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roughing it-第31章

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〃Twenty…seven!〃 I shouted; in a frenzy。

〃And sold!〃 said the auctioneer; and passed over the Genuine Mexican Plug
to me。

I could scarcely contain my exultation。  I paid the money; and put the
animal in a neighboring livery…stable to dine and rest himself。

In the afternoon I brought the creature into the plaza; and certain
citizens held him by the head; and others by the tail; while I mounted
him。  As soon as they let go; he placed all his feet in a bunch together;
lowered his back; and then suddenly arched it upward; and shot me
straight into the air a matter of three or four feet!  I came as straight
down again; lit in the saddle; went instantly up again; came down almost
on the high pommel; shot up again; and came down on the horse's neckall
in the space of three or four seconds。  Then he rose and stood almost
straight up on his hind feet; and I; clasping his lean neck desperately;
slid back into the saddle and held on。  He came down; and immediately
hoisted his heels into the air; delivering a vicious kick at the sky; and
stood on his forefeet。  And then down he came once more; and began the
original exercise of shooting me straight up again。  The third time I
went up I heard a stranger say:

〃Oh; don't he buck; though!〃

While I was up; somebody struck the horse a sounding thwack with a
leathern strap; and when I arrived again the Genuine Mexican Plug was not
there。  A California youth chased him up and caught him; and asked if he
might have a ride。  I granted him that luxury。  He mounted the Genuine;
got lifted into the air once; but sent his spurs home as he descended;
and the horse darted away like a telegram。  He soared over three fences
like a bird; and disappeared down the road toward the Washoe Valley。

I sat down on a stone; with a sigh; and by a natural impulse one of my
hands sought my forehead; and the other the base of my stomach。  I
believe I never appreciated; till then; the poverty of the human
machineryfor I still needed a hand or two to place elsewhere。  Pen
cannot describe how I was jolted up。  Imagination cannot conceive how
disjointed I washow internally; externally and universally I was
unsettled; mixed up and ruptured。  There was a sympathetic crowd around
me; though。

One elderly…looking comforter said:

〃Stranger; you've been taken in。  Everybody in this camp knows that
horse。  Any child; any Injun; could have told you that he'd buck; he is
the very worst devil to buck on the continent of America。  You hear me。
I'm Curry。  Old Curry。  Old Abe Curry。  And moreover; he is a simon…pure;
out…and…out; genuine dd Mexican plug; and an uncommon mean one at that;
too。  Why; you turnip; if you had laid low and kept dark; there's chances
to buy an American horse for mighty little more than you paid for that
bloody old foreign relic。〃

I gave no sign; but I made up my mind that if the auctioneer's brother's
funeral took place while I was in the Territory I would postpone all
other recreations and attend it。

After a gallop of sixteen miles the Californian youth and the Genuine
Mexican Plug came tearing into town again; shedding foam…flakes like the
spume…spray that drives before a typhoon; and; with one final skip over a
wheelbarrow and a Chinaman; cast anchor in front of the 〃ranch。〃

Such panting and blowing!  Such spreading and contracting of the red
equine nostrils; and glaring of the wild equine eye!  But was the
imperial beast subjugated?  Indeed he was not。

His lordship the Speaker of the House thought he was; and mounted him to
go down to the Capitol; but the first dash the creature made was over a
pile of telegraph poles half as high as a church; and his time to the
Capitolone mile and three quartersremains unbeaten to this day。  But
then he took an advantagehe left out the mile; and only did the three
quarters。  That is to say; he made a straight cut across lots; preferring
fences and ditches to a crooked road; and when the Speaker got to the
Capitol he said he had been in the air so much he felt as if he had made
the trip on a comet。

In the evening the Speaker came home afoot for exercise; and got the
Genuine towed back behind a quartz wagon。  The next day I loaned the
animal to the Clerk of the House to go down to the Dana silver mine; six
miles; and he walked back for exercise; and got the horse towed。
Everybody I loaned him to always walked back; they never could get enough
exercise any other way。

