The beginning
Come on Van! Break im in boy! Ride im, Van! Ride im Cowboy!
Whoooo-wee! Ride im, Van!
Yeah, boy! Ride im!
Hot damn, look at im go! Stay on im Van! Stay on im boy! Hot damn! Whoooo-hoooo!
The new mustangs they had rounded up were a rangy bunch. Wild-eyed, frightened and powerful! Their powerful muscles rippled beneath their coats as they bucked and leaped! These graceful beasts were the result of escaped Morgan thoroughbreds and range ponies! And their determination not to be tamed was as strong as was the men whose mission it was to sit astride them!
Van had drawn a particularly nasty one this time! The creature he was trying to stay on was completely in the air now, all four legs extended stiffly under him, back arched, head down, mane flying, nostrils flaring, eyes blazing and teeth bared! He was a fearsome looking animal, even just to watch! But he was magnificent! His muscles rippled all the way down to his chest from his neck as he bucked and heaved, trying to dislodge his burden! When he touched ground he was like a giant spring, instantly his body twisted into an amazing contortion, muscles cording and relaxing, head going one way and flanks flying violently, kicking in the opposite direction! He was determined to get the strange unwanted burden off his back!
The landing, to Van, was a jolting, jaw rattling, spine jarring, body swinging, dizzying sensation that almost flung him sideways out of the saddle as the big horse whirled! It sent a shock from his spine all the way up to his head! But he hung on, with his knees pressed tightly against the hoses body and his hand tightly gripping the bridle rope in the horses mouth, giving himself stability and something to hang on to! This was danger! This was a mans pleasure! Man against beast! The tamer trying to tame one who did not want to be tamed! He hung on with one hand and waved the other high over his head and behind him! He knew he had good balance, and he was giving them a durn good show! He was grinning gleefully at the horses effort to unseat him and his skill at anticipating the animals next move and staying in the saddle! He was staying on! He was determined to stay on! The jarring, swinging, jumping ride was as exhilarating to him as anything he had ever felt! He was always the first to volunteer when it came to breaking a new horse to the saddle. It was the ultimate in excitement for him! Bronc bustin they called it, and he was a Bronco Bustin man! When he mounted, everything came to a standstill as men came to watch!
The horse was beginning to get winded now, and took off toward the fence in little short vertical four legged leaps, never having all four legs on the ground at the same time! His rump almost bumped Vans back every time he hit the ground! This riding was something Van relished. It broke the monotony of parade drill! He looked around from the back of the now tiring horse at his audience, a self-satisfied smile on his face. He was surprised to find that they were all turned away toward the parade field, watching a rider tearing toward them hell-bent for leather! He pulled back on the bridle rope and spoke soothingly to the tired horse, walking it to a slow pace around the corral. He patted its neck soothingly as he watched the man approach. The next thing he would usually do would be to put the horse into a slow trot. Just to show him who was in control. But before he could start his run, Willie Newberry had come galloping across the parade field, yelling! They gunned down Simpson! They gunned down Simpson!
Willie was what they called a firebrand. But he was self-righteous in his anger. He studied the bible diligently, and found the inconsistencies being preached in southern pulpits! Often he would say Ham wasnt no bad man! Anything that was the slightest insult or perceived insult to him, and he was ready to fight the war all over again, bible raised high! His knuckles bore the scars of his many fistfights with townsfolk who he felt had insulted him. He was respected among his fellow troopers because he spoke openly about the insults on the occasions when he returned from the towns, directly to his commanding officer! And so he was completely believable! There had to be something to what he was saying! At first the men looked with surprise at the rider and then, recognizing who he was, they were galvanized into action!
No one had to be told who they were! The bad feelings had been festering for quite some time now between the townspeople, who were confederate sympathizers, and the black as well as the white troopers stationed in their midst! They refused to call the few newly freed slaves passing among them Free Men. Instead, they went along with the Andrew Johnson administrations characterization of them as Freedmen. The bigoted Tennessee President who inherited Lincolns administration did everything possible to appease the defeated southerners. The situation was bound to explode, and today it had!
Newberry, with fires in his eyes, whipped his horse angrily around the compound yelling the word that Simpson had been shot!
They gunned him down in the saloon! The Sheriff shot him in the back with a got-damn shotgun! He shot him in the back! What yall gon do? Lets go! Lets go git em! His cussin lent credence to his passion!
He galloped around shouting the news, and as he did so, men began pouring out of the barracks, pulling on their clothing and rushing to the stables to saddle their horses! The excitement ran through the post like wildfire!
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