Besides the bays, the Wallaces owned one other horse, old Ross, a
somewhat worn and battered veteran, who entertained me for hours at a
time, when we were standing alone in the shady pasture or in the barn,
with tales of what he had seen, known and experienced.
"You look like a nice young fellow," he said on the second day of my
arrival; "but I'd rather be myself, all battered up as I am, than you,
for I have the satisfaction of knowing that I can't live many years
longer and you may happen to suffer through a long lifetime yet."
"Why," I said, "is it so bad as that to live? I have always had a good
time."
"Yes, it is very bad to live if you are owned by some people. Of course
I am happy and contented here, only I know I shall be sold by and by. I
am about worn out, and Dr. Fred said before he went away that I was
getting too stiff for a doctor's horse."
"But my Master is never going to sell me!"
"How do you know that?"
"He says I am going to live with him always, and be shot on his grave."
"Well, Dr. Dick is an exception among men; but he don't always get his
way."
The season following my coming to K---- proved to be a
never-to-be-forgotten one. Cholera raged for many weeks, and I had to
take my share of the work, especially as Queen was not strong. She was
never as well again before that night in the livery stable. She took
cold easily and could not endure fatigue. Days and nights together
Master never rested and scarcely ate anything, but in one sense it was
a good thing; it helped him forget.
One day he had had the bays out since just after midnight and Ross had
fallen terribly lame the day before, so when a call came for him to go a
dozen or more miles in a pouring rain he was obliged to saddle me.
"Poor little Dandy!" he said, "your legs are too short for such a
journey, but it is life or death to the mother of seven little ones."
That was enough for me; my legs might be short but they were strong, and
though the doctor was heavy I felt equal to the task. I started off on a
swift canter but Master drew rein, telling me to husband my strength for
the last half of the way.
It had long been dark when we arrived--inky dark, too, with no cessation
of the rainfall. A trembling hand held out a lantern while a hollow
voice fairly sobbed: "I'm afeard ye're too late, doctor, my woman is
sinking fast."
"Now, see here, my man, you take good care of my noble little horse here
and I'll pull the wife through, or fail doing my best."
By the uncertain light of the lantern I saw that I was being tied in a
sort of shed. My saddle was removed, but its place was soon supplied by
a stream of water that trickled through a hole in the roof. Move which
way I would, a leak was directly over my back. The man laid some
newly-cut grass across some poles, barely within my reach, and went
away.
All the while I was aware that the place had another occupant, though I
could see nothing. Presently a horse's voice in the darkness asked if I
had come far. From the first tone I noticed a sadness, but I replied to
the question, adding that I would rather be out of doors than in this
leaky place.
"Oh," she said, "this ain't bad now, but it is a dreary place in winter
with the snow drifting in and the wind whistling through."
I was too much surprised to answer at first, and in a minute she gave a
long, piteous whinny.
"Whom are you calling?" I asked.
"My baby, my pretty, little roan colt; they took him from me last week
and have not brought him back. It seems as if my heart must break! We
were never separated an hour before, and I don't see how he will get
along alone. My baby, oh, my baby!"
I expressed my pity for her, and she said it did her good to have some
one to talk to.
"Oh, it is a dreadful thing to be a mother, loving your offspring as
much as human mothers do, and yet be speechless and helpless," she
moaned.
"They tied me in here and drove Selim into a corner and caught him. I
jerked and neighed until master kicked me and bade me shut my head. By
this time the others had got Selim out, and I could hear him calling to
me. His voice grew fainter and fainter and then all was still."
"I suppose your master sold him. Ross, the old horse at our place, says
he was taken from his mother and sold."
"Oh me! if colts must be taken from their mothers in that way, why can't
they get us used to the separation by degrees, not tear us apart without
a moment's warning or word of farewell?"
"Why can't they?" I repeated, then added: "But I guess your master is
getting pay now for his cruelty. His wife is almost dying with cholera,
and my master says there are seven little children."
"I shall certainly pity the children if they are deprived of a mother's
care, but they will feel no worse than little Selim does."
After awhile Dr. Dick came out to the shed. I suppose the rain had
ceased by that time, at least the stream of water on my back had, but I
was standing in some sort of filth, with the mud hardening on my legs. A
long while he scraped and rubbed my legs and back, then turned me out
into a little pasture.
"It will be better than this dirty place, Dandy," he said, and it was.
It was just growing gray in the morning when a man rode past the pasture
on a horse that fairly swayed from side to side, he was so exhausted,
and blood and foam poured from his mouth and nostrils.
In a minute more Dr. Dick was calling me.
"Likely you'll have a time to ketch the colt," the owner of the premises
was saying as I came up. The doctor laughed.
"Why, that is queer," the man said. "I can never get near the old mare
even, when she's out."
"Well, sir," replied Master, looking very serious, "I would be ashamed
to treat a dumb animal so badly that it would fear to come at my call.
My horses know that I am their friend, and that, though I may have to
work them hard, I will not require more of them than they can do, and
that they can trust me in all things."
Then he stroked my face, and I put my cheek against his.
"Dandy and I love each other," he added. Then he went for the saddle and
bridle. My companion of the evening before was still neighing pitifully,
and Master inquired the cause.
"Sir, if your wife or any of your children die," he said severely, when
the other had told about the colt, "just remember that you deserve it,
for having no regard for the feelings of a dumb mother. The God who
noteth the sparrow's fall, will measure unto you as you measure unto the
helpless. There is a merciful and humane way of dealing in all these
matters. If I were in your place, I'd send one of the boys to bring that
colt where its mother can see it for a day and then let her watch it go
away. 'Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.'"
We now joined the other man standing beside his heaving horse at the
gate.
"Follow at your leisure; that poor beast is well-nigh done for; I will
hurry on and do all I can," Dr. Dick said to the stranger, whose sister
had been attacked by the epidemic; and away we flew.
My training had all been for the saddle, and, whether built right or
not, I was at home under it. We turned in at the Wallace gateway just
forty-eight hours after going out of it.
"How did the colt stand it?" was the hired man's first query.
"Dandy is a jewel, Bob!" Master replied heartily, "a perfect saddle
horse and with ambition and sense enough for a dozen horses."
And thus began my actual experience as a doctor's horse; and from that
time on our names were continually associated together, first by the
family and finally by the whole town and neighborhood.
I remember one small boy, coming in haste for the doctor, breathlessly
announced that he had come for "Dick and Dandy."
I was soon trained to drive in a sulky, and grew to like it better than
the saddle, only that I could not hear quite as well what the doctor
said to me--in common conversation--as we traveled along.
The news of the epidemic brought Dr. Fred home some little time before
he intended coming, but his coming brought no additional happiness to
the stables, whether it did to the house or not.
He rushed about everything, spoke in a loud, confusing tone, issued one
order only to countermand it by another, used profane language
and--drank whisky.
"We've had our good time," Ross remarked significantly, and Julie gave
an acquiescent snort.
Meanwhile a new blacksmith had bought out the old one in K---- and Dr.
Dick was wondering if the former was a bungler. Ross did not get over
his lameness, and Master had had his shoes removed and turned him out
into the pasture.