trembling.

"I dismounted, and the cowboys threw up their hats and cheered the
'tenderfoot.' Then I took down the reins of the hackamore (the Mexican
Jaquema), bent the brute's head around, and tied him in a half circle to
his own tail. Then, borrowing a cowboy's whip, I tapped him gently with
it, and kept him turning and tumbling until he was covered with foam, and
I saw he was completely subdued. Then I untied the rope, gave him his
head, and then sprang again (without a blind this time) into the saddle.
He moved off in a walk; then I trotted him, then put him in a gallop, and
after circling the corral two or three times, reined him up to the
cowboys, stopped him, and dismounted.

"'No wonder he licked the coon!' said Jordan.

"And one of the cowboys standing near said, 'Bet y'r boots!'

"I went to work and was a cowboy for a year, and it was a happy year, for
I had no trouble and any number of friends. I could ride and shoot with
any of them, and soon learned to throw a rope. My riding the big stallion
gave me a mighty prestige, for I learned later that many had tried him
and no one had kept the saddle for two minutes. He was my vaquero horse,
and many a cowboy stopped and looked as I rode by.

"I had been with Jordan but a short time when one evening he brought a
book and said:

"'Jim! look at this. A preacher-lookin' chap stopped over night har a
year ago and went off in the mornin', and forgot ter take it. See if yo'
don't think it's ther durndest stuff yo' ever seen!'

"I looked at the book. It was the Iliad, Pope's translation.

"'Why, Jordan,' I said, 'this is a wonderful book.' Then I briefly
explained what the great epic was, who the Greeks and who the Trojans
were, the cause of the war between them, how nations fought in those
days, what gods they worshiped, and added, 'Let me read you a little
of it.'

"'Why, in course,' said Jordan. 'If yo' ken make a blamed thing out er
it, we'd all like to har it; wouldn't we, boys?'

"They all assented. I was just out of school and read pretty well.

"So I opened the volume at random and it happened to be in Book XVI.,
where Pelides consents that Patroclus shall put on his own armor and lead
his Myrmidons into the fight, where Achilles arouses and sets in array
his terrible warriors, has the steeds yoked and prays Dodonian Jove to
give to his friend the victory, and then to grant him safe return. After
reading ten minutes, I closed the book, and asked Jord