CHAPTER XIII. 



OPERATION OF DOCKING. 



Have you ever seen the operation of docking per- 

 formed, Count? 



" Only once, and then I was called in as surgeon 

 to save the life of the suffering victim." 



Will it be too harrowing to hear how it was done? 



" The horse was tied by the neck to a ring in the 

 wall, as he stood in his stall, with a switch screwed 

 as tight as possible on the end of his nose. Tliis 

 was in order to hold his head very high and make 

 him powerless. Two men held him against the 

 wall, another cut with a pair of scissors the hair 

 where the tail was to be severed, while a fourth 

 attended to the roasting iron in a small furnace." 



Did not the poor dumb creature know something 

 dreadful was about to happen? 



" Ah, if you could have seen him tremble with 

 apprehensive fear! When all was ready, there was 

 a sudden click of the large shears, the tail lay on the 

 ground, and the blood spurted from the various veins, 

 striking the wall several feet distant. Then the 

 saucer-shaped iron, heated to a white heat, was fitted, 

 over the bleeding wound, and held there until it was 

 sufficiently roasted. " 



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