His boots, the soles thin and narrow and the heels high, were
black and of the finest leather. Huge spurs, having two-inch rowels,
were held in place by buckskin straps, on which, also, were silver
buckles. Protecting his hands were heavy buckskin gloves, also
waterproof, having wide, black gauntlets.
Each dainty hock of his dainty eight-hundred-pound buckskin pony was
black, and a black star graced its forehead. Well groomed, with
flowing mane and tail, and with the brand on its flank being almost
imperceptible, the animal was far different in appearance from most of
the cow-ponies. Vicious and high-spirited, it cavorted just enough to
show its lines to the best advantage.
The saddle, a famous Cheyenne and forty pounds in weight, was black,
richly embossed, and decorated with bits of beaten silver which
flashed back the sunlight. At the pommel hung a thirty-foot coil of
braided horsehair rope, and at the rear was a Sharp's .50-caliber,
breech-loading rifle, its owner having small use for any other make.
The color of the bridle was the same as the saddle and it supported a
heavy U bit which was capable of a leverage sufficient to break the
animal's jaw.
Tex was proud of his outfit, but his face wore a frown-not there
only on acount of his losses, but also by reason of his mission, for
under all his finery beat a heart as black as any in the cow country.
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