“He’s a fine saddle animal,” Farmer Green told Johnnie as he jumped down from Mistah Mule’s back. “He may have some tricks that he didn’t try to play on me. Ride him, if you want to. But stay in the meadow. If he should throw you, it wouldn’t hurt you so much to fall on the grass as on the hard road.”
Johnnie Green was already shortening the stirrup-straps. He led Mistah Mule up beside a box, and from that he sprang into the saddle.
“Take good care of our boy!” the old horse Ebenezer warned Mistah Mule. “Don’t you dare to hurt him!”
“I certainly aims to do just exactly what he says,” Mistah Mule replied. And then, as Johnnie drew the bridle-reins tight, Mistah Mule walked away.
“Well, well!” Ebenezer murmured. “Mistah Mule surely is improving. He’s behaving better every day. I almost think I’m going to like him, after all.”
X
MINDING TOO WELL
Johnnie Green rode Mistah Mule into the meadow. Mistah Mule seemed to be, as Farmer Green had said, a fine saddle animal. He had an amble that was as gentle as the sway of a rocking chair. His trot didn’t jounce Johnnie a bit. He cantered delightfully.
Johnnie Green was greatly pleased with his mount. “I wish I owned him,” he thought. “I wonder if Father would swap him for the Muley Cow.” The Muley Cow belonged to Johnnie Green. She would have felt terribly if she had known what was in his mind.
Mistah Mule soon proved himself a good jumper. He cleared the brook easily. And then he scrambled up the bank and began to race down the long gentle slope that stretched toward Cedar Swamp.
Now, Johnnie Green liked to ride at a gallop. Mistah Mule showed a burst of speed that pleased him. But in a few moments it seemed to Johnnie that Mistah Mule was traveling faster with every jump.