Wycoff's eyes flashed, and he extended his clenched fist towards Hank. "You will, will you?" said he defiantly; "now listen, you Glutter. If ever you attempt to harm that lady, I swear to you that this fist of mine shall batter your brains, and on Black Hawk she shall ride over your lifeless body."
Black Hawk pawed and snorted and turned his firey black eyes very wickedly upon Hank, as if to enforce his master's threat. He was a most magnificent animal; coal black, his silken coat, now curried with special care, shone resplendent in the noon-day sun.
As Wycoff rode off, Hank muttered to himself, "She shall never ride that horse."
Half an hour later, Hank had the mortification of beholding Little Wolf flying past his door seated, like a little queen, upon Black Hawk's back.
"She shall never ride that horse again," said the enraged saloon keeper, with an oath.
Wycoff had great difficulty in pursuading Little Wolf to except his present. Indeed she only consented when she became convinced that he would be seriously displeased by her refusal. Further to gratify the giver, she took her first ride under his immediate supervision; and, at his request, she had followed the road by the brewery, making a circle of about a quarter of a mile.
"Now that's what I call neatly done," said Wycoff, as Little Wolf drew up, and leaped from the saddle. "You are the first lady that ever backed Black Hawk," he said, patting the animal's neck. "The fact is, I had my doubts about your being able to ride him at all. I was afraid I would have to sell him and get a gentler beast, and I hated to do that, for I have raised him from a colt. As a general thing, he won't allow a stranger to come nigh him. I had to ride him myself at the races last September, for everybody was afraid of him. I won five hundred dollars on him though. I guess I had better stable him now; hadn't I? I'll be up here early to-morrow morning to see how Daddy gets along with him. I reckon the old man won't dare to go nigh him till he gets used to him."
