hing midday rays, descend
through a tense afternoon, and drop from view in the chill of evening.
Always he would watch this thing, sometimes standing, other times
reclining, but ever conscious of the dread monotony of it all. Nothing
happened, nobody came to caress him, no one paid him the least
attention. A forlorn colt, a lonely colt, doubly so for lack of a
mother, he spent long days in moody contemplation of an existence that
irked.

One day, however, came something of interest into the monotony of his
life. Evidently tiring of attending each horse in turn in the stalls,
Miguel built a general box for feed in one corner of the inclosure, and
then, by dint of loud swearing and the free use of a pitchfork,
instructed the colt to feed from it with the others. Not that Pat
required instruction as to the feeding itself--he was too much alive to
need driving in that respect. But he did show nervous timidity at
feeding with the other horses, and so Miguel cheerfully went to the
urging with fork and tongue. But only the one time. Soon the colt took
to burying his nose in the box along with the others, and would wriggle
his tail with a vigor that seemed to tell of his gratitude at being
accepted as part of the great establishment and its devices. And then
another thing. With this change in his method of feeding, he soon came
to reveal steadily increasing courage and independence. Oftentimes he
would be the first to reach the box, and, what was more to the point,
would hold his position against the other horses--hold it against rough
shouldering from the family horse, savage nipping from the saddler, even
vigorous cursing and flaying from the swarthy hostler.

With the approach of winter he revealed his courage and temerity
further. Of his own volition one night he abruptly changed his
sleeping-quarters. Since the memorable occasion when the mare had kicked
him out of her stall he had sought out a stall by himself with the
coming of night, and there spent the hours in fear-broken sleep. But
this night, and every night thereafter, saw him boldly approaching the
mare and crowding in beside her in her stall, where, in the contact with
her warm body and in her silent presence, he found much that was
soothing and comfortable. Which, too, marked the beginning of a new
friendship, one that steadily ripened with the passing winter and, by
the time spring again descended into the valley, was an attachment close
almost as that betwee