If he carries big weights on his back--sacks of salt, as do the poor
stevedores in Venice; or coal in gunnies, as do the coolies in Cuba; or
wine in casks, or coffee in bags, then the calves swell abnormally, the
thighs solidify; the lines of beauty are lost; but the lines of
strength remain.
If, however, he has spent his life in the saddle, rounding up cattle,
chasing Indians, hunting bandits in Mexico, ankle and foot loose, his
knees clutched tightly, hugging that other part of him, the horse, then
the muscles of the thigh round out their intended lines--the most subtle
in the modulating curving of the body. The aboriginal bareback rider
must have been a beauty.
I at once became interested then in the man before me, or rather in his
thighs--the "Extra" hid the rest.
I began to picture him to myself--young, blond hair, blue eyes, drooping
mustache, slouch hat canted rakishly over one eye; not over twenty-five
years of age. I had thought forty, until a movement of the paper
uncovered for a moment his waist-line which curved in instead of out.
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