Still; I continued to loan him to anybody who was willing to borrow him;
my idea being to get him crippled; and throw him on the borrower's hands;
or killed; and make the borrower pay for him。  But somehow nothing ever
happened to him。  He took chances that no other horse ever took and
survived; but he always came out safe。  It was his daily habit to try
experiments that had always before been considered impossible; but he
always got through。  Sometimes he miscalculated a little; and did not get
his rider through intact; but he always got through himself。  Of course I
had tried to sell him; but that was a stretch of simplicity which met
with little sympathy。  The auctioneer stormed up and down the streets on
him for four days; dispersing the populace; interrupting business; and
destroying children; and never got a bidat least never any but the
eighteen…dollar one he hired a notoriously substanceless bummer to make。
The people only smiled pleasantly; and restrained their desire to buy; if
they had any。  Then the auctioneer brought in his bill; and I withdrew
the horse from the market。  We tried to trade him off at private vendue
next; offering him at a sacrifice for second…hand tombstones; old iron;
temperance tractsany kind of property。  But holders were stiff; and we
retired from the market again。  I never tried to ride the horse any more。
Walking was good enough exercise for a man like me; that had nothing the
matter with him except ruptures; internal injuries; and such things。
Finally I tried to give him away。  But it was a failure。  Parties said
earthquakes were handy enough on the Pacific coastthey did not wish to
own one。  As a last resort I offered him to the Governor for the use of
the 〃Brigade。〃  His face lit up eagerly at first; but toned down again;
and he said the thing would be too palpable。

Just then the livery stable man brought in his bill for six weeks'
keepingstall…room for the horse; fifteen dollars; hay for the horse;
two hundred and fifty!  The Genuine Mexican Plug had eaten a ton of the
article; and the man said he would have eaten a hundred if he had let
him。

I will remark here; in all seriousness; that the regular price of hay
during that year and a part of the next was really two hundred and fifty
dollars a ton。  During a part of the previous year it had sold at five
hundred a ton; in gold; and during the winter before that there was such
scarcity of the article that in several instances small quantities had
brought eight hundred dollars a ton in coin!  The consequence might be
guessed without my telling it: peopled turned their stock loose to
starve; and before the spring arrived Carson and Eagle valleys were
almost literally carpeted with their carcases!  Any old settler there
will verify these statements。

I managed to pay the livery bill; and that same day I gave the Genuine
Mexican Plug to a passing Arkansas emigrant whom fortune delivered into
my hand。  If this ever meets his eye; he will doubtless remember the
donation。

Now whoever has had the luck to ride a real Mexican plug will recognize
the animal depicted in this chapter; and hardly consider him exaggerated
but the uninitiated will feel justified in regarding his portrait as a
fancy sketch; perhaps。




CHAPTER XXV。

Originally; Nevada was a part of Utah and was called Carson county; and a
pretty large county it was; too。  Certain of its valleys produced no end
of hay; and this attracted small colonies of Mormon stock…raisers and
farmers to them。  A few orthodox Americans straggled in from California;
but no love was lost between the two classes of colonists。  There was
little or no friendly intercourse; each party staid to itself。  The
Mormons were largely in the majority; and had the additional advantage of
being peculiarly under the protection of the Mormon government of the
Territory。  Therefore they could afford to be distant; and even
peremptory toward their neighbors。  One of the traditions of Carson
Valley illustrates the condition of things that prevailed at the time I
speak of。  The hired girl of one of the American families was Irish; and
a Catholic; yet it was noted with surprise that she was the only person
outside of the Mormon ring who could get favors from the Mormons。  She
asked kindnesses of them often; and always got them。  It was a mystery to
everybody。  But one day as she was passing out at the door; a large bowie
knife dropped from under her apron; and when her mistress asked for an
explanation she observed that she was going out to 〃borry a wash…tub from
the Mormons!〃

In 1858 silver lodes were discovered in 〃Carson County;〃 and then the
aspect of things changed。  Californians began to flock in; and the
American element was soon in the
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