BLUNDER
"Oh, he's built all right, and he comes of good stock," said Brand
Williams, nodding toward a bay colt that stood steaming in the sun.
It had rained the night before--an unexpected shower and the last of the
winter rains. Now that the snow had left the hills, the young stock,
some thirty-odd year-old colts had been turned into the north range.
Collie and Williams had ridden over to look at the colts; Williams as a
matter of duty, Collie because he was interested and liked Williams's
society.
The colt, shaking itself, turned and nipped at its shoulder and switched
its tail.
"He's stayed fat, too," continued Williams. "But look at him! He's
bitin' and switchin' because he's wet. Thinks it's fly-time a'ready.
He's jest a four-legged horse-hide blunder. I know his kind."
Collie, dismounting and unbuttoning his slicker, rolled it and tied it
to the saddle. "I guess you're right, Brand. Last week I was over this
way. He had his head through the corral bars at the bottom and he
couldn't get loose. He was happy, though. He must have been there quite
a spell, for he ate about half a bale of hay. I got him loose and he
tried his darndest to kick my head off."
"Uhuh," grunted the foreman. "Reckon it's the last rain we'll get this
year. Now would you look at that! He's the limit!"
The colt, sniffing curiously at a crotch in the live-oak against which
he had been rubbing, had stepped into the low fork of the tree. Perhaps
he had some vague notion to rub both his sides at once as an economy of
effort. His front feet had slipped on the wet ground. He went down,
wedged fast. He struggled and kicked. He nickered plaintively, and
rolled his terror-stricken eyes toward the cowmen in wild appeal.
"And like all of his kind, hoss and human," said Williams, dismounting,
"he's askin' for help in a voice that sounds like it was our fault that
he's in trouble. He's the limit!"
With much labor they finally released the colt, who expressed prompt
gratitude by launching a swift and vicious kick at Collie.
"He's feeling good enough," said that youth, coolly picking up his hat
that had dropped as he dodged.
"Yes. All he needs is a couple of punchers and a hoss-doctor and a
policeman to ride round with him and keep him out of trouble. He's no
account; never will be," growled Williams.
"I don't know, Brand. He's a mighty likely-looking and interesting
specimen. He's different. I kind of like him."
"Well, I don't. I ain't got time. He's always goin' to manufacture
trouble, when he don't come by it natural. He's got a kind eye, but no
brains behind it."
They mounted and rode up the hill, looking for breaks in the fences and
counting the colts, some of whom, luxuriously lazy in the heat of the
sun, stood with lowered heads, drowsing. Others, scattered about the
hillsides and in the arroyos, grazed nippingly at the sparse
bunch-grass, moving quickly from clump to clump.
The "blunder" colt seemed to find his own imbecilities sufficiently
entertaining, for he grazed alone.
The foreman's inspection terminated with the repairing of a break in the
fence inclosing the spring-hole, a small area of bog-land dotted with
hummocks of lush grass. Between the hummocks was a slimy, black ooze
that covered the bones of more than one unfortunate animal. The heavy,
ripe grass lent an appearance of stability, of solidity, to the
treacherous footing.
Williams and Collie reinforced the sagging posts with props of fallen
limbs and stones carried from the trail below. They piled brush where
the wire had parted, filling the opening with an almost impassable
barrier of twisted branches. Until the last rain, the spring-hole fence
had appeared solid--but one night of rain in the California hills can
work unimaginable changes in trail, stream-bed, or fence line.
"Get after that fence first thing in the morning," said Williams as he
unsaddled the pinto that afternoon. "I noticed the blunder colt followed
us up to the spring. If there's any way of gettin' bogged, he'll find
it, or invent a new way for himself."
The blunder colt's mischief-making amounted to absolute genius. There
was much of the enterprising puppy in his nature and in his methods. The
impulse which seemed to direct the extremely uneven tenor of his way
would have resolved itself orally into: "Do it--and then see what
happens!" He was not vicious, but brainlessly joyful in his mischief.
As the foreman and Collie disappeared beyond the crest of the hill, the
colt, who had watched them with absurdly stupid intensity, lowered his
head and nibbled indifferently at the grass along the edge of the
spring-hole fence. He approached the break and sniffed at the props and
network of branches. This was interesting! And a very carelessly
constructed piece of fence, indeed! He would investigate. The blunder
colt was never too hungry to cease grazing and turn toward adventure.
He nosed one of the props. He leaned against it heavily, deliberately,
and rubbed himself. Verily "His eye had all the seeming of a demon's
that is dreaming"--of unalloyed mischief.
The prop creaked, finally became loosened, and fell. The colt sprang
back awkwardly, snorting in indignant surprise. "The very idea!" he
would have said, even as he would have chewed gum and have worn a
perpetual tear in his trousers had he been human.
