Suppose that I miss Maid and reach the intended target.
The instant the lash cracks, the four horses jump,
Prince most of all, and his jump, with spread wicked
teeth, is for the back of Milda’s neck.
She jumps to escape—which is her second
jump, for the first one came when the lash exploded.
The Outlaw reaches for Maid’s neck, and Maid,
who has already jumped and tried to bolt, tries to
bolt harder. And all this infinitesimal fraction
of time I am trying to hold the four animals with
my left hand, while my whip-lash, writhing through
the air, is coming back to me. Three simultaneous
things I must do: keep hold of the four reins
with my left hand; slam on the brake with my foot;
and on the rebound catch that flying lash in the hollow
of my right arm and get the bight of it safely into
my right hand. Then I must get two of the four
lines back into my right hand and keep the horses from
running away or going over the grade. Try it
some time. You will find life anything but wearisome.
Why, the first time I hit the mark and made the lash
go off like a revolver shot, I was so astounded and
delighted that I was paralysed. I forgot to
do any of the multitudinous other things, tangled
the whip lash in Maid’s harness, and was forced
to call upon Charmian for assistance. And now,
confession. I carry a few pebbles handy.
They’re great for reaching Prince in a tight
place. But just the same I’m learning
that whip every day, and before I get home I hope
to discard the pebbles. And as long as I rely
on pebbles, I cannot truthfully speak of myself as
“tooling a four-in-hand.”
From Garberville, where we ate eel to repletion and
got acquainted with the aborigines, we drove down
the Eel River Valley for two days through the most
unthinkably glorious body of redwood timber to be seen
anywhere in California. From Dyerville on to
Eureka, we caught glimpses of railroad construction
and of great concrete bridges in the course of building,
which advertised that at least Humboldt County was
going to be linked to the rest of the world.
We still consider our trip is just begun. As
soon as this is mailed from Eureka, it’s heigh
ho! for the horses and pull on. We shall continue
up the coast, turn in for Hoopa Reservation and the
gold mines, and shoot down the Trinity and Klamath
rivers in Indian canoes to Requa. After that,
we shall go on through Del Norte County and into Oregon.
The trip so far has justified us in taking the attitude
that we won’t go home until the winter rains
drive us in. And, finally, I am going to try
the experiment of putting the Outlaw in the lead and
relegating Prince to his old position in the near
wheel. I won’t need any pebbles then.
