"So he undertook to trouble you, did he?" asked Mr. Grey, with curiosity.
"Yes. He thought he was master, and undertook first to disobey, and afterward to run away with me. But I think he met his match, didn't you, Bucephalus?" said Gilbert, with a laugh, as he stroked the horse's neck.
Bucephalus showed signs of pleasure, and the fierce glance of his eye was softer and more gentle than Mr. Grey had ever known it.
"Shure and I'm glad you come back safe, Mr. Gilbert," said John, earnestly. "I don't see how you did it."
"I don't think you'll find him so troublesome after this, John," said our hero, dismounting. "We are better friends than we were—eh, Bucephalus?"
"Ye must have had a charm," said John, more than half in earnest. "I never saw such a change in a creetur before. He was a lion when he went out, and he comes back a lamb."
"It's a great secret," said Gilbert, laughing.
"Will it last, do you think?"
"I think so. When a horse is once conquered he remembers it."
"Shure, thin, he's worth twice the sum he was before," said John.