him out of reach : it seemed as if a link had broken 

 between us and I had lost my hold. That was wrong, 

 however ! In a few days he began to realise the loss 

 of hearing ; and after that, feeling so much greater 

 dependence on sight, his watchfulness increased so 

 that nothing escaped him. None of those who saw 

 him in that year, when he was at his very best, could 

 bring themselves to believe that he was deaf. With 

 me it made differences both ways : something lost, 

 and something gained. If he could hear nothing, 

 he saw more ; the language of signs developed ; and 

 taking it all round I believe the sense of mutual de- 

 pendence for success and of mutual understanding 

 was greater than ever. 



Snowball went on to the retired list at the end of 

 the next trip. 



Joey the Smith stood at the forge one day, trimming 

 a red-hot horse-shoe, when I rode up and dropping 

 the reins over Snowball's head, sang out " Morning, 

 Joey ! " 



Joey placed the chisel on the shoe with nice calcula- 

 tion of the amount he wanted to snip off ; his assistant 

 boy swung the big hammer, and an inch cube of red- 

 hot iron dropped off. Then Joey looked up with, what 

 seemed to me, a conflict of innocent surprise and stifled 

 amusement in his face. The boy also turned to look, and 

 the insignificant incident is curiously unforgettable 

 trod upon the piece of hot iron. " Look where 

 you're standing," said Joey reproachfully, as the smoke 

 and smell of burning skin-welt rose up ; and the boy 

 with a grunt of disgust, such as we might give at a 



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