The Spanish had introduced the horse to America. Panama was one of the first settlements in the Americas. Indeed the herds of Panama were large enough in 1531 that Pizarro was able to mount all of his soldiers here for the invasion of Peru. It was Spanish law that any Indian caught riding a horse was put to death. Unlike the Guime, the Choco´ had never been conquered. It was plausible that Artillio's forefathers had stolen mounts from the Spanish, and been instrumental in developing a style of horsemanship that had carried northward as far as the Crow pack saddle of Montana, and south to the pad riding rig of the pampas gaucho .

Thinking of Artillio, Jed glanced back to watch him handle the pack string as if a choreographer leading his ballerinas on a graceful dance through the tangle of undergrowth, and quagmire of mud. It was, to Jed, pure artistry. Jed also wondered if the Indian might be interested in a job as a wrangler— if he could survive an Oregon summer.

Arty, because of the difficulty in handling a string of horses, was the only one riding with wooden stirrup. From the days he had worked as a Vaquero, or cowboy, in the grassland of the foothills, his Mexican style rig was a cut down version of the Spanish "silla se montar," or war saddle, which eventually had evolved into the Western stock saddle. Hanging from the broad horn was a long, stiff reta, or lasso, braided of rawhide.

Two days before Jed had joked about the possibility of proving immigration patterns by languages. But, here, in this one village, he had found a common link in the history and development of two similar "horse" civilizations of two continents. Something that might make a good study, and book.

This peaceful thought was suddenly shattered by the ironhorse that was the ultimate weapon in today's cavalry. A helicopter broke over a ridge and hovered, using the ground effect of the down draft to blow leaves aside to take a look at what was below. It was not a maneuver the average pilot would attempt. There was no reason for it, unless they were being hunted once again.

Jed slipped his feet out of the rope stirrups and slid completely under the horse's belly. Jenny tried to duplicate his move —with different results.