Away from the house," said the old man sullenly.

The master knitted his brows.

"You old men," he said, "are like yearlings who feel the sap running in
their legs in the spring. You talk as they run--around and around.
Continue."

Zacharias sulked as if he were on the verge of not speaking at all. But
presently his eye lighted with his story.

"Benjamin," he went on, "said to me, 'My friend, that is a noble mare.'

"'She is a good filly,' said I.

"'With a hundred and ten up,' said Benjamin, 'she would make a fast
track talk.'"

"What?" said David.

"I do not know the meaning of his words," said the old servant, "but I
have told them as he said them."

"He is full of strange terms," murmured David. "Continue."

"He went first to one side of Shakra and then to the other. He put his
hand into his coat and seemed to think. Presently he stretched out his
hand and called her. She came to him slowly."

"Wonderful!"

"That was my thought," nodded Zacharias.

"Why do you stop?" cried David.

"Because I am talking around and around, like a running yearling," said
Zacharias ironically. "However, he stood back at length and combed the
forelock of Shakra with his fingers. 'Tell me, Zacharias,' he said, 'if
this is not the sister of Glani?'"

"He guessed so much? It is strange!"

"Then he looked in her mouth and said that she was four years old."

"He is wise in horses, indeed."

"When he turned away Shakra followed him; he went to his room and came
out again, carrying the saddle with which he rode Abra. He put this on
her back and a rope around her neck. 'Will the master be angry if I ride
her?' he asked.

"I told him that she was first ridden only three months before to-day,
and that she must not be ridden more than fifty miles now in a day.

"He looked a long time at me, then said he would not ride farther than
that. Then he went galloping down the road to the south."

"Good!" said the master, and sent a long whistle from the patio; it was
pitched as shrill and small as the scream of a hawk when the hawk itself
cannot be seen in the sky.

Zacharias ran into the house, and when he came out again bringing a pad
Glani was already in the patio.

David took the pad and cinched it on the back of the stallion.

"And when Shakra began to gallop," said Zacharias, "Benjamin cried out."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing."

"Zacharias, men do not cry out without speaking."

"Nevertheless," said Zacharias, "i