Francis took it for the command it was. Thirty seconds later he was leading the little mare quietly out of the village hoping with all his heart that he smelled enough like an Indian not to upset the dogs.

A minute after that he was on her back, wishing he’d never told a lie in his life. The only time he’d ever been on a horse was when he’d ridden a workhorse while his father plowed. That had only been at a walk, and with a lot of harness straps to hang on to.

The little black mare didn’t even have a blanket on her back and she only had two speeds—dead stop and full run.

———— Chapter Five ————

FRANCIS GOT HIS FIRST MOUTHFUL of dirt not a hundred paces from where he got on the little black mare. Luckily, he had figured on falling off, and had taken the precaution of wrapping her jaw rope tightly around his hand. When he hit the ground, she dragged him only a couple of yards. He didn’t have time to moan about his scraped elbows and knees. He didn’t have time for anything but to get on again.

The second time he made nearly three hundred shattering yards before sliding off her side and bouncing on the rocks of a dry streambed. The trouble was that the mare was so fat—it was like trying to ride a nail keg.

He didn’t discover the secret until he had fallen off three more times, removing more and more skin from his elbows and knees each time. Then he remembered how the mountain man had ridden—stiff backed, but loose, almost relaxed, where he joined the horse. Francis still bounced around a lot, but all his bouncing was straight up and down—not off to the side. And once he’d learned to relax, Francis found riding the black mare exciting.

Never had he been so purely thrilled. Her dainty head came down, her ears folded back along her flattened neck, and she really flew. Francis didn’t try to turn her, as long as she kept in the right general direction—due west—and he forgot everything in the roar of wind and drumming thunder of her hoofs.

Just at false dawn, when the first grayness made faint shadows under trees, the mare streaked out onto a large meadow. It was entirely flat, and she picked up speed when she hit its edge. Francis, content in the knowledge that she wouldn’t have to dodge around rocks and trees for a while, relaxed even more and loosened his hold on her mane.