LOCKJAW 91 



called me to look at his horse, remarking at the same 

 time that he thought "the horse must become lame on 

 purpose, for he couldn't discover anything the matter 

 with him ! " He said further, " The horse will go all 

 right for ten minutes or so in the morning, and will 

 then suddenly go lame, and continue so the rest of the 

 day." Well, I examined the horse carefully, although 

 my eye had lighted on the real cause at once, and I 

 said, " Now, doctor, you are pretty wise, and know the 

 proportions of a horse and his defects. Stand exactly 

 in front of him and tell me if you can see nothing 

 wrong.'" 



' " No," replied the doctor, " I'll be switched if I can, 

 and I believe he is playing off, the rogue ! " 



'"Will you kindly look at his shoes?" 



'The doctor lifted first one hind foot and then the 

 other. "Nothing the matter with them. Count." 



'"Well, go on, finish your inspection." 



' He lifted one forefoot and then the other, and a sudden 

 light began to dawn on his visage. "Ah, csn it be so 

 simple a thing?" 



'"It is that, and that is all," said I, and by actual 

 measurement the corks on the shoe of one forefoot 

 were a full inch longer than all the others, and so lifttd 

 the horse just so much more from the ground.' 



You had the laugh on the doctor that time, Count. 



' Yes, I had, and he went off half mad and half pleased 

 when I told him to go home and walk around in shoes 

 one with a heel and one without, and see how lame he'd 

 go without trying.' 



There are many different causes for lameness, of course ? 



' So many that it is a proof of much care that we see 



