The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



still very wobbly when she tried to move 

 ahead and I had to steady her. She gradually 

 improved so that I was encouraged to let her 

 try to go ahead herself, which she essayed to 

 do, meeting with signal disaster after about 

 ten steps. She was not at all happy on the 

 grass and her eyes plainly invited me to give 

 her assistance to get up. There were perhaps 

 a dozen of these catastrophes, and, each time 

 she went down, she waited for me to help her 

 up. She had learnt that it was easier. Once 

 up she was quite happy and quite willing to 

 stay by me ; all the more so, because she so 

 thoroughly enjoyed the scratching I gave her 

 on the neck and back. Then she began to 

 nibble and suck at my coat. Pangs of hunger 

 had seized her. There was some sugar dust in 

 the bottom of the sugar pocket, and I wetted 

 my finger, and, sugar-coated, put it in her 

 mouth. There was no delay in the decision 

 she took about that ! My aunt, how she 

 sucked ! She was perfectly wild after it ! I 

 backed a little and she was after me in a second 

 — ^knew it was the fingers that tasted so good, 

 and wasn't happy till she got them. There 

 were no more falls after she had tasted the 

 sugar ! She followed me, all on her own, 

 for quite a hundred j^ards, without one tumble. 

 With the exception of once or twice, when 

 from weakness or pain she lay flat on her side, 

 the mare never took her eyes off the foal ; 



227 



