CHAMP REPURCHASED. 381 



it. About all the good it did, so far as I could see, 

 was to wash away the blood. There was not at that 

 time a house within a mile of the place, and I was 

 afraid to go for someone and leave him by the side of 

 the road. 



"Just when I was at my wits' end who should walk 

 over the hill but old Peter Pickle. He took in the 

 situation at a glance, and without asking any ques- 

 tions, told me to drive to the village for the doctor. I 

 was off before he had finished the sentence. You 

 can guess the balance of the details. Lem was taken 

 home in a wagon box half full of hay. When he came 

 to, it was found that the arm he was going to strike 

 me with was broken above the elbow. The cut was 

 not very serious ; but he was so badly bruised that it 

 was three months before he was about. 



"On the night of the accident I found that Champ 

 stopped at my stable. He was in his old stall when 

 I drove in. Three weeks rolled by and no one called 

 for him. On the third Saturday Sarah Leroy called. 

 I could see that she was rather pale as she asked for 

 me. When I came up she handed me a letter from 

 Lem. I opened it, and on reading it, saw that it was 

 written by a woman. When I asked who wrote it, 

 she said she did, as she was helping Mrs. Jenkins take 

 care of Lem. In the letter Lem said that if I gave 

 Sarah the note and sent him his mare I could keep 

 Champ and he would never mention the subject to 

 me again. I accepted the offer, and he never did. 

 mention that or any other, as we never spoke to each 

 other from the day we met on the hill. From that 

 time on he hated me, not so much on account of the 

 affair on the hill, but what happened a few days later. 