With stiff stealthiness he approached the break again, pretending a
hesitancy that he enjoyed immensely. He reached under the lower wire,
neck outstretched, and nibbled at a bunch of ripe grass. There was
plenty of grass within easier reach, but he wanted the unattainable. A
barb caught in his mane. He jerked his head up. The barb pricked his
neck. He jerked harder. Another prop became loosened. Then he strode
away, this time with calm indifference. He pretended to graze, but his
eye roved back to the break. His attitude expressed a sly
alertness--something of the quiet vigilance a grazing horse betrays when
one approaches with a bridle. He drew nearer the fence again. With head
over the top wire he gazed longingly at the clumps of grass on the
hummocks scattered over the muck of the overflow. His shoulder needed
scratching. With drooping head, eyes half-closed, and lower lip pendant,
he rubbed against the loosened post. The post sagged and wobbled.
Whether it was deliberate intent, or just natural "horse" predominating
his actions, it would be difficult to determine. Finally the post gave
way and fell. The colt drew back and contemplated the opening with a
vacuous eye. It was not interesting now. No, indeed! He wandered away.
But in the dusk of that evening, when a chill dew sparkled along the
edges of the bog, he came, a clumsy shadow and grazed among the
hummocks. Slowly he worked toward the treachery of black ooze that shone
in the starlight. He sank to his fetlocks. He drew his feet up one after
another, still progressing toward the centre of the bog, and sinking
deeper at each step. He became stricken with fear as he sank to his
hocks. He plunged and snorted. The bog held him with a soft, detaining
grip--and drew him slowly down. He nickered, and finally screamed in
absolute terror. Up to his heaving belly the black mud crept. He flung
himself sideways. Exhausted, he lay with neck and head outstretched.
Again he struggled, his eyes wild and protruding with the blood pressure
of his straining. Then the chill of night crept over him. He became
quiet--shivered a little, and nickered faintly.
In the willows a little owl called pensively.
* * * * *
The morning light, streaming across the hills, spread like raw gold over
the bog. Collie whistled as he rode down the trail, and beat his gloved
hands to keep warm. He heard a plaintive whinny and a bubbling gasp. He
leaped from his pony, the coiled riata in his hand as he touched the
ground.
The blunder colt, neck outstretched, was still above the ooze. His eyes
were bloodshot, as their white rims showed. His nose quivered and
twisted with his quick, irregular breathing.
It was a "two-man job," but Collie knew that the colt would probably be
gone before he could ride back and return with help. He swung the riata,
then hesitated. To noose the colt's neck would only result in strangling
it when he pulled. He found a branch large enough to stiffen the brush
near the break. Swiftly he built a shaky footing and crept out toward
the colt. By shoving the riata under the colt's belly with a forked
stick, and fishing the loose end up on the other side, he managed to get
a loop round the animal's hind quarters. He mounted his own horse and
took a turn of the riata round the saddle-horn.
His pony set its feet and leaned to the work. Slowly the colt was drawn
to solid ground.
He was a pitiful object as he lay panting and shivering, plastered with
mud and black slime, and almost dead from shock and chill. Collie spread
his slicker over him and rode up the hill at a trot. The blunder colt
raised its head a little, then dropped it and lay motionless.
* * * * *
When Collie and Billy Dime returned with gunnysacks and an old blanket,
the sun had warmed the air. The mud on the colt's side and neck had
begun to dry.
Billy Dime commented briefly. "He's a goner. He's froze clean to his
heart. Why didn't you leave him where he was?"
Collie spread the gunnysacks on a level beneath a live-oak, beneath
which they dragged the colt and covered him with the blanket. They gave
him whiskey with water that they heated at a little fire of brush. The
colt lifted its head, endeavoring spasmodically to get to its feet.
"He's wearin' hisself out. He ain't got much farther to go," said Billy
Dime, mounting and turning his pony. "Come on, kid. If he's alive
to-morrow mornin'--good enough."
"I think I'll stay awhile," said Collie. "Brand says he isn't worth
saving, but--I kind of like the cuss. He's different."
"Correct, nurse, he is. You can telephone me if the patient shows signs
of bitin' you. Keep tabs on his pulse--give him his whiskey regular, but
don't by no means allow him to set up in bed and smoke. I'll call again
nex' year. So long, sweetness."
"You go plump!" laughed Collie.
And Billy Dime rode over the hill singing a dolefully cheerful ditty
about burying some one on the "lo-o-ne prairee." To him a horse was
merely something useful, so long as it could go. When it couldn't go, he
got another that could.
Collie replenished the smoking fire, scraped some of the mud from the
colt's thick, winter coat, and heated a half-dozen large stones.
His brother cowmen would have laughed at these "tender ministrations,"
and Collie himself smiled as he recalled Billy Dime's parting
directions.
Collie placed the heated stones round the shivering animal, re-dried the
blanket at the fire, and covered the pitifully weak and panting
creature. The colt's restless lifting of its head he overcame by sitting
near it and stroking its muzzle with a soothing hand.
Time and again he rose to re-heat the stones and replenish the fire. The
colt's breathing became less irregular. He gave it more of the hot
whiskey and water.
