BROKEN.
He then left the stable in company with Giles, and I, knowing that Rip had gone through a fierce fight, waited for him to speak of it. But he was silent, and after the lapse of five minutes I peeped over the partition to get a look at my friend. Poor Rip! never shall I forget the change which had come over him. His handsome head was no longer erect, but hung low in a dejected manner; the fire had left his brilliant eye, and his fine velvet-like mouth was bleeding; it was plain the fight had gone against him.
‘Why did you resist?’ I asked in a sympathising tone.
‘It is cruel work,’ he replied, with a big sob which seemed to shake his frame. ‘It is not fair—he had a whip and spurs, and the bit cut my mouth like a knife. Look at my sides.’
I looked, and saw that the satin coat was scored and scratched by the spurs, and broad weals of flesh stood up where the whip had been. I was so sorry for my friend that I could say nothing, but only shed a few quiet tears.
‘If he had been kind,’ sobbed Rip, ‘I would have obeyed him; but he began by saying that he knew I should give him a deal of trouble, and that he would stand none of my nonsense. How could he expect a horse of spirit to endure such language?’
‘Perhaps you showed that you meant resistance,’ I said gently.
‘I may have done so a little,’ replied Rip; ‘but what could be more natural? and when I gave in—which I was obliged to do, for what can we do against the bit, and whip, and spur?—when I gave in he was not easy, but continued to beat me until liquid fire seemed to run through every vein of my body: it was cruel—cruel.’
I did my best to console Rip, and after a time he became calmer. We were left to ourselves during the evening, and I took the opportunity to reason with him, and before we lay down to rest I had the satisfaction of hearing that it was his intention to abandon all resistance in the future.
On the morrow we were taken in hand again, and I was put into the shafts of a cart and driven to and fro. The rattle of the wheels was very disagreeable at first, but I resolved not to show any signs of fear lest my movements should be taken for resistance, and eventually I became accustomed to it, and received a second kind acknowledgment from my master in the form of a patting and a piece of sugar.