Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1886 — The Grandest Sight on the Plains. [ARTICLE]

The Grandest Sight on the Plains.

"• I had camped near the forks of the Platte/and was aroused just at daylight by footsteps around me. After listening for a moment I felt sure that they were Alia footsteps of horses. They seemed to be circling around me—not at a cancer —not at a trot, bpt at a moderate walk. It was well that I had secufed iny horse in a thorough manner, fort I never saw him so excited. He tugged and pulled at his lariat, stood up on nis hind legs, neighed and snorted and pawed and pranced; and it was Iris action that gave me a clue to the identity of my visitors. They wore wild horses. Hod they been Indian ponies my trained horse would have remained as ! dumb and silent as a post. Indeed, Inj dians would not have approached me in , that manner. . I remained very qniet, hoping the I horses would remain in sight until dayI light should give me a good view of them. I had to wait for a full hour, but when the ’ grew strong the spectacle was one to make a . man’s blood tingle. The circle had been enlarged until it was half a mile across, and my little camp was the center. Every horse, and there were 126 of them, stood with his liead to this center, and soldiers could not have taken positions on the skirmish line in more precise order. T pitied my own animal. He stood with the lariat drawn taut and trembled in every limb, and he was as wet with sweat as if I had galloped him twenty miles, I realized how he must long to break away and join the wild rovers and forever end his drndgeny. I dared not rise so my feet for fear of alarming the drove, but, nevertheless, I had a clear view of each horse. Most of them were magnificent animals. Manes down on their shoulders and tails on the grass. They were of colors, and they ranged in age from the yearling colt up to the veterans probably twenty years old. The bays predominated, but every color was present. We had been observirlg\eacli other abont fen mrimtes. wlitofu^-jet black stallion, who w as the leader of the herd, gave a snort, threw up his heels into the air and broke off at a gallop, followed by the drove in g,single file. They ran in a true circle, and they made the circuit five times before stopping. Then, at another signal from the leader, the circle broke and the horses wheeled into a long, single line, or “company front. ’’ Troop horses could not have done better. I thought at first the line meant, to charge me, but at a signal it made a left wheel and galloped straight off on the plain for a mile. Then it broke, assumed the shape of a triangle and returned. When the leader was within pistol-shot he wheeled out and the horses formed in a square, with the four yearlings in the center. They galloped off for a mile or so, broke again and returned in two ranks. I had an almost irresistible desire to kill the leader with a bullet. Indeed, J reached for my rifle with that intent, but then came the reflection that it would be little short of murder. Such another perfect horse I had never seen. His black coat shone like silk, his limbs and Ijody were perfection, imd he had the speed and bottom of U nace horse. Not a halt was made, for a full hour, and then it was only preparatory to taking 'a sxyift departure. The last maneuver was a circle at a slow trot, and each horse whinnied in a coaxing manner to my own steed. Poor Selim! He struggled in the most frantic manner to break loose, and when finding all his efforts of no avail he threw himself down on file grass and actually .groaned his disappointment. T rose up then and weaved my blanket. Instead of rushing off in affright as I the leader of the band deliberately approached me a few rods and stood and snorted and pawed as' if sending forth a challenge. Then I set up a shouting, waved the Blanket some more, and he took his place at the head, formed the band at “company front,” and they went off at a gallop and mauGi tained it as long as I could see the waving line.—AT. Quad, in Detroit Free Press.