The Mystery in Arizona

empty space between her and Jim. Another space beside Mart had obviously been reserved for Tenny, and with a “ ’Bye now” to Trixie he hastened off to fill it
    As Trixie started to climb up, Jim asked coldly, “Did you correct all of those problems?”
    “Yes, dear teacher,” Trixie replied with mock humility. She turned her back to him as Tenny began his spiel.
    “La-deez and gentlemen, atten -shun, please. This here puf-fomance which we cowpokes is about to put on ain’t nothin’ but a taste of what you-all will see in February at La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros—ia. plain English, the Cowboy Festival. What we cow-punchers is about to do cain’t rightly be called a rodeo a-tall.
    “Rodeo is a Spanish word meanin’ a goin’ around, fer that’s jist what it is—a roundup. Every spring and fall the cattle is driven in from the range to a corral. The spring roundup is generally called brandin’ time, ’cause that’s when the calves is branded. In olden times, when there weren’t no fences, the cattle from several ranches roamed the range all together. It was the cowboy’s job to round ’em up and separate ’em twice a year.
    “The calves were branded accordin’ to the brand of the cow they were a-followin’. A calf without a mother was called a dogie, and the finder of such was the keeper. Before fences was put up, any unbranded cow, calf, or steer on the range was called a maverick. A maverick belongs to whoever can rope an’ brand him fust. So jist natural-like, the rodeo pretty soon became a time when saddle-pounders got together to show off how good they was at ropin and bull-ridin’ and bulldoggin, which means wrestlin’ with a steer.
    “When the cattle and the hosses was all safely in from the range, the cowboy’s next job was bronc-bustin. And nowadays that’s jist as much a part of any rodeo as ropin is. Afore a cowpoke can do any ropin', he’s got to know how to ride, and afore he can work the range proper, he has got to train his hoss good. Specially his cuttin’ hoss. A real good cuttin hoss knows how to cut a cow or a calf or a steer outa the herd better than his rider does. Now, fust on the program is Cowpoke Bill, who’s goin’ to give you an exhibition of a cuttin’ hoss in action.” He waved his hat, and the gate was opened to admit a handsome cowboy on a beautiful white horse.
    Trixie watched breathlessly as Bill, without the use of a bridle, put his powerfully muscled, wiry animal through the various movements: first a figure eight, which included right and left turns, quarter and half turns—all so sharp that the horse seemed to be on his hind feet most of the time.
    Bill departed amid loud applause, and then another cowboy on a black pony rode into the corral.
    “This here cowpoke is Jack,” Tenny announced, “and he’s goin’ to give you a demonstration of calf-ropin without a rope or a calf.”
    Everyone laughed but sobered almost immediately. Jack and his horse performed so beautifully that you could almost see the calf. When Jack had “roped the calf,” he put his pony into the stop-and-
    back and sprang to the ground. The horse braced its body to keep the invisible rope taut, and Jack hog-tied the invisible legs of the nonexistent calf with an invisible piggin string. When he took off his ten-gallon Stetson and waved it, the enthusiastic crowd roared its praise.
    “That’s the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen,” Honey gasped. “I felt so sorry for that poor little calf when he got lassoed—I mean roped.”
    After that there were exciting exhibitions of bronc-riding, and Tenny explained that bronco is the Spanish word for ‘rough’ or ‘coarse’; thus a wild, ornery pony was called a bronco—bronc for short.
    Watching tensely, Trixie realized what a truly dangerous sport the rodeo is. Rarely did one of the cowboys get bucked off, and when he did he landed on his feet, but it always seemed to Trixie that die rider couldn’t possibly stay in the saddle more than a split second. Tenny explained that when a bronc-buster is bucked off, other cowboys say, “That peeler was sent pickin’ daisies.”
    “Are those horses really as wild as they seem to be?” Honey asked him with a shudder. “Or is it all just an act for us dudes?”
    “Them?” Tenny’s blue eyes twinkled. “Compared to a green bronc right off the range, them hosses is as gentle as lambs ’cause they is already saddle-broke. They’re carryin’ on like that ’cause they