Like a sudden snake it darted sinuously out, the loop
opened, rose, settled around the black's neck, tightened; the end in
Calumet's hand was flipped in a half hitch around a snubbing post
nearby, and the black tumbled headlong into the dust of the corral,
striking with a force that brought a grunt from him.
For an instant he lay still. And in that instant Calumet was at his
side. While advancing toward the black, he had taken off his
neckerchief, and now he deftly knotted it around the black's head,
covering its eyes. A moment later he was leading it, unprotesting, out
of the corral gate.
He halted near the fence and looked at Betty, who was watching
critically, though with a tenseness in her attitude that brought a
fugitive smile to Calumet's lips.
"I reckon you'd better move a way an' give this here animal plenty of
room," he said. "If he's as much horse as Kelton says he is he'll want
a heap of it."
He waited until in obedience to his suggestion Betty had withdrawn to a
safe distance toward the ranchhouse. Then with Kelton holding the
black's head he placed the saddle on, then the bridle, working with a
sure swiftness that brought an admiring glint into Betty's eyes. Then
he deliberately coiled his rope and fastened it to the pommel of the
saddle, taking extra care with it.
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