hty
force. And so he was. For he knew now that the time had come. Here was
his tormentor! Here was one of them within reach! The time had come to
strike, to strike this man, to crush him to earth, to kill the cause of
his suffering--

"Here, hoss," went on the voice, soothingly, the while Pat smelled a
something of the stable underneath his nose. "Go to it! It's right
harmless--now, ain't it?" Which it seemed to be from the smell.

But Pat struck--reared with the speed of lightning and struck.

The blow was unexpected. It sent the man spinning, whirling across the
inclosure. He dropped into a corner like a log.

There was a tense moment. Spectators sat dazed; horsemen stood rigid;
the girl screamed. Then the large man ran to the prostrate form. He bent
over, gazed briefly, straightened up with a reassuring smile. Presently
the assistant arose and, rubbing his shoulder ruefully, caught up the
fallen bridle. Soon the work of breaking was resumed as though nothing
had happened.

Pat was standing motionless. But he was keenly alert. He heard the man
draw near, felt the hand creeping along his neck, but he had learned his
lesson well. He reared and struck again--this time only empty air. Yet,
as he returned to earth, almost before he touched ground, the hand was
around his ear, another was around his other ear, he was feeling the
dread twist again, twofold. Every twitch of muscle, every least gasp for
air, sent excruciating pain throughout the ends of him. Fearing to move,
yet clamoring for breath, he slowly opened his mouth.

Which was what they wanted, evidently. He felt a cold something suddenly
thrust between his teeth. It was hard as well as cold. He tasted it,
rolled it over his tongue, and found it not painful. Then came something
else. His head was being hurriedly fitted with a leathery contrivance.
But neither was this painful, save only as it touched his twisted ears,
and he therefore experienced no increasing alarm. Then, with this
adjusted, he was introduced to something else--a something held close
under his nose. He smelled this carefully; noted that it reeked with
odors of the stable; smelled it again. Next he knew it was being placed
gently upon his back. It was soft, and quite hairy, and though it
irritated him a little, he accepted it without loss of composure. But
when it was followed, as it was directly, by a heavier something, a
something fitting his back snug and hard, he instantly determined to