operation -- for such was the cleaning -- since he
was gritty beyond belief. Also, after the operation
he felt immeasurably better, and better still
when Stephen led him to a tiny stream and he had
relieved his thirst. But that was not all of joy.
Turned loose with the other horses, he fell to
grazing eagerly, actually finding it good, and once
lifting a long and shrill nicker in gratitude for this
change in his condition. Nor did his delight stop
here. With camp broken, and his young master,
instead of returning him to the lead-rope, bridling
and saddling him awkwardly with one hand, he
set out along the trail at a gait so brisk that it
brought a startled exclamation from the young
man, who promptly pulled him down. But
though he was forced to keep a slow gait, yet frequently
during the afternoon, conscious of his
fresh coat and the sense of buoyancy it gave him,
he flung up his head and nickered loud and joyfully.
Also, with night once more descending,
and the stars twinkling in the blue-black heavens,
and the sheen of a rising moon flooding the desert,
he moved about among the other horses with a
vigor that was almost insolence, seizing tufts of
grass wherever he saw them, heedless of others'
rights.

Around the fire sat or sprawled the men. Two
of them were industriously mending, one a shirt,
the other a bridle. The Professor and the man
with the scrubby beard were complacently smoking,
while Stephen, glad to stretch out after the
day's ride with an arm that constantly distressed

[[219]]

p218 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p219w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p220

v?