"Can he go?"
"He's the biggest kind of a hoss," remarked Pete, proudly, "and when he's brushed up he's pretty nigh red."
"Did you ever ride him?" asked Put Medill, doubtfully.
"Ride him? I'll show you."
He led his big, raw-boned, one-eyed sorrel wonder right alongside of the fence, and in another moment he was mounted.
"There! He's as gentle as—"
"I say, will he carry double?"
"Of course he will. I've seen him carry three, and he didn't care any more what they weighed—"
That was almost enough, and boy after boy gathered courage to follow Johnny Craddock, for Lightning really seemed to take no notice whatever of his increasing burden. He shook his ears a little when Joe Somers dug his bare heels into him, and then he walked calmly away from the fence. He could see the wide, shallow river spreading out above the bridge, and knew very well what was expected of him.
The four boys clung tight to each other at first, for they were on a very high horse as well as a strange one, but before they reached the bridge they had gathered courage enough to "hurrah" two at a time, and to answer questions other fellows asked them from the sidewalk.