be able to break him in more easily than if you had caught him by the
rope."

Jerry then adjusted his own saddle to the other Indian horse.

"Can you ride?" he asked.

"No, I have never had any chance of learning at home."

"Well, you had better have a lesson at once. This is a good way for a
beginner;" and he took a blanket, and having rolled it up tightly,
strapped it over the peak of the saddle and down the flaps.

"There," he said. "You get your knees against that, and what with the
high peak and the high cantle you can hardly be chucked out anyhow, that
is, if the horse does not buck; but I will try him as to that before you
mount. We will lead them out beyond the town, we don't want to make a
circus of ourselves in the streets; besides, if you get chucked, you
will fall softer there than you would on the road. But first of all we
will give them a feed of corn. You see they are skeary of us at present.
Indian horses are always afraid of white men at first, just as white
men's horses are afraid of Indians. A feed of corn will go a long way
towards making us good friends, for you may be sure they have never had
a feed in their lives beyond what they could pick up for themselves."

The horses snuffed the corn with some apprehension when it was held out
towards them, backing away from the sieves with their ears laid back;
but seeing that no harm came to them they presently investigated the
food more closely, and at last took a mouthful, after which they
proceeded to eat greedily, their new masters patting their necks and