Last of all, and with great care, French disposed a mysterious case packed with straw, the contents of which were perfectly well known to the boy.
The buckboard packed, there followed the process of hitching up, -- a process at once spectacular and full of exciting incident, for the trip to the Crossing was to the bronchos, unbroken even to the halter, their first experience in the ways of civilized man.

Wild, timid and fiercely vicious, they were brought in from their night pickets on a rope, holding back hard, plunging, snorting, in terror, and were tied up securely in an out shed.

There was no time spent in gentle persuasion.

French took a collar and without hesitation, but without haste, walked quietly to the side of one of the shuddering ponies, a buckskin, and paying no heed to its frantic plunging, slipped it over his neck, keeping close to the pony's side and crowding it hard against the wall.

The rest of the harness offered more difficulty.