Page:Patches (1928).pdf/77

 throat and his eyes were full of tears. It was so unexpected and he had so admired the bay colt.

"How can I ever thank you, Uncle Henry?" he tinally stammered. "You are so good to me."

"Tut, tut, boy," returned his uncle, "what is the use of having an old uncle if he cannot do you a good turn now and then?"

So, a few minutes later, armed with a hackamore, a fifty foot rope, and a lariat, Hank Brodie and his nephew made their way to the corral.

"You climb up on top of the corral fence," said Uncle Henry as he opened the gate cautiously. "It isn't any place for you inside. That colt has never had a rope touch him since he was two months old and I guess there will be fireworks."

So Larry climbed to the top of the corral fence and from that vantage point beheld the first lesson in breaking a wild colt.

The bay gelding although he was half mustang did not show this fact. The wild horses are usually ewenecked and have light manes and tails, but this wild horse had a beautiful crest, and a heavy mane and tail. He was a bright bay with black points and black mane and tail and his weight was just a little under eleven hundred pounds. He had retained more of the characteristics of the Kentucky thoroughbred than of the wild horse. As he pranced about the corral, alert and snort-