Richard Brautigan

Last night a blue thing, the smoke itself, from our campfire drifted down the valley, entering the sound of the bell-mare until the blue thing and the bell could not be separated, no matter how hard you tried. There was no crowbar big enough to do the job.
- Richard Brautigan, Trout Fishing in America, The Message, page 34.

bell-mare
a quiet old horse used to carry a bell at night so that horses can be located easily in scrub, in the dark or in a big paddock.