In consequence of this accident Eusèbe had an attack of fever, and was obliged to keep his bed for some days. Most children in his place would have been taught a useful lesson by the suffering he thus brought upon himself. Not so Eusèbe: he only took advantage of the anxiety his parents felt about him, to be more tyrannical and capricious than before.
About this time Mr. and Mrs. de Roisel came also with their son to pass a few weeks at Dieppe, and Eusèbe was not yet quite restored to health when my little friend went to see him. With tears in their eyes Eusèbe’s parents related the accident which had happened to their dear child; and it did not seem to occur to them that there was anything in the affair for which he could be found fault with. But Maurice felt indignant at what he considered cruelty even towards a wooden horse. He was thinking of Cressida while he listened to the story; but as Eusèbe’s horse was not particularly described by his parents, it never occurred to Maurice that it could be his own lost Cressida.
A few mornings later Maurice was taking a country walk with his father and mother a little way out of Dieppe, when, as they approached a small village, they heard the loud and angry voices of children.
“Gee-up, gee-up! Get on, lazy beast!” said one voice.
“He can’t carry so many,” said another.
“He can’t move!” exclaimed a third.
“I tell you he can.”
“Tell you he can’t.”
“You shall see. Hi! Gee-up, gee-up! Go along!” and immediately the sound of a shower of blows, rained upon the back of some poor animal, reached the ears of Maurice, who, without stopping to reflect, ran as fast as legs of eight years old can run, in the direction of the noise.
He stopped at the entrance to a farm, where, in the courtyard, he saw five or six boys, and as many little girls, all clustered round a small pony. Two boys and a girl had contrived to seat themselves upon its back; two or three more were dragging it along by the bridle, while another beat it with a stick behind. The pony hung down its head in a way that was pitiful to see; it appeared to have a shoulder dislocated, and a leg was broken above the knee, and bandaged up. Its difficulty in “going along” seemed quite accounted for.