midday
As far as we know now , Blazing Star is the racer of the Plains , with Red Rover making a good second . He 's in his prime yet ; he could still walk a stringer on a black night , and while you are here at the Fort he 's yours as much as you want to use him . '' Jim 's cup was filled to overflowing . Their midday meal over , a ride was in order ; first around the Fort among the men -- Captain Wayne , Osier Mike , Scout Al Rennie -- then out over the sagebrush flat . `` Here 's the old battle ground of the horses ; here 's where you chased the coyote , and here 's where Blazing Star took you over the single stringer bridge on that black night . '' It was less than a year he had been away , and yet Jim felt like one who was coming back to the scenes of his boyhood , long gone by . His real boyhood in far-away Links was of another world .