used neither the borrowed horse nor his own sound
one. Each day saw him redder of eye and more
swollen of lip; each day saw him increasingly heedless
of his debts; each day saw him more neglectful
of his duties toward his animals. The one bottle
became two bottles, the two bottles became three,
each secured only after threatened assault upon
the body of Pedro, each adding its store to the
already deep conviviality and reckless freedom
from all cares now Felipe's. He forgot everything
-- forgot the stolen money, forgot the colt, forgot
the needs of the mare -- all in exhilarated pursuit
of phantoms.

Yet the colt did not suffer. Becoming ever
more confident of himself as the days passed, he
soon revealed pronounced curiosity and an aptitude
for play. He would stare at strutting roosters,
gaze after straddling hens, blink quizzically at
the burro, frown upon the grunting pigs, all as if
cataloguing these specimens, listing them in his
thoughts, some day to make good use of the
knowledge. But most of all he showed interest in
and playfulness toward his mother and her doings.
He would follow her about untiringly, pausing
whenever she paused, starting off again whenever
she started off -- seemingly bent upon acquiring
the how and why of her every movement.

But it was his playfulness finally that brought
him first needless suffering. The mare was standing
with her nose in the feed-box. She had stood
thus many times during the past week; but
usually, before, the box had been empty, whereas

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p019 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p020w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p021

v?