Twinkleheels always moved smartly. Ebenezer took his time about everything. When anybody backed him between the thills of a wagon he was as slow as Timothy Turtle and no more graceful. And while people harnessed him he usually sighed heavily now and then, because he dreaded being hurried along the road.
Before Twinkleheels came to the farm to live, Johnnie Green had thought it quite a lark to drive or ride Ebenezer. Now, however, Johnnie paid little heed to the old horse. And, to tell the truth, Ebenezer was content to be let alone.
"This boy must have found it a bit poky, riding you," Twinkleheels remarked to Ebenezer one day when he noticed that the old horse was actually wide-awake.
"He found me safe," Ebenezer replied. "That's why Farmer Green let Johnnie ride me."
"It's a wonder you didn't fall asleep and tumble down and throw Johnnie," Twinkleheels said.
"I'm very sure-footed," Ebenezer told him proudly. "Of course, a person will step on a loose stone now and then. But I've never really stumbled in my whole life."
"How old are you?" Twinkleheels inquired.
"I'm twenty," Ebenezer told him.
"And you've never stumbled in all that time!" Twinkleheels cried. "How did you manage to stay on your feet like that?"
"By minding my business," Ebenezer explained with a shrewd glance at his young companion. The answer—and the look—were both lost on Twinkleheels.