The horse-breaker stepped resolutely to Pat
and, laying firm hands upon the bridle, waited
a moment, eying Pat narrowly, then flung up
into the saddle. Pat's sides heaved, his knees
trembled, but he did not resist. Eyes trained
upon his mistress, as if he would hold her to
her promise, he set out peacefully, and of his
own volition, across the inclosure. Further, even
though he could not see his mistress now, he turned
in response to the rein and started back across
the inclosure. And he kept this up, holding to
perfect calm, breaking into a trot when urged to
it, falling back into a walk in response to the
bridle, round and round and round until, with a
grunt of satisfaction, the man dismounted close
beside the girl and handed her the reins.

"Rides easy as a single-footer, Miss Richards,"
he declared. "Where can I wash up?"

Which ended Pat's first great lesson at the
hands of man. But though this lesson had its
values, since he was destined to serve mankind,
yet he had learned another thing that held more
value to him as an animal than all the teachings
within the grasp of men -- he had learned the inevitable
workings of cause and effect. His nose
was scraped and his knees were scraped, and all
these places burned intensely. And, intelligent
horse that he was, he knew why he suffered these
burns -- knew that he had brought them about
through his own sheer wilfulness. True, he was
still girt with bands and straps, and in a way they
were uncomfortable. But they did not pain him

[[69]]

p068 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p069w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p070

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