“I’ve a great mind to try at it,” said Grant, “for ‘tis a poor thing not to be one’s own master.”

  “Do, governor, do, you’ll never repent it, and what a help it would be to some of the poor fellows in our rank if they saw you do without it. I know there’s two or three would like to keep out of that tavern if they could.”

  At first Captain seemed to do well, but he was a very old horse, and it was only his wonderful constitution, and Jerry’s care, that had kept him up at the cab work so long; now he broke down very much. The farrier said he might mend up enough to sell for a few pounds, but Jerry said, no! a few pounds got by selling a good old servant into hard work and misery would canker all the rest of his money, and he thought the kindest thing he could do for the fine old fellow would be to put a sure bullet through his head, and then he would never suffer more; for he did not know where to find a kind master for the rest of his days.

  The day after this was decided Harry took me to the forge for some new shoes; when I returned Captain was gone. I and the family all felt it very much.

  Jerry had now to look out for another horse, and he soon heard of one through an acquaintance who was under-groom in a nobleman’s stables. He was a valuable young horse, but he had run away, smashed into another carriage, flung his lordship out, and so cut and blemished himself that he was no longer fit for a gentleman’s stables, and the coachman had orders to look round, and sell him as well as he could.

  “I can do with high spirits,” said Jerry, “if a horse is not vicious or hard-mouthed.”

  “There is not a bit of vice in him,” said the man; “his mouth is very tender, and I think myself that was the cause of the accident; you see he had just been clipped, and the weather was bad, and he had not had exercise enough, and when he did go out he was as full of spring as a balloon. Our governor (the coachman, I mean) had him harnessed in as tight and strong as he could, with the martingale, and the check-rein, a very sharp curb, and the reins put in at the bottom bar. It is