Bud was now in a seventh heaven. He was riding behind Ben Butler, the greatest horse in the world, and talking to the Bishop, the only person who ever heard the sound of his voice, save in deprecatory and scary grunts.
It was touching to see how the old man humored the simple and imposed-upon creature at his side. It was beautiful to see how, forgetting himself and his sermon, he prepared to entertain, in his quaint way, this slave to the slubbing machine.
Bud looked fondly at the Bishop—then admiringly at Ben Butler. He drew a long breath of pure air, and sitting on the edge of the seat, prepared to jump if necessary; for Bud was mortally afraid of being in a runaway, and his scared eyes seemed to be looking for the soft places in the road.
“Bishop,” he drawled after a while, “huc-cum you name sech a hoss”—pointing to the old roan—“sech a grand hoss, for sech a man—sech a man as he was,” he added humbly.
“Did you ever notice Ben Butler's eyes, Bud?” asked the old man, knowingly.
“Blind,” said Bud sadly, shaking his head—“too bad—too bad—great—great hoss!”
“Yes, but the leds, Bud—that hoss, Ben Butler there, holds a world's record—he's the only cock-eyed hoss in the world.”
“You don't say so—that critter!—cock-eyed?” Bud laughed and slapped his leg gleefully. “Didn't I always tell you so? World's record—great—great!”
Then it broke gradually through on Bud's dull mind.