now it contained a generous quantity of alfalfa.
But this the colt did not know. He only knew that
he was interested in this thing, and so went there
to attempt, as many times before, to reach his
nose into the mysterious box. Finding that he
could not, he began, as never before, to frisk about
the mare, tossing up his little heels and throwing
down his head with all the reckless abandon of a
seasoned "outlaw." He could do these things because
he was a rare colt, stronger than ever colt
before was at his age, and for a time the mare
suffered his antics with a look of pleased toleration.
But as he kept it up, and as she was getting her
first real sustenance since the day of his coming,
she at length became fretful and sounded a low
warning. But this the colt did not heed. Instead
he wheeled suddenly and plunged directly
toward her, bunting her sharply. Nor did the
single bunt satisfy him. Again and again he attacked
her, plunging in and darting away each
time with remarkable celerity, until, her patience
evidently exhausted, she whisked her head around
and nipped him sharply. Screaming with pain
and fright, he plunged from her, sought the opposite
side of the inclosure, and turned upon her a
pair of very hurt and troubled eyes.

Yet all the world over mothers are mothers.
After a time -- a long time, as if to let her punishment
sink in -- the mare made her way slowly to
the colt, and there fell to licking him, seeming to
tell him of her lasting forgiveness. Under this
lavish caressing the colt, as if to reveal his own

[[21]]

p020 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p021w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p022

v?