158 THE ITINERANT HORSE PHYSICIAN 



the same as these two, and he was sure these 

 would die also. 



We took them in hand and in an hour or two 

 both of them were entirely well. We gave them 

 ordinary treatment for acute indigestion. 



When we began looking into the feed supply, 

 we discovered that there was not a sprig of hay 

 on the place. There had been some hitch in the 

 proceedings, as a result of which the outfit was 

 unable to obtain sufficient hay at any time. For 

 two straight weeks, all the horses got nothing 

 but oats, aside from a few handfuls of oat- straw 

 for roughness now and then. 



We learned that nearly all the horses that had 

 died were taken sick immediately after the noon 

 feed, for the eating of which they were allowed a 

 half hour. 



We took our time in arriving at a verdict, but 

 the evidence pointed plainly and unmistakeably 

 to the unbalanced ration, all oats and no rough- 

 ness. We were positive that this alone was the 

 cause of all the trouble, and that same afternoon 

 we reported so to the superintendent. 



And he laughed at us! He said that he had 

 expected we would find the fault with the feed 

 and that he had made up his mind not to pay us 

 if we could find nothing else. 



Of course, he was crooked; we discovered later 

 that this was what ailed him. But we couldn't 

 talk him into coming across with the hundred 

 dollars ; fifteen dollars is all we got. 



We kept track of them and found out that 

 they immediately got busy buying hay; also that 



