What should he do? There was his constant press
for money. The aged mare having almost dropped
in the trail the evening before, was unfit for toil,
and to break a horse to harness meant loss of
time, and, as every one knows, loss of time meant
loss of money. So what should he do? He was
utterly at a loss.

Striding to the doorstep, he sat down and regarded
the horse with malevolent disgust. After
a time, jerking off his hat savagely, he burst out
into a thundering tirade.

"You black devil! You haf give me more
trouble than anyt'ing I haf ever own -- chickens,
burro, pigs, horses, money -- money, even -- money
I haf owe thot robber Pedro! First you haf run
away thot time! Then you haf mek me steal you
out of thot place couple days before! And now" -- he
suddenly leaped to his feet -- "now you haf
mek me break you to thees wagon and harness!"
He advanced to the startled horse and brandished
his fist. "But I break you!" he snarled -- "I break
you like a horse never was broke before! And -- and
if I don' break you -- if you don' do what I haf
say -- I break every bone inside!" With this he
began feverishly to peel off his coat.

And this is the lot of the dumb. Merely for
not knowing what a man believed he should know,
Pat was to be humiliated, was to be punished far
beyond justice and decency. And because he was
a horse abnormally highstrung and sensitive, this
punishment was to be doubly cruel. To him a
blow was more painful than to the average horse,

[[100]]

p099 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p100w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p101

v?