“Yah! he can’t ride,” cried Dicksee; “he’ll tumble off.”
“Not he,” said Burr major. “Old Lom ties his ankles together under the horse. But he does look an awful fool when he’s on board. I say, Burr junior, you don’t think you can ride, do you?”
“No,” I said quietly.
“And you never will. I say, boys, what an ugly beggar he grows! I know why he’s learning riding.”
“Do you? Why?” cried Dicksee.
“They’re going to make a groom of him.”
The blood flushed up in my face, and I began to feel as if the time must be getting ripe.
“Why, he was bragging about going to be a soldier!” cried another boy.
“Him! A soldier! Ha, ha, ha!” cried Burr major. “They wouldn’t even have a big-eared-looking fellow like that for a parchment-whopper.”
“He said a horse soldier.”