ss came
fluttering to him to say good-by. He slowly rose to his feet and blinked
curiously at her.

"Pat dear," she exclaimed, breathlessly, "I'm going now!" She flung her
arms around his neck, held him tightly to her a moment, then stepped
back. "You--you must be good while--while I'm gone!" And dashing away a
persistent tear, she then hurriedly left him, speeding across the
_patio_ and stepping into the waiting phaeton.

He watched the vehicle roll out into the trail. And though he did not
understand, though the seriousness of it all was denied him, he
nevertheless remained close to the fence a long time; long after the
phaeton had passed from view, long after the sound of the mare's
paddling feet had died away, he stood there, ears cocked, eyes wide,
tail motionless, in an attitude of receptivity, spiritual absorption, as
one flicked with unwelcome premonitions.

CHAPTER V

LONELINESS

Pat's mistress was gone. He realized it from his continued disappointed
watching for her at the fence; he realized it from the utter absence out
of life of the sweets he had learned to love so well; and he realized it
most of all from the change which rapidly came over the Mexican hostler.
Though he did not know it, Miguel had been instructed, and in no
mistakable language, to take good care of him, and, among other things,
to keep him healthily supplied with sweets. But Miguel was not
interested in colts, much less in anything that meant additional labor
for him, and so Pat was made to suffer. Yet in this, as in all the other
things, lay a wonderful good. He was made to know that he was not wholly
a pampered thing--was made to feel the other side of life, the side of
bitterness and disappointment, the side at times of actual want. And
this continued denial of wants, of needs, occasionally, hardened him, as
his earlier experiences had hardened him, toughened him for the
struggles to come, brought to him that which is good for all
youth--realization that life is not a mere span of days with sweets and
comforts for the asking, but a time of struggle, a battle for supremacy,
and it is only through the battle that one grows fit and ever more fit
for the good of the All.

Not the least of his trials was great loneliness. One day was so very
like another. Regularly each morning, after seeking out his favorite
corner in the corral, he would see the sun step from the mountain-tops,
ascend through a cool morning, pour down scorc