Then he mended the fence. He had brought an axe with him and a supply of
staples.
Toward mid-afternoon he became hungry and solaced himself with a
cigarette.
Again the blunder colt became restless, showing a desire to rise, but
for lack of strength the desire ended with a swaying and tossing of its
head.
Evening came quickly. The air grew bitingly chill. Collie wished that
one of the boys would bring him something to eat. The foreman surely
knew where he was. Collie could imagine the boys joking about him over
their evening "chuck."
With the darkness he drew on his slicker and squatted by the fire. He
fell asleep. He awoke shivering, to find the embers dull. The stars were
intensely brilliant and large.
Once during the evening he made up his mind to return to the
ranch-house, but a stubborn determination to save the colt, despite the
ridicule he knew he would elicit, held him to his task. Should he leave,
the colt might become chilled again and die. Then he _would_ be open to
ridicule. Collie reasoned that he must finish the task as he had begun
it--thoroughly.
Again he heated the stones, warmed the blanket, and gave "Blunder," as
he now called him affectionately, some hot whiskey. Then he built a
larger fire, wrapped himself in his saddle-blankets, and, with feet to
the blaze, slept. His own pony grazed at large, dragging a rope.
Habit brought Collie awake early. The fire had gone out. He was stiff
with cold. Arising, he glanced at the heap beneath the blanket ringed
with stones. "Time to eat!" he cried lustily, and whipped the blanket
from the mud-encrusted Blunder. The colt raised its head, struggled, put
out one stiff fore leg, and then the other. Collie grabbed the animal's
tail and heaved. Blunder humped himself--and was on his feet, wobbling,
dizzy-eyed, scandalously "mussed up"--but alive!
"Whoop-ee!" shouted Collie as the colt staggered a pace or two trying
his questionable strength. "Gee! But I'm hungry!"
The Blunder, a mere caricature of a horse in pose and outward seeming,
gazed at his rescuer with stupid eyes. He had not the faintest idea what
all the joy was about, but something deep in his horse nature told him
that the boisterous youth was his friend. Timidly he approached Collie,
wagged his head up and down experimentally, as if trying his neck
hinges, and reached out and nuzzled the young man's hand, nipping
playfully at his fingers.
Collie was dumbfounded. "He's thankin' me--the little cuss! Why, you
rubber-kneed, water-eyed mud turtle you! I didn't know you had that
much sense."
The youth did not hear the regular beat of hoofs as Williams loped up,
until the colt, stilt-legged, emitted a weak nicker. Collie turned.
Williams smiled grimly. "Knew you'd stick," he said.
He gazed at the revived colt, the circle of stones, and the blanket. He
made no comment.
Collie caught up his pony and mounted. As they rode over the hill
together, Williams, turning in the saddle, laughed and pointed down
toward the arroyo.
The blunder colt, apparently overjoyed to be alive, had ambled awkwardly
up to one of his mates who stood stolidly waiting for the sun to warm
him. The other colt, unused to the Blunder's society and perhaps
unfavorably impressed by his dissipated appearance, received this
friendly overture with a pair of punishing hoofs. Blunder staggered and
fell, but scrambled to his feet again, astonished, indignant, highly
offended.
"If you was to drive that blunder colt up to horse-heaven and he knew it
_was_ horse-heaven, you'd have to turn him around and back him in. Then
I reckon he'd bust the corral tryin' to get out again."
Collie grinned. "Well, I wouldn't this morning--if there was anything
to eat there, even hay."
"Well, you don't get your breakfast at the chuck-house _this_ morning,"
said Williams gruffly.
"I don't, eh? Since when?"
Williams again turned in his saddle, observing Collie for a minute
before he spoke. "I see you're smilin', so I'll tell you. Since when?
Well, since about two hours ago, when Miss Louise come steppin' over to
the bunk-house and asks where you are. Billy Dime ups and tells her you
was sick-nursin' the blunder colt. She didn't smile, but turned to me
and asked me. I told her about what was doin'. I seen she had it in for
somebody. It was me. 'Brand,' she says, quiet-like, 'is it customary on
the Moonstone for lunch or dinner to be taken to the men that are
staying out from camp?'
"'Yes, ma'am,' says I.
"And the plumb hell of it was," continued Williams, "she didn't say
another word. I wisht she had. I feel like a little less than nothin'
shot full of holes this lovely mornin'."
Collie rode on silently.
"Why don't you say somethin'?" queried Williams.
"I was waiting for the rest of it," said Collie.
Williams laughed. "I guess you ain't such a fool, at that, with your
nussin' stock and settin' up nights with 'em. Miss Louise says to tell
you to come right up to the house,--the _house_, you understand,--and
get your breakfast with them. They said they was goin' to wait for you.
I guess that ain't throwin' it into the rest of us some. Keep it up,
Collie kid, keep it up, and you'll be payin' us all wages some day."