was twenty-four years old, [3] that he must have
been there when white men first came, left on
from buffalo and Indian times. As I turned
him over I began to feel proud of him, to have
a kind of respect for his age and size. He
seemed like the ancient, eldest Evil. Certainly
his kind have left horrible unconscious mem-
ories in all warm-blooded life. When we
dragged him down into the draw, Dude sprang
off to the end of his tether and shivered all
over -- wouldn't let us come near him.

We decided that Antonia should ride Dude
home, and I would walk. As she rode along
slowly, her bare legs swinging against the
pony's sides, she kept shouting back to me
about how astonished everybody would be. I
followed with the spade over my shoulder,
dragging my snake. Her exultation was con-
tagious. The great land had never looked to
me so big and free. If the red grass were full
of rattlers, I was equal to them all. Neverthe-
less, I stole furtive glances behind me now and
then to see that no avenging mate, older and
bigger than my quarry, was racing up from the
rear.

The sun had set when we reached our gar-
den and went down the draw toward the

[[53]]

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