After dinner, the party adjourned to the piazza, when the captain said, “Leo, good fellow, knew me at once, in spite of my heavy beard; but he looked rather shy at my new horse; and, by the way, Prince is well worth showing. I brought him in the ship with me from England, and I wouldn’t take a thousand dollars for him, if that sum were offered me to-day.”
“Let’s go and see him!” exclaimed Mr. Harry Lee. “You were always a good judge of horseflesh, Frank.”
After the animal had gone through a thorough examination of his qualities for the carriage, the saddle, &c., and the different gentlemen had given their opinion of his various excellences, the conversation turned, to Minnie’s delight, on horses in general, and many anecdotes were related of their bravery, their fidelity to their masters’ interests, their sagacity and memory, some of which I shall repeat in this and the next chapters.
“An instance of the latter trait, combined with reason,” said Mr. Harry Lee, “is well authenticated.
“A cart horse, owned by Mr. Leggat, of Glasgow, had been several times afflicted with disease, and as often cured by Mr. Downie, farrier there. He had not, however, been troubled for a long time; but on a recurrence of the disorder, he happened one morning to be employed in College Street, a distance of nearly a mile from Mr. Downie’s workshop. He was arranged in a row with other horses engaged in the same work; but when the carters were absent, he left the range, and, unattended by any driver, went down High Street, along the Gallowgate, and up a narrow lane, where he stopped at the farrier’s door.
“As neither Mr. Leggat nor any one appeared with the horse, it was surmised that he had been seized with his old complaint. Being unyoked from the cart, he lay down, and showed, by every means in his power, that he was in distress. He was again treated as usual, and sent home to his master, who by that time had persons in all directions in search for him.”
CHAPTER V.
THE TRUMPETER’S HORSE.
“For Minnie’s sake, I must tell some anecdotes about Shetland ponies,” cried the captain, laughing, as he patted his niece under the chin. “The first one shows what a power of memory they have.