The horse was no more than down and helpless, when the breed, seeing his victim within reach and where he couldn't get away, begin to get rid of what'd been on his chest for so long, and when Smoky even tho tied down, reached over and near pulled the shirt off of him with his teeth, was when the breed figgered he had an excuse to beat that horse to a pulp even tho the horse had no chance.
The cowboy, not understanding the breed's tactics for a spell, stood off a ways, and watched. There was all about the horse to show that he'd been right in his first dislike for the dark faced hombre. At first he was for interfering and shove the club the breed was using right down his throat. Then as he noticed how the pony would like to do the damaging instead, he thought of a better way and walked up.
"Listen, feller," he says to the breed, "what's the use of beating a horse up that way. Why don't you give him a chance and try to do it while you're setting on him?"
"Maybe you think I can't do it," says that hombre, bleary-eyed and mad clear thru.
The scheme had worked fine—the cowboy grinned to himself as he helped the breed put the saddle on Smoky. Once he'd got a little too close to that pony's head while helping that way, and that horse come within an inch of getting his arm, the cowboy overlooked it, and to himself remarked: "the poor devil had sure got a reason to be mean, and I guess he's at the point where he figgers no human is his friend any more."
The cowboy was right, anything on two legs, whether it was the breed or any other human, had sure enough got to be Smoky's enemy,—a crethure to scatter into dust and put out of the way whenever a chance showed up.
The saddle was cinched on, and while the breed was getting as much of the seat under him as he could, the cowboy took off the foot ropes, and soon as the last coil was pulled away, he made long steps for the highest part of the corral and where he could watch everything to his heart's content.
And while the breed was getting as much of the saddle under him as he could, the cowboy took off the foot ropes.