the stable, without saying a word, found the
door unlocked, and went in.

"Th' critter's gone, sure enough!" he said. "Glad on 't! The darndest,
kickin'est, bitin'est beast th't ever I see, 'r ever wan' t' see ag'in!
Good reddance! Don' wan' no snappin'-turkles in my stable! Whar's the
man gone th't brought the critter?"

"Whar he's gone? Guess y' better go 'n ask my ol man; he kerried him off
lass' night; 'n' when he comes back, mebbe he 'll tell ye whar he's gone
tew!"

By this time Elbridge had found out that Abel was in earnest, and had
something to tell. He looked at the litter in the mustang's stall, then
at the crib.

"Ha'n't eat b't haalf his feed. Ha'n't been daown on his straw. Must ha'
been took aout somewhere abaout ten 'r 'levee o'clock. I know that 'ere
critter's ways. The fellah's had him aout nights afore; b't I never
thought nothin' o' no mischief. He 's a kin' o' haalf Injin. What is 't
the chap's been a-doin' on? Tell 's all abaout it."

Abel sat down on a meal-chest, picked up a straw and put it into his
mouth. Elbridge sat down at the other end, pulled out his jack-knife,
opened the penknife-blade, and began sticking it into the lid of the
meal-chest. The Doctor's man had a story to tell, and he meant to get
all the enjoyment out of it. So he told it with every luxury of
circumstance. Mr. Veneer's man heard it all with open mouth. No
listener in the gardens of Stamboul could have found more rapture in a
tale heard amidst the perfume of roses and the voices of birds and
tinkling of fountains than Elbridge in following Abel's narrative, as
they sat there in the aromatic ammoniacal atmosphere of the stable, the
grinding of the horses' jaws keeping evenly on through it all, with now
and then the interruption of a stamping hoof, and at intervals a ringing
crow from the barn-yard.

Elbridge stopped a minute to think, after Abel had finished.

"Who's took care o' them things that was on the hoss?" he said, gravely.

"Waal, Langden, he seemed to kin 'o' think I'd ought to have 'em,--'n'
the Squire; he did n' seem to have no 'bjection; 'n' so,--waal, I
calc'late I sh'll jes' holt on to 'em myself; they a'n't good f 'r much,
but they're cur'ous t' keep t' look at."

Mr. Veneer's man did not appear much gratified by this arrangement,
especially as he had a shrewd suspicion that some of the ornaments of the
bridle were of precious metal, having made occasional examinations of
them wi