Yet any horseman need only notice him closely to be satisfied of
his defect, as he was constantly shying from other horses and
objects and smelled everything which came within his reach. There
were probably half a dozen present who knew of his blindness, but
not a word was said until all the extras were chosen and the
culling out of the overplus of the various remudas began. It
started in snickers, and before the cutting back was over
developed into peals of laughter, as man after man learned that
the dapple gray in Tolleston's remuda was blind.
Among the very last to become acquainted with the fact was the
trail foreman himself. After watching the horse long enough to
see his mistake, Tolleston culled the gray back and rode into the
herd to claim another. But the drover promptly summoned his
foreman out, and, as they met, Lovell said to his trail boss,
"Arch, you're no better than anybody else. I bought that gray and
paid my good money for him. No doubt but the man who sold him has
laughed about it often since, and if ever we meet, I'll take my
hat off and compliment him on being the only person who ever sold
me a moon-eyed horse. I'm still paying my tuition, and you
needn't flare up when the laugh's on you. You have a good remuda
without him, and the only way you can get another horse out of
that herd is with the permission of Quince Forrest and Tom
Quirk.
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