oze on what they saw. It was uncanny--one
hundred an' forty pounds of man tacklin' eleven hundred pounds of red
fury. There we stood, the white alkali dust raisin' in a cloud, an' the
devil-horse, crazy mad--screamin' shrill like a woman, snappin' like a
wolf, frothin', strikin', kickin', buckin' twistin', sunfishin',
swappin' ends, shootin' ten foot high an' crashin' down on his
back--fightin' every minute with the whole box of tricks, an' a lot of
new ones--an' Tex right up in the middle of him with that twisty smile
on his face, like he wasn't only half interested in what he was doin'.
Didn't even put a bridle on. Rode him with a hackamore--jerked that off
an' give him his head--an' he rode straight up, an' raked him an' fanned
him every jump. It wasn't _human_.

"For three days they fought, man an' horse, before the Red King knew
his master--an' when they got through, the Red King would come when Tex
whistled. For ten days he rode him, an'--there was a horse! A bay so
bright an' sleek that he looked like red gold in the sunlight, mane an'
tail black as ink, an' his eyes chain lightnin'--an' the sound of the
thunder was in his hoofs.

"It was moonlight the night I rode home from the NL. I had just topped a
ridge that juts from the foothills into the open range an' all at once I
heard the thunder of hoofs ahead. I slipped into a scatterin' of bull
pines at the edge an' waited. I didn't wait long. Along the ridge,
runnin' strong an' smooth, like the rush of a storm wind, come a horse
an' rider. Before I could make 'em out, I knew by the sound of the
hoofs, what horse an' what rider. They passed close--so close I could
have reached out an' touched 'em with my quirt. Then I saw what made my
heart jump an' my eyes fair pop out of my head. The Red King flashed
by--no saddle, no bridle, not even an' Injun twitch, mane an' tail
flarin' out in the wind of his own goin', an' the white foam flyin' in
chunks from his open mouth; an' on his back sat Tex, empty handed an'
slick heeled. I thought I caught a glimpse of the twisty smile on his
face, as he swayed on the back of the devil-horse--that, I saw--an' ten
rod further on the ridge broke off in a goat-climb! I went limp, an'
then--'Whoa!' The sound cracked like a pistol shot. The stallion's feet
bunched under him an' three times his length he slid with the loose
rock flyin' like hailstones! He stopped with his forefeet on the edge,
an' his rump nearly touchin' the ground, the