I requested likewise, "that the secret of my having a false
covering to my body, might be known to none but himself, at least as long
as my present clothing should last; for as to what the sorrel nag, his
valet, had observed, his honour might command him to conceal it."

All this my master very graciously consented to; and thus the secret was
kept till my clothes began to wear out, which I was forced to supply by
several contrivances that shall hereafter be mentioned. In the meantime,
he desired "I would go on with my utmost diligence to learn their
language, because he was more astonished at my capacity for speech and
reason, than at the figure of my body, whether it were covered or not;"
adding, "that he waited with some impatience to hear the wonders which I
promised to tell him."

Thenceforward he doubled the pains he had been at to instruct me: he
brought me into all company, and made them treat me with civility;
"because," as he told them, privately, "this would put me into good
humour, and make me more diverting."

Every day, when I waited on him, beside the trouble he was at in
teaching, he would ask me several questions concerning myself, which I
answered as well as I could, and by these means he had already received
some general ideas, though very imperfect. It would be tedious to relate
the several steps by which I advanced to a more regular conversation; but
the first account I gave of myself in any order and length was to this
purpose:

"That I came from a very far country, as I already had attempted to tell
him, with about fifty more of my own species; that we travelled upon the
seas in a great hollow vessel made of wood, and larger than his honour's
house. I described the ship to him in the best terms I could, and
explained, by the help of my handkerchief displayed, how it was driven
forward by the wind. That upon a quarrel among us, I was set on shore on
this coast, where I walked forward, without knowing whither, till he
delivered me from the persecution of those execrable _Yahoos_." He asked
me, "who made the ship, and how it was possible that the _Houyhnhnms_ of
my country would leave it to the management of brutes?" My answer was,
"that I durst proceed no further in my relation, unless he would give me
his word and honour that he would not be offended, and then I would tell
him the wonders I had so often promised." He agreed; and I went on by
assuring him, that the ship was made by creatur