Hoof Beats 



"We'll see," he thought, and bared his teeth, 

 which had grown long and showed his age quite 

 plainly. *'We'll see about that bowed tendon, and 

 you needn't laugh so heartily yourself, for your 

 seat isn't what it used to be, nor your hands so 

 light as they were when I was a likely three-year- 

 old, and your knees used to shut on the saddle 

 like the teeth of a steel trap, and the feel of the 

 bit in my mouth was as gentle and confident as — " 

 but the Marquis was no longer angry and was 

 thinking of old times, though he meant to get 

 even just the same. The Torchlights had never 

 let a slight like that pass, and the Marquis was 

 one of the best. 



That evening when old Ephram went down to 

 the paddock to take up the Marquis for the night, 

 the latter pretended to be more sore than ever in 

 his off foreleg, and limped worse than Ephram, 

 himself crippled with rheumatism in the knees, so 

 that finally the old man stopped for a moment in 

 the road to rest him. 



"Marquis," he said, "we sho'ly has see our day," 

 then went on again shaking his head and mutter- 

 ing, but the Marquis only bit him smartly on the 

 shoulder for reply, and received a whack from 

 Ephram's stick in return. 



All the following morning the Marquis watched 

 FuUerton, in the adjoining pasture, schooling 

 18 



