222 



CAT€HmG THE COLT. 



Up went his head with a quick toss, and he gave a suspicious sniff. 

 James held out the com, and spoke to him quietly. " Come, boy ! '* 

 he said. "Good Jerry! good boy! come and have some corn." 



^ow, Jerry liked tender grass, but he liked corn better. It 

 would make a pleasant change, he thought; so he walked slowlj"^ 

 towai'ds the hat which James held out to him, still sniffing, and 



stopping every few 

 steps to make sure 

 that he was doing 

 quite the right thing. 

 Suddenly he said to 

 himself, " Why does 

 that boy keep his other 

 hand behind him ? " 

 He looked down and 

 caught sight o f the end 

 of the bridle as it hung 

 down. " Humph ! " 

 said the gray colt. 

 "I know what that 

 means, young gentle- 

 man. You may be a clever boy, but I think I am a clever colt. 

 "We shall see about this ! " 



Accordingly Jerry came up quite close to James, who held the hat 

 out invitingly, while his other hand was all ready to clap the bridle 

 on the moment the gray nose was well in the corn. But Jerry 

 knew a trick worth two of that. Down went his nose, slowly, 

 carefully; now he sniffed at the edge of the hat; now his nose 

 was almost in it; when suddenly, with a quick jerk of his head, he 

 knocked it out of the boy's hand. Then, wheeling swiftly, he pre- 

 sented his two white hind feet in a gentle, but decided manner, 

 which left James but one course to pursue. He tumbled backward 

 on the grass; and while he was picking himself up and rubbing 

 his shins and his shoulders, gray Jerry ate the corn, and then 

 seizing the hat, which was a straw one, galloped off with a whinny 

 of triumph, to munch it quietly imder the oak-tree. 



