Max Brand

Alcatraz Max Brand

Says the Sheik: "I have raised my mare from a foal, and out of love for me she willlay down her life; but when I come out to her in the morning, when I feed her andgive her water, she still looks beyond me and across the desert. She is waiting forthe coming of a real man, she is waiting for the coming of a true master out of thehorizon!"Marianne had known thoroughbreds since she was a child and after coming Westshe had become acquainted with mere "hoss-flesh," but today for the first time shefelt that the horse is not meant by nature to be the servant of man but that itsspeed is meant to ensure it sacred freedom. A moment later she was wonderinghow the thought had come to her. That glimpse of equine perfection had been anillusion built of spirit and attitude; when the head of the stallion fell she saw thedaylight truth: that this was either the wreck of a young horse or the sad ruin of afine animal now grown old. He was a ragged creature with dull eyes and pendulouslip. No comb had been among the tangles of mane and tail for an unknown period;no brush had smoothed his coat. It was once a rich red-chestnut, no doubt, butnow it was sun-faded to the color of sand. He was thin. The unfleshed backboneand withers stood up painfully and she counted the ribs one by one. Yet his bodywas not so broken as his spirit. His drooped head gave him the appearance ofsearching for a spot to lie down. He seemed to have been left here by the cruelty ofhis owner to starve and die in the white heat of this corral-a desertion which heaccepted as justice because he was useless in the world.