arose and, rubbing his shoulder ruefully, caught
up the fallen bridle. Soon the work of breaking
was resumed as though nothing had happened.

Pat was standing motionless. But he was
keenly alert. He heard the man draw near, felt
the hand creeping along his neck, but he had
learned his lesson well. He reared and struck
again -- this time only empty air. Yet, as he returned
to earth, almost before he touched ground,
the hand was around his ear, another was around
his other ear, he was feeling the dread twist again,
twofold. Every twitch of muscle, every least gasp
for air, sent excruciating pain throughout the
ends of him. Fearing to move, yet clamoring
for breath, he slowly opened his mouth.

Which was what they wanted, evidently. He
felt a cold something suddenly thrust between his
teeth. It was hard as well as cold. He tasted it,
rolled it over his tongue, and found it not painful.
Then came something else. His head was being
hurriedly fitted with a leathery contrivance. But
neither was this painful, save only as it touched
his twisted ears, and he therefore experienced no
increasing alarm. Then, with this adjusted, he
was introduced to something else -- a something
held close under his nose. He smelled this carefully;
noted that it reeked with odors of the
stable; smelled it again. Next he knew it was
being placed gently upon his back. It was soft,
and quite hairy, and though it irritated him a little,
he accepted it without loss of composure. But
when it was followed, as it was directly, by a

[[63]]

p062 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p063w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p064

v?