King is very handsome now and his gait
delightful, but he still requires most careful management. He ran away
with me the other day, starting with those three tremendous strides,
but we were out on a level and straight road, so nothing went wrong.
All there was for me to do was to keep my seat. Lieutenant Perkins and
Miss Campbell were a mile or more ahead of us, and after he had passed
them he came down to a trot, evidently flattering himself that he had
won a race, and that nothing further was expected of him.
He jumps the cavalry hurdles beautifully--goes over like a deer, Hal
always following directly back of him. Whatever a horse does that dog
wants to do also. Last spring, when we came up from Camp Supply, he
actually tried to eat the corn that dropped from King's mouth as he
was getting his supper one night in camp. He has scarcely noticed
Powder-Face since the very day King was sent to me, but became devoted
to the new horse at once. I wonder if he could have seen that the new
horse was the faster of the two!
FORT LYON, COLORADO TERRITORY,
May, 1874.
THERE is such good news to send you to-day I can hardly write it fast
enough. The Territorial Court has been in session, and yesterday that
horse thief, Billy Oliver, was tried and sentenced to ten years'
imprisonment in the penitentiary! The sheriff and a posse started for
Canon City this morning with him and another prisoner, and I hope that
he will not make his escape on the way over.
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