r's beat.
But duty is duty.

During the early morning hours, when there were few people in the park,
Skipper's education progressed. He learned to pace around in a circle,
lifting each forefoot with a sway of the body and a pawing movement
which was quite rhythmical. He learned to box with his nose. He learned
to walk sedately behind Reddy and to pick up a glove, dropped apparently
by accident. There was always a sugar-plum or a sweet cracker in the
glove, which he got when Reddy stopped and Skipper, poking his nose over
his shoulder, let the glove fall into his hands.

As he became more accomplished he noticed that "Reddy" took more pains
with his toilet. Every morning Skipper's coat was curried and brushed
and rubbed with chamois until it shone almost as if it had been
varnished. His fetlocks were carefully trimmed, a ribbon braided into
his forelock, and his hoofs polished as brightly as Reddy's boots. Then
there were apples and carrots and other delicacies which Reddy brought
him.

So it happened that one morning Skipper heard the Sergeant tell Reddy
that he had been detailed for the Horse Show squad. Reddy had saluted
and said nothing at the time, but when they were once out on post he
told Skipper all about it.

"Sure an' it's app'arin' before all the swells in town you'll be, me
b'y. Phat do ye think of that, eh? An' mebbe ye'll be gettin' a blue
ribbon, Skipper, me lad; an' mebbe Mr. Patrick Martin will have a
roundsman's berth an' chevrons on his sleeves afore the year's out."

The Horse Show was all that Reddy had promised, and more. The light
almost dazzled Skipper. The sounds and the smells confused him. But he
felt Reddy on his back, heard him chirrup softly, and soon felt at ease
on the tanbark.

Then there was a great crash of noise and Skipper, with some fifty of
his friends on the force, began to move around the circle. First it was
fours abreast, then by twos, and then a rush to troop front, when, in a
long line, they swept around as if they had been harnessed to a beam by
traces of equal length.

After some more evolutions a half-dozen were picked out and put through
their paces. Skipper was one of these. Then three of the six were sent
to join the rest of the squad. Only Skipper and two others remained in
the centre of the ring. Men in queer clothes, wearing tall black hats,
showing much white shirt-front and carrying long whips, came and looked
them over carefully.

Skipper showed these m