68 THE STRIKE AT SHANE'S. 



Shane had been confined to the house and they had 

 only Tom to contend with, for Mike was not a hard- 

 hearted fellow, but had only done the bidding of his 

 employer. He never abused the dumb animals on the 

 farm when he could avoid it. 



"I'll tell ye, Tom," said Mike, one day, "let's thry 

 a little different plan wid thim horses, an' see if we 

 can't build 'em up a bit." 



"Bother the horses ; they're goin' to destruction like 

 everything else on the farm," said Tom. 



" Be aisy, now, 'til I tell ye how we'll do it. Let's 

 clane out the stables, an' put clane straw in the stalls 

 for beddin'. Thin we'll make a nice warm mash for 

 'em to ate, an' thrate 'em like gintlemen, begorra, an' 

 see if we can't put some life into 'em." 



"You can try it if you want to, but I shan't fool 

 away my time that way," said Tom. 



"By your lave I'll thry that same plan mesilf, thin," 

 said Mike. 



Mike was as good as his word, and brought the 

 horses up at night, and had bedding of nice clean straw 

 for them to sleep on. He curried, brushed and rubbed 

 them, until their neglected coats began to shine again. 

 He saw that they were properly fed w^th good whole- 

 some food, and closed the openings in the stable, that 

 the night winds might not blow on them. 



"What's up now, do you suppose?" said Dobbin, 

 after Mike had gone away. "This begins to look like 

 things were turning our way." 



"I don't like favors coming from the hand of the 



