“He’s over!”
“Man, what a jump!”
The hind feet of the horse had just grazed the top bar. And now he stood outside the corral, trembling violently, but, somehow, appearing as if in making the tremendous leap he had proved himself and would henceforth be content with this. In other words, it seemed as though he had changed in a second from a “bad actor” to a real saddle horse.
Teddy gently rubbed the sides of the sweating animal.
“All right now, old boy?” he asked. “No more fireworks? Guess he’ll do, Nick. Some one must have been feeding him on yeast. That was some jump!”
“I’ll tell a maverick it was!” Roy was hurrying toward his brother. “Boy, you’re lucky! I never thought he’d make it. And with that extra bar dad put up! That bronc is a jumper. What do you say, Nick?”
“Sure is!” Nick approached, and gazed at the horse closely. “Salivate me if he ain’t as gentle-eyed as a rabbit! Teddy, you cured him. Didn’t think it could be done. If I know anything about horses, that one’ll make a fine ridin’ pony.”
Teddy climbed off, stiff legged.
“He put on quite a show for a while, didn’t he? All right, Nick, let down the bars an’ we’ll bring him in again. I’ll have another look at him to-morrow. Want to make sure he’s broken.”
A little later the boys were saddling their own mounts, Flash and Star. The new pony was standing calmly within the corral, and Teddy grinned at him.