Raymond S. Spears

“ He made the struggle of his life—for life against that wicked, stone-climber from the high pastures. He fought Waltzing Jupiter up and down—but every wrench twisted the rider’s back, and every turn made his muscles stretch and crack, so that the sun in the sky lost its individuality, becoming a widening, multitudinous glare, that grew to him darker and darker. The shade began to fall slowly on the scene. The uproar of the standing mob, yelling their heads off, grew fainter and fainter. Cheers and jeers alike subsided into low murmurings—and still Tierail rode. ”

“ As the wreck of a man was flung like a limp bagful into the ascending convolutions of tawny dust, the watchful guards as one dashed in with their ropes whirling, hissing, but not till Waltzing Jupiter had swirled in midair and, infuriated, maddened, doped brute that he was, dived to make the kill. ”

“ The horse, too, seemed to take heart in the fact of unity with that human burden. They kept plodding on steadily ahead. What the horse or man knew that night is a problem, for at the supreme crises of life who can tell what it is that inspires?
That blizzard made history along the north side of the Red Desert, and at Garden Gate, the gale swept between the two high range-ends that made the opening from the north, through the mountains into the vast plain beyond. ”

“ Waltzing Jupiter had listened for two days to the countless varieties of sound that permeate fair-grounds, when the music is playing, the crowd is on the move, and some countless automobiles are around with open cutouts. ”

“ If he loved a horse that belonged to some other man, he would steal it if he couldn’t buy it. He would ride into town, and, having drunk too much strong liquor, would put his horse through performances that included taking it into the leading hotel, or to the railroad restaurant, or—on one memorable occasion—going into the Tabernacle of Saints and Missions. He killed one interrupting town marshal, and would have been hanged but for the fact that his temporary employer was a power in public opinion, as well as in the raising of horse-flesh. Tierail was just plumb careless. ”

“ On the instant people looked out, fearing the sting of the cold. They felt, instead, a warm Chinook breeze! And they sprang out into it, unbelieving, preparing to shiver, but crinkling comfortably, instead, feeling like purring cats. The storm had gone by in its blizzard, zero wrath, leaving a sweet scent like roses and sharp colors of the bitter cold, changing and softening as the day waxed clear and warm. ”

“ They had been carrying so much for so long that some thought they were still fighting on, when as a matter of fact, they had won through with the triumph of brave souls that never know when they are whipped, and to whom the thrill of victory is so rare, or unknown, that it comes unsuspected, unlooked for—as an exuberance of immeasurable joy. ”

“ The year before Garden Gate discovered its wish to celebrate, Waltzing Jupiter was going to be carried, willynilly, to Rawlins to participate, and later to Cheyenne to edify in the big business of being happy and exercizing in that prairie metropolis.
They started with Waltzing Jupiter from the Bird-Brand ranch. Five men brought him and nine other horses to the corral, and after some discussion it was decided to truck the bad horse down to the railroad, and ship him in a stall car with a passing rodeo outfit. ”

“ No one ever keeps track of broken riders, or outlaw horses of the range. The rider is likely to appear, a shuffling, nervous and watchful spectator at rodeos. In such places, perhaps a good has-been is pointed out as one who did something in the other days. ”

“ He did his own killing. He stuck sheep, beeves, and even pigs. He knew meat. He built up a good business among the people of the coming city; he contracted with miner’s boarding-houses; tourists heard of the low prices and high quality meats he sold and stopped in his shop for steaks, pot-roasts and chops. Tierail had a bank account!
Then he hired men to do his killing, and selling. He went out in an automobile to buy cattle. He began to ship cattle, and sheep. He knew everybody. ”

“ Roland Hawthorn actually could walk out of jail, without even his word of honor, to take part in the proceedings. The sheep-men, the cattle-men, the horsemen, whatever their personal ideas about one another, joined in allowing Tierail to ride—for the joy of mankind. They wouldn’t even send him to jail for thirty days, a week before a rodeo, except to be sure and have him sitting pretty, ready for the occasion. All were at pains to keep Tierail good-natured, lest he in a temper withdraw his name, Mr. ”

“ Sho— Will yo’?”
“Why, sure, Tierail, I’ll try! We’ll all try!”
“All right, doc! No man can do more’n try!” Tierail nodded. “Lawse! An’ that old hoss—he brought me in! An’—an’ he brunged me back. I come back—bare-back an’ a r’aring! Sho! Old Waltzing Jupiter took me up, he let me ride! Doggone, he made me ride! An’—an’ I can ride again! Whooe-e-e! Whoop-e-e-e——” ”