The next day after Prince came to Cloverfield Farm, Farmer Hill had to
go to the city. He took Bobby with him and they were gone until
afternoon.
All the other horses were out in the field working. Prince was standing
in his stall, very lonesome.
He was still thinking of his old home and wishing he could go back
there.
"I'll go back if I get a chance," thought Prince.
After a while mother said to John: "Prince must be thirsty. Father may
not be back for some time, so I think you had better let Prince have a
drink."
John opened the stable door and led him to the watering trough in the
barn-yard.
All the while he was drinking, Prince was wondering how he could get
away.
John had hold of the rope but not very tightly.
Suddenly, Prince gave a jerk and the rope slipped from John's hand.
Away went Prince, through the barn-yard gate, up the lane, out the
gravel driveway and down the road.
The rope was dragging along, his mane was tossing and his heels went
galloping over the dusty road.
By this time Farmer Hill and Bobby were coming home from the city in
the buggy, and they saw a horse coming toward them down the road.
"Oh, father, someone's horse is running away!" said Bobby.
When the horse came near, father exclaimed: "Why, that is Prince! I
must stop him."
"Whoa, Prince, whoa!" he said.
Prince never stopped but went galloping past.
"Oh, what shall we do?" asked Bobby.
"We must go after him," said father. So he turned Daisy around and they
started after Prince.
"Get-up, Daisy, get-up," he said. He even took the whip from its socket
and touched Daisy, just ever so lightly, but enough to let her know
she must go fast.
And so they went down the road, Prince galloping along and Farmer Hill
following after.
For two miles along a stretch of level road they went, Prince getting
farther ahead all the time.
"I'll not let him catch me," thought Prince, "I shall run and run."
Then came a cross road and Prince turned to the right.
And so they went down this road, Prince galloping ahead, father and
Bobby following after.
When Prince came to the next corner, he turned to the left.
Bobby saw him turn. "Prince has turned onto another road," he said.
"Why doesn't he go straight ahead?"
"Perhaps he wants to go to some special place," said father.
By the time they reached the corner, Prince was out of sight around a
curve in the road.
"Do you think Prince will run a hundred miles?" asked Bobby.
"We shall see," answered father. "Daisy is getting tired, so we shall
have to go slowly for a while."
"Perhaps Prince will get tired and stop," said Bobby, "and then we can
catch him."
But Prince had been resting in the barn all day, and his long slim legs
felt as strong and fresh as when he started.
No, Prince was not tired, but he had reached the place where he wanted
to go.
That white house just beyond the curve in the road was Farmer Ross's.
When Prince reached it, he slowed up, walked through the gate and down
to the barn.
The hired man, when he took the horses out to work that day, had left
the stable door open.
So Prince walked around to the back of the barn, through the open door
and into his old stall.
"How nice to be here again," thought Prince.
When Farmer Hill and Bobby reached Mr. Ross's place, Prince was nowhere
in sight.
They drove into the yard. "Why do we stop here?" asked Bobby. "We must
keep going after Prince."
"We are going after Prince," said father.
"But Prince cannot be here," said Bobby. "He was galloping down the
road."
"I think we shall find him here," said father. "This is his old home."
Father and Bobby looked around the yard, but no Prince was there.
The open stable door was not in sight.
Just then Farmer Ross came up from the field. "We are looking for
Prince," said Farmer Hill. "He must have gotten out of my stable, for
we met him coming this way and followed after."
"I have not seen him. Let us look around," said Farmer Ross.
But Prince was nowhere to be seen.
"Are you sure he came in here?" asked Farmer Ross.
"Not sure," said Farmer Hill, "but I think he did. Could he have gone
into the barn?"
They went to the stable door and looked.
There was Prince standing quietly in his stall, eating hay from the
rack.
"I told you he always remembered the way home," said Farmer Ross.
"I'll take him back and this time we'll be more careful with him," said
Farmer Hill.
So again he led Prince home and put him in the stall beside Daisy.
Every day he fed him plenty of hay and oats, gave him a good bed of
straw to lie on at night, and always treated him kindly.
John sometimes gave him a lump of sugar, but father always led him out
to water and held the halter very tightly.
After a few weeks Prince liked the new home so well that he never
wanted to go back to the old one again.
[Illustration: HOW ROVER GOT THE COWS OUT OF THE CORN]