"Does he mean, father," said Frøken Helga, "that his horse can jump our garden wall?"
"Yes," said Hardy; "it is scarcely five feet. But will you promise, Frøken Helga, that if my horse does jump the wall, that you will not say that the horse does it too well? It is not me, but the horse that jumps the wall."
Helga looked annoyed at the reference made to her saying that he sang and played too well for any one to follow after him, but she said nothing.
Karl and Axel had listened. They too thought it impossible; but they believed in Hardy.
"Well, Karl," said Hardy, "don't you believe in me and the English horse?"
"No," said Karl. "A horse cannot jump the garden wall by himself, much more with a man on his back; no horse could do it. But I believe you can do anything."
"Well, Herr Pastor," said Hardy, "I have no one who believes in me or my horse. Frøken Helga regards me with suspicion; and no one in Jutland appears to believe more than they see."
"Yes; but it is impossible," said Pastor Lindal.
The next day after breakfast, Buffalo and one of the Danish horses were taken to the parsonage by Robert Garth. Buffalo had an English saddle on, and looked fully recovered from his journey to Denmark, and fit for anything. The Pastor, his daughter, and his two boys came out to see the English horse. Frøken Helga had not seen it before, and it struck her as being the handsomest horse she had ever seen; and she observed the respect the English groom showed Hardy.
"What do you think of the oats, Bob?" said Hardy.