mxi Bob. 69 



How proud I felt that day, to be sure ! and ever 

 afterwards I endeavoured, when opportunities arose, 

 to, if possible, surpass my previous performances. 

 Five seasons I carried him, and then, alas ! on 

 landing in a rabbit hole, this poor old sinew went. 

 It was only the second fall I had given him, and 

 I then thought he seemed very sorry for me, as, 

 having bound his handkerchief round my leg, he led 

 me limping home for some seven miles ; but I have 

 since learnt, alas ! that he was only sorry for himself. 

 How I stood for weeks with that poor leg general^ 

 in a pail of water, and how, by and bye, old Scorem, 

 the Vet., came and fired me, I hardly care to recall; 

 let me, too, pass over an interval of some months 

 spent in a moist low-lying meadow, where my only 

 associates were some cows and the most impertinent 

 of donkeys. 



At length, however, I was taken back into the 

 stable, where, after a little conditioning — my corn 

 never having been wholly stopped — I felt almost, if 

 not quite, my former self. The young master was to 

 ride me on account of his weight, and did ; but wh:it 

 a shockingly bad rider he was to be sure ! 



Hands ! why he said I pulled too much for him, 

 whereas it was he who pulled, forsooth, not I. The 

 fact, however, remains that we did not get on well 

 together ; so, in consequence, I was handed over 



