istened a minute, heard Pink's voice and a shout of laughter, and ran
to see what was going on; for where was excitement, there the Kid was
also, as nearly in the middle of it as he could manage. His going would
not have mattered to Silver, had he remembered to close the half-door of
the stall behind him; even that would not have mattered, had he not left
the outer door of the stable open also.

The cause of the uproar does not greatly matter, except that the Kid
became so rapturously engaged in watching the foolery of the Happy
Family that he forgot all about Silver. And since sugar produces thirst,
and Silver had not smelled water since morning, he licked the last sweet
grain from the inside of the nose bag and then walked out of the stall
and the stable and made for the creek--and a horse cannot drink with
a nose bag fastened over his face. All he can do, if he succeeds in
getting his nose into the water, is to drown himself most expeditiously
and completely.

Silver reached the creek unseen, sought the deepest hole and tried to
drink. Since his nose was covered with the bag he could not do so but he
fussed and splashed and thrust his head deeper until the water ran into
the bag from the top. He backed and snorted and strangled, and in a
minute he fell. Fortunately he struggled a little, and in doing so he
slid backward down the bank so that his head was up the slope a and the
water ran out of the bag, which was all that saved him.

He was a dead horse, to all appearances at least, when Slim spied him
and gave a yell to bring every human being on the ranch at a run. The
Kid came with the rest, gave one scream and hid his face in the Little
Doctor's skirts, and trembled so that his mother was more frightened
for him than for the horse, and had Chip carry him to the house where he
could not watch the first-aid efforts of the Happy Family.

They did not say anything, much. By their united strength they pulled
Silver up the bank so that his limp head hung downward. Then they began
to work over him exactly as if he had been a drowned man, except that
they did not, of course, roll him over a barrel. They moved his legs
backward and forward, they kneaded his paunch, they blew into his
nostrils, they felt anxiously for heart-beats. They sweated and gave up
the fight, saying that it was no use. They saw a quiver of the muscles
over the chest and redoubled their efforts, telling one another
hopefully that he was alive, all