~ One Spur and the Arrow ~
Part 4: THE TEMPEST
~ 140 ~
On the trail the morning
Found deacon on his bay
By his side rode Danny
Upon his flea-bit grey
~ 141 ~
They edged the jagged cuttings
And followed Dingo trails
All around the rocks loomed high
And the wind began to wail
~ 142 ~
The sky grew black, and rumbled
And soon rain began to fall
In the cold and steaming wet
They could not see at all
~ 143 ~
Their horses groped on blindly
Sliding on the shale
Both these riders knowing
That their horses would not fail
~ 144 ~
They moved from dangerous ravine
Through deep and hollow gorge
As from the gaps and rocky cracks
The water began to forge
~ 145 ~
Then the gorge became a gully
Displaying a silver stream
That rippled through the ravines
A shining watery seam
~ 146 ~
Here the two found cover
Inside a dim lit cave
And as they scrambled blindly in
There swelled a violent wave
~ 147 ~
Wind roared across the mountains
And slapped at rock and tree
Pouring now, the rain crashed down
To tear stone from rock and lea
~ 148 ~
The alpine streams they pounded
As the torrents hurled and tossed
Tearing down the steep inclines
Where many gullies crossed
~ 149 ~
In the sky the thunder clapped
The lightning flashed and ripped
The tops of trees across the rocks
Where steep canyons clung and dipped
~ 150 ~
Landslides rumbled down the slopes
Turning the rivers into surf
Boulders rolled, bounced and crashed
From the rock face down to turf
~ 151 ~
But soon the storm was over
And the clouds were swept away
Golden in the clearing sky
The sun made light the day
~ 152 ~
From their humble shelter
Leading their fine ponies
Stepped Deacon and with Danny
Smiled like bosom cronies
~ 153 ~
They didn't know where they were
Nor how they even got there
But mounting they gazed around
As though they did not care
~ 154 ~
Deacon steered his tired horse
Towards a rocky ledge
Danny turned to follow him
To the dripping edge
~ 155 ~
Miles down, vast and wide
Green silver in the sun
The valley stretched from peak to peak
Where the mountain rivers run
~ 156 ~
Grazing over the pasture land
Spread for miles around
Wild horses reared and ran
Across the fruitful ground
~ 157 ~
Atop a mound, so green it shone
A black horse stood in fire
No artist could paint his splendour
Nor match his black attire
~ 158 ~
From the ledge the two men watched
As the wild horse pawed the air
A graceful horse in a fruitful land
With a valley full of mare
~ 159 ~
Deacon and Danny turned away
To find their way to camp
At last One Spur had his chance
To prove that he was champ