Maurice and the bay mare

by Henry Herbert Knibbs

“Now, the grooms had all come out and were standing by the doorway, watching us, and maybe expecting to see somebody get hurt. And it was the first time in me life, sir, that anybody had ever said to me that I didn’t have nerve enough to take a horse over a jump. ’Twas a black rage that took hold of me. ‘No man has ever said the like to me,’ says I. And I mounted and took the horse down the field and turned him. When he lunged out and went toward the jump, I knew that I had lost my judgment of distance and stride, and more, that I didn’t care. I was as blind mad as the horse himself. I fought him up to the wings, and I tried to hold him straight, him rearing and lunging. But no living man could have held him to the jump. He went into the corner. He didn’t even try to take off. They told me he turned over twice. I knew nothing about that. I was down and under him.”

Maurice shrugged his shoulders. The ghost of a smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

“We all get it, sir, sooner or later. Of course, I have seen some of the boys that got hurted bad ride again, but they would have to have the liquor to do it. Their nerve was gone. And that is a terrible thing to happen to a man. But it was not nerve that made me put that horse at that jump. It was pride. I knew better. I should have refused to take him over. ’Twas plain reckless, and ’tis no credit to a man to be reckless, for then he has no judgment. If he comes through, ’tis luck that does it. And, sir, I had plenty of time to think about it all, on me back in the hospital. It was close to six months before they let me go. And me being a stranger in this city, never a soul came to see me, saving a young man who was riding master at the stable, a boy from Ireland, like meself.

“He would be bringing me a package of tobacco, or maybe some fruit, or a bit of a book to read, and telling me a joke or two to pass the time. And when I was to leave the hospital, he put some money in me hand, and says the boys at the stable had took up a collection to pay me hospital bill. You see, sir, grooms and stablemen and trainers will always be helping one another, when a man is sick or hurted bad. And many the dollar that is give outright, and many is the dollar lent and by the same token never paid back. But, then, sir, the fellow that will borrow and not pay back will be helping some other fellow, so it is all in the family, like. But the old man, who had money, he never came to see me once. But one day a lawyer came and told me I could sue the old man for damages.

“The lawyer would be asking me to sign a paper, saying he would take the case for half when we got out of it. But I did not like his talk, and I signed no paper. I told him it was me own fault that I got hurted, and that I knew the horse was bad, and the chance I took. It was a long time after that I found out the old man sent the lawyer to see what I intended to do about it. A trick of the trade, sir. But I signed no paper. I would not be blaming the old man. He knew the horse was bad, but also he knew I would be knowing it meself. They say there is some good comes out of everything. I don’t know. But maybe my getting broke up saved that young fellow from getting killed complete. If so, I am glad. But I paid a terrible price for saving him, sir. Look at me hands! Sometimes I look at them and wonder if they belong to some old man with the palsy. And I am not an old man, sir. Ah, well, ’tis all in the way of our business. I’ll always be with the horses. ’Tis in me blood. I was born and raised to it, in Ireland, and me father before me.”

One of the grooms came back from supper. Maurice got up stiffly.

“I’ll be getting a bite to eat,” he said.

“But the mare,” I said, as we walked across the quadrangle; “there’s nothing mean about her. She’s just young and lively. You can’t blame her for wanting to play.”

“No, she is not mean,” said Maurice deliberately. “’Tis not that. I got to thinking, sir, why take any risk at all? You see, it is not just yourself—you have a family. With me it would be different. I have no one. I was paid for riding. It was my business. But you ride for pleasure. You are your own boss. You do not have to take any chances.”

“Chances? Why, Maurice, I take a longer chance driving my car from here to my home, through this town, than I do when riding the mare.”