and, to make up the time, he cut
short their dinner-hour. Now it is not the wise thing to hurry horses
who have just eaten eight quarts of oats. The team finished the day well
blown, and in a condition generally bad. Next day the new man let the
off horse stumble, and there was a pair of barked knees to be doctored.

Matters went from bad to worse, until on the fourth day came the climax.
Sludge acid is an innocent-appearing liquid which sometimes stands in
pools near gas-works. Good drivers know enough to avoid it. It is bad
for the hoofs. The new man still had many things to learn, and this
happened to be one of them. In the morning Team 47 was disabled. The
company's veterinary looked at the spongy hoofs and remarked to the
stable-boss: "About three weeks on the farm will fix 'em all right, I
guess; but I should advise you to chuck that new driver out of the
window; he's too expensive for us."

That was how Chieftain's yearnings happened to be gratified at last. The
company, it seems, has a big farm, somewhere "up State," to which
disabled horses are sent for rest and recuperation. Invalided drivers
must look out for themselves. You can get a hundred truck drivers by
hanging out a sign: good draught horses are to be had only for a price.

Chieftain and Tim parted with mutual misgivings. To a younger horse the
long ride in the partly open stock-car might have been a novelty, but to
Chieftain, accustomed to ferries and the sight of all manner of wheeled
things, it was without new sensations.

At the end of the ride--ah, that was different. There were the sweet,
fresh fields, the springy green turf, the trees--all just as he had
dreamed a hundred times. Halterless and shoe-freed, Chieftain pranced
about the pasture for all the world like a two-year-old. With head and
tail up he ranged the field. He even tried a roll on the grass. Then,
when he was tired, he wandered about, nibbling now and then at a
tempting bunch of grass, but mainly exulting in his freedom. There were
other company horses in the field, but most of them were busy grazing.
Each was disabled in some way. One was half foundered, one had a
leg-sprain, another swollen joints; but hoof complaints, such as
toe-cracks, quarter-cracks, brittle feet, and the like, were the most
frequent ills. They were not a cheerful lot, and they were unsociable.

Chieftain went ambling off by himself, and in due time made acquaintance
with a rather gaunt, weather-beaten s