The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



who have watched the tussle with excited 

 interest. With ears laid down hard along 

 his neck and open mouth, he goes straight 

 for the cause of the trouble, and that faithless 

 little lady, preferring a whole skin to meeting 

 him in his anger, scampers lightly away. 



It only needs a crack of the whip for the 

 whole string to race off, manes and tails flying, 

 in just as great a hurry to get away as they 

 had been to come. Soon they disappear in the 

 mist in the hollow, and the last Disciple sees 

 of them is as they rise, still plunging and kicking 

 over the crest where he had first caught sight 

 of them. Disciple is quite quiet, he stands 

 at gaze, watching with a twitching nose ; and, 

 as the last of the ghostly little figures vanishes 

 into nothingness, he gives just one big parting 

 neigh, and then looks round at you with that 

 dark soft eye of his to ask " What next ? " 



And on the way home Disciple ponders over 

 that last beautiful mouthful for quite a while, 

 and grins as he remembers the mark he has 

 left. You can see that he is thinking of the 

 little scrap, by the way he throws up his head 

 and momentarily arches his neck, and by the 

 proud glance of his eye. He is thinking of you 

 too in its connection, for he looks round at you 

 — farticeps criminis — quite a number of 

 times ; and once gives a short sharp Httle neigh, 

 and in return you clap him on the neck and 

 tell him he's a bally fine boxer. All the way 



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