Now, hosses
that ain't got calks on thar shoes are pretty shore to slip an' fall,
breakin' a leg or two, an' mebbe breakin' the necks of thar riders."
Dick looked at him with some amazement. Despite his announcement of
dire disaster the man's eyes twinkled merrily and the round, red outline
of his bushy head in the scarlet comforter made a cheerful blaze.
"It's jest as I told you," said Petty, meeting the boy's look. "Without
calks on thar shoes our hosses are pretty shore to slip on the ice and
break theirselves up, or fall down a cliff an' break themselves up more."
"Then why in thunder, Blaze," exclaimed Whitley, "did we start without
calks on the shoes of our horses?"
Red Blaze broke into a deep mellow laugh, starting from the bottom of
his diaphragm, swelling as it passed through his chest, swelling again
as it passed through throat and mouth, and bursting upon the open air in
a mighty diapason that rose cheerfully above the shrieking and moaning
of the wind.
"We didn't start without em," he replied. "The twelve feet of these
three hosses have on 'em the finest calked shoes in all these mountains.
I put 'em on myself, beginnin' the job this mornin' before you was awake,
your colonel, on the advice of the people of Townsville who know me as
one of its leadin' an' trusted citizens, havin' selected me as the guide
of this trip. I was jest tellin' you what would happen to you if I
didn't justify the confidence of the people of Townsville.
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