owned a horse, because I occasionally saw him
drive out of the yard, and I saw the stable every day,--but what kind of
a horse I didn't know. I never went into the stable, for two reasons: in
the first place, I had no desire to; and, secondly, I didn't know as the
horse cared particularly for company.

I never took care of a horse in my life; and, had I been of a less
hopeful nature, the charge Mr. Stiver had left with me might have had a
very depressing effect; but I told Mrs. Perkins I would do it.

"You know how to take care of a horse, don't you?" said she.

I gave her a reassuring wink. In fact, I knew so little about it that I
didn't think it safe to converse more fluently than by winks.

After breakfast I seized a toothpick and walked out towards the stable.
There was nothing particular to do, as Stiver had given him his
breakfast, and I found him eating it; so I looked around. The horse
looked around, too, and stared pretty hard at me. There was but little
said on either side. I hunted up the location of the feed, and then sat
down on a peck measure and fell to studying the beast. There is a wide
difference in horses. Some of them will kick you over and never look
around to see what becomes of you. I don't like a disposition like that,
and I wondered if Stiver's horse was one of them.

When I came home at noon I went straight to the stable. The animal was
there all right. Stiver hadn't told me what to give him for dinner, and
I had not given the subject any thought; but I went to the oat-box and
filled the peck measure and sallied boldly up to the manger.

When he saw the oats he almost smiled; this pleased and amused him. I
emptied them into the trough, and left him above me to admire the way I
parted my hair behind. I just got my head up in time to save the whole
of it. He had his ears back, his mouth open, and looked as if he were on
the point of committing murder. I went out and filled the measure again,
and climbed up the side of the stall and emptied it on top of him. He
brought his head up so suddenly at this that I immediately got down,
letting go of everything to do it. I struck on the sharp edge of a
barrel, rolled over a couple of times, then disappeared under a
hay-cutter. The peck measure went down on the other side, and got
mysteriously tangled up in that animal's heels, and he went to work at
it, and then ensued the most dreadful noise I ever heard in all my life,
and I have been married eigh