of force of character, we'll see what he can do."

Jack looked at the blacksmith quizzically when we drove up,
and whispered to us, "He'll do," and we unhitched. The pony had
never been shod, and did not seem to need any artificial aids, so
we left her to graze about while the others were being attended
to.

"Just shoe the brown one first, if it doesn't make any
difference," said Jack.

"All right," answered the blacksmith, and he went to work on
this decent old nag, who slept peacefully throughout the whole
operation.

He then began On Old Blacky. He soon had shoes nailed on the
old reprobate's forward feet, and approached his rear ones. Old
Blacky had made no resistance so far, and had contented himself
with gnawing at the side of the shop and switching his tail. He
even allowed the blacksmith to take one of his hind-feet between
his knees and start to pull off the old shoe. Then he began to
struggle to free his leg. The blacksmith held on. Old Blacky saw
that the time for action had arrived, so he drew his leg, with
the foolish blacksmith still clinging to it, well up forward, and
then threw it back with all his strength. The leg did not fly
off, but the blacksmith did, and half-way across the shop. He
picked himself up, and, after looking at the horse, said:

[Illustration: Flight of the Blacksmith]

"'Pears's if that ain't a colt any more."

"No," answered Jack; "he's fifteen or sixteen."

"Old enough to know better," observed the blacksmith. "I'll
try him again."

He once more got the leg up, and again Old Blacky tried to
throw him off. But this time the man hung on. After the third
effort Blacky looked around at him with a good deal of surprise.
Then he put down the leg to which the man was still clinging, and
with the other gave him a blow which was half a kick and half a
push, which sent the man sprawling over by his anvil.

"The critter don't seem to take to it nohow, does he?" said
the blacksmith, cheerfully, as he again got up.

"He's a very peculiar horse," answered Jack. "Has violent
likes and dislikes. His likes are for food, and his dislikes for
everything else."

"I'll tackle him again, though," said the man.

But Blacky saw that he could no longer afford to temporize
with the fellow, and now began kicking fiercely with both feet in
all directions, swinging about like a warship to get the proper
range on everything in sight, and finally ending up by putting
one foot