Smoky wasn’t quite an hour old when he begin to take interest in things. The warm spring sun was doing its work and kept a pouring warmth all over that slick little black hide, and right on thru his little body, till pretty soon his head come up kinda shaky and he begin nosing around them long front legs that was stretched out in front of him. His mammy was close by him, and at the first move the colt made she run her nose along his short neck and nickered. Smoky’s head went up another two inches at the sound, and his first little answering nicker was heard. Of course a person would of had to listen mighty close to hear it, but then if you’d a watched his nostrils quivering you could tell that’s just what he was trying to do.
That was the starting of Smoky. Pretty soon his ears begin to work back and forth towards the sound his mammy would make as she moved. He was trying to locate just where she was. Then something moved right in front of his nose about a foot; it’d been there quite a good spell but he’d never realized it before; besides his vision was a little dim yet and he wasn’t interested much till that something moved again and planted itself still closer.
Being it was right close he took a sniff at it. That sniff recorded itself into his brain and as much as told him that all was well. It was one of his mammy’s legs. His ears perked up and he tried nickering again with a heap better result than the first time.
One good thing called for another and natural like he made a sudden scramble to get up, but his legs wouldn’t work right, and just about when he’d got his belly clear of the ground, and as he was resting there for another try at the rest of the way up, one of his front legs quivered and buckled at the elbow, and the whole works went down.
He layed there flat on his side and breathing hard. His mammy nickered encouragement, and it wasn’t long when his head was up again and his legs spraddled out all around him the same as before. He was going to try again, but next time he was going to be more sure of his ground. He was studying, it seemed like, and sniffing of his legs and then the earth, like he was trying to figger out how he was going to get one to stand up on the other. His mammy kept a circling around and a talking to him in horse language; she’d give him a shove with her nose then walk away and watch him.
The spring air, which I think is most for the benefit of all that’s young, had a lot to do to keep Smoky from laying still for very long. His vision was getting clearer fast, and his strength was coming in just as fast. Not far away, but still too far for Smoky to see, was little calves, little white-faced fellers a playing and bucking around and letting out walleyed bellers at their mammies, running out a ways and then running back, tails up, at a speed that’d make a greyhound blush for shame.
There was other little colts too all a cavorting around and tearing up good sod, but with all them calves and colts that was with the bunches of cattle or horses scattered out on the range, the same experience of helplessness that Smoky was going thru had been theirs for a spell, and a few hadn’t been as lucky as Smoky in their first squint at daylight. Them few had come to the range world when the ground was still covered with snow, or else cold spring rains was a pouring down to wet ’em to the bone.
Smoky’s mother had sneaked out of the bunch a few days before Smoky came, and hid in a lonely spot where she’d be sure that no cattle nor horses or even riders would be around. In a few days, and when Smoky would be strong enough to lope out, she’d go back again; but in the meantime she wanted to be alone with her colt and put all her attention on him, without having to contend with chasing off big inquisitive geldings or jealous fillies.
She was of range blood, which means mostly mustang with strains of Steeldust or Coach throwed in. If hard winters come and the range was covered with heavy snows, she knowed of high ridges where the strong winds kept a few spots bare and where feed could be got. If droughts came to dry up the grass and water holes, she sniffed the air for moisture and drifted out acrost the plain which was her home range, to the high mountains where things was more normal. There was cougars and wolves in that high country, but her mustang instinct made her the “fittest.” She circled around and never went under where the lion was perched a waiting for her, and the wolf never found her where she could be cornered.
Smoky had inherited that same instinct of his mammy’s, but on that quiet spring morning he wasn’t at all worried about enemies. His mammy was there, and besides he had a hard job ahead that was taking all of his mind to figger out: that was to stand on them long things which was fastened to his body and which kept a spraddling out in all directions.
The first
