"Whatever brings this yere Slim Jim into the cow country is too
boggy a crossin' for me. Thar ain't a thing he can do or learn to.
We-alls has him on one round-up, an' it's cl'ar from the jump he
ain't meant by Providence for the cattle business. The meekest
bronco in the bunch bucks him off; an' actooally he's that timid
he's plumb afraid of ponies an' cattle both.
"We-alls fixes Slim Jim's saddle with buckin'-straps; an' even
fastens a roll of blankets across the saddle-horn; but it ain't
enough. Nothin' bar tyin' Slim Jim into the saddle, like the hoss-
back Injuns does to papooses, could save him.
"An' aside from nacheral awk'ardness an' a light an' fitful seat in
a saddle, it looks like this Slim Jim has baleful effects on a
bronco. To show you: One mornin' we ropes up for him a pony which
has renown for its low sperits. It acts, this yere pony does, like
it's suffered some disapp'intment which blights it an' breaks its
heart; an' no amount of tightenin' of the back cinch; not even
spurrin' of it in the shoulder an' neck like playful people who's
out for a circus does, is ever known to evolve a buck-jump outen
him, he's that sad. Which this is so well known, the pony's name is
'Remorse.
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