Felipe tossed his blanket back upon the reach
of the rigging. Then he caught up reins and
whip, ready to go on. As he did so he paused
in dismay.

For one of the mares was down! It was the
off mare, the slower and the older mare of the
two. She was lying prone and she was breathing
heavily. Covered as she was with a thin layer of
fine sand, and tightly girdled with chaotic harness
straps, she was a spectacle of abject misery.

But Felipe did not see this. All he saw, in the
blinding rage which suddenly possessed him, was
a horse down, unready for duty, and beside her
a horse standing, ready for duty, but restrained
by the other. Stringing out a volley of oaths, he
stepped to the side of the mare and jerked at her
head, but she refused stubbornly to get up on her
feet.

Gripped in dismay deeper than at first, Felipe
fell back in mechanical resignation.

Was the mare dying? he asked himself. He
could ill afford to lose a mare. Horses cost seven
and eight dollars, and he did not possess so much
money. Indeed, all the money he had in the world
was three dollars, received for this last load of
wood in town. So, what to do! Cursing the mare
had not helped matters; nor could he accuse
the storm, for there had been other storms, many
of them, and each had she successfully weathered
-- been ready, with its passing, to go on! But not
so this one! She -- Huh? Could it be possible?
Ah!

[[4]]

p003 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p004w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p005

v?