. On the top of the hill stood Queen. The wind was away at her mane and tail, but otherwise she was as motionless as the hill she was on. Her eyes were upon two horses coming from the southeast and more than a mile away.
Once or twice the brown colt, now a full grown stallion, fat and almost clumsy, raised his head to look as she was looking; but most of the others were busy seeking better grasses and wild plants they liked, until Queen, with a suppressed whinny of excitement away to meet the newcomers. At once the peaceful scene broke into activity.
But when they had come within a quarter of a mile of the two horses, they stopped. A white horse that made Queen think of White-black, tied to a sorrel horse that made her think of the old sorrel work-horse, running as fast as they could under the circumstances, were coming toward them, by fits and starts. The white horse, as he came, kept stepping backward and raising his head every once in a while, only to leap forward again a few paces. Always as he leaped forward something dragged him back by the head. They would run on together for a short distance and then the same thing would happen again.
When they got very near, in spite of her interest, Queen’s fear of the of man which clung to them got the better of her and she led away till the was out of sight. There the herd waited for its reappearance. When they did appear the herd fled again. This they kept up for the greater part of the day. Toward evening Queen made another attempt to find out just what was wrong. By this time she was convinced that there was no man with them anywhere, and the labourious manner in which these creatures followed them her fear of their being dangerous.
She went round on a curve and stopped some fifty feet from the two weary animals. The sorrel, now about a foot behind the white horse, snorting as if he had great difficulty in breathing, took the opportunity during the moment’s rest to his body with his front legs against the pulling of the white one. The white one, driven by some fear, began pulling and tugging as soon as he had caught his breath; but he couldn’t the old fellow an inch. Queen advanced fearfully. The scent of man, despite the fact that there was no man about, worried her even as the growing certainty that these were her old companions drew her toward them. Finally she ventured near enough to touch the white nose that came forward a few inches to meet hers. White-black it was! Poor, abused White-black, covered with barn dirt, his sides fallen in through struggle and lack of sufficient food.
A touch of the old sorrel’s nose brought him to his proper place in her mind and Queen ran from one to the other, feeling that the spell of the dirty barn was still holding both of them in , and trying to arrive at some plan of them, yet not having the faintest idea of what to do.
The old sorrel was by far the weaker one of the two. He was evidently just about . His poor old sides expanded and contracted rapidly and his dirty flanks were wet with . Though White-black took advantage of their halt and grazed as far as the of that held him fast to his mate would allow; the old sorrel made no attempt to eat. His harness had slipped down his side and one of his front legs was caught in a loop in one of the straps that hung from his neck.
The weary old sorrel had hardly his breath, when Queen spied a man on horseback coming after the pair. The herd dashed away to the north while White-black, dragging the exhausted sorrel behind him, brought up the rear. The old sorrel did the best he could. The lines tying his to White-black’s bridle pulled painfully at his lips, the corners of which were red with blood. Strength was rapidly from him and he moved through space as if he were dazed.
Suddenly one of his front legs went into a hole. The old fellow went down with a . The groan was immediately followed by several sharp, successive snaps and White-black was free from his poor, wretched, old mate. And the poor old sorrel, too, was free, free from all future agony.
The hanging straps White-black’s flight, but the darkness came to his rescue. The herd had ceased running. The -beats of the man’s saddle were dying away in the distance. By morning when the man reappeared on the horizon, White-black, still burdened by his heavy harness, was free enough to be able to keep up with the herd, for what was left of the lines, stepped upon so many times during the night, now hung above his knees.
For more than a week, the man persiste............