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