"Thank you, all the same," replied Gay in his pleasant voice. "It doesn't seem to be a stone, after all," he added. "I'm rather afraid he got a sprain when he stumbled into a hole a yard or two back."
Kneeling in the road, Abel lifted the horse's foot, and felt for the injury with a practised hand.
"Needs a bandage," he said at last curtly. "I happen to have a bottle of liniment in the gig."
The light glided like a winged insect over the strip of corduroy road, and a minute later the pungent odour of the liniment floated to Gay's nostrils.
"Give me anything you have for a compress," remarked the miller, dropping again on his knees. "Pick a few of those Jimson weeds by the fence and lend me your handkerchief—or a couple of them would be still better. There, now, that's the best I can do," he added after a moment. "Lead him slowly and be sure to look where you're going."
"I will, thank you—but can you find your way without the lantern?"
"Hannah can travel the road in the dark and so can I for that matter. You needn't thank me, by the way. I wouldn't have troubled about you, but I've a liking for horses."
"A jolly good thing it was for me that you came up at the instant. I say, Revercomb, I'm sorry it was your brother I got into a row with this morning."
"Oh, that's another score. We haven't settled it yet," retorted the
Miller, as he stepped into his gig. "You've warned us off your land, so
I'll trouble you to keep to the turnpike and avoid the bridle path that
passes my pasture."
Before Gay could reply, the other had whistled to his mare and was spinning over the flat road into the star-spangled distance.