But Rip would not be quiet, and I was sorry for it, as I knew what would but to surely follow.
I was spared the scene, however, for Mr. Bayne, loosening the halter round my neck, led me back to the stable; but as I left the field I heard the man in velveteen shouting in an angry tone, and then I was certain that Rip had foolishly shown resistance. By the stable door we came upon Giles the ploughman, who inquired with an air of interest how I had behaved.
‘Like a good-tempered little fellow,’ replied Mr. Bayne, patting me, and a thrill of satisfaction ran through my body. I felt that I had done my duty.
They left me in the stall, and I had nearly an hour to think over the process of breaking in. I cannot say that I liked it; the weight of a man upon my back seemed to take away my liberty, as I said before; and yet it was not entirely inharmonious to my nature—it was more novel than disagreeable.
‘Man is certainly created our master,’ I thought; ‘he was quite at ease upon my back, and sat as if it were perfectly natural to him, and that is the reason, no doubt, why my back is so long and broad. Man was certainly not created to carry us. Then he has hands to drive, and we have not. Yes, man is our master, and my mother is right—it is our duty to submit.’
Thus I reasoned until the hour was passed and Rip was brought home. Giles and the man in velveteen led him in and put him into the next stall to mine. The man in velveteen looked very hot, but he was not angry—in fact he had rather a pleased look upon his face.
‘I don’t care to have ’em all easy like this chap,’ he said, addressing Giles and pointing at me; ‘I like to have ’em try a trick or two on me, and then I can show who is master. The rougher they are the more I can come out—and it was by breaking in the rough ‘uns that I made my name.’
‘Rip is full of play,’ said Giles.
‘Is he?’ replied the other sarcastically. ‘You may call it play, but I don’t; when a horse kicks out at all sides of the compass, and bites at you like a fury, I calls it vice, and that’s the thing I know how to cure. I gives them plenty of physic for it—whip and spur without stint, and they soon gives in.’
