u shall have the chance. However, I shall not permit you to saddle
him. Some of the cowpunchers, who are used to that, had better do it for
you the first time. Unless one knows these little brutes he is liable to
be kicked to death."

"I am not afraid."

"No, that is the danger of it. Neither is the pony afraid--that is, not
until he is blindfolded."

About the middle of the afternoon the foreman announced that they would
begin the breaking. The cowmen uttered a shout, for the process promised
them much boisterous fun.

"Is the gopher going to break one of the bronchos?" asked Lumpy Bates.

"No, but the Pinto is," replied Curley Adams.

"He'll want to go home right away if he tries it, I reckon," jeered
Lumpy.

"Don't you be too sure about that," retorted Curley. "That kid's got the
stuff in him. I've been watching him right along. None of them lads is
tenderfeet, unless it's the gopher, and he isn't half as bad as he
looks."

By this time the foreman had taken hold of the rope that held the most
violent of the ponies, and was slowly shortening upon it. As he neared
the pony's head a cowboy began whipping a blanket over its back.

While the animal was plunging and kicking, Stallings gripped him by the
bridle, after which there was a lively struggle, and in a moment more a
broad handkerchief had been tied over the pony's eyes.

"What's that for! Is he going to play blind man's buff?" demanded
Chunky.

"Huh! Get out!" growled Big-foot.

"If he does, you'll be it," jeered Ned Rector.

At last the animal crouched down trembling. He had never passed through
an experience like that before and could not understand it.

Tad Butler standing near, was observing the operation with keenly
inquiring eyes.

All at once the little animal leaped clear of the foreman's grip, its
blinder came off and it launched into a series of wild bucks and grunts.
The air seemed full of flying hoofs, and for the moment there was a
lively scattering of cowpunchers and Pony Riders.

Once more, and with great patience, the foreman went all over the
proceeding again. This time the foreman got one hand on the animal's
nose and the other in his mane.

All at once something happened. A forty-pound saddle was thrown, not
dropped, on the back of the unsuspecting pony.

The broncho's back arched like a bow, and the saddle went skyward. Stacy
Brown happened to be in the way of it as it descended, so that boy and
saddle went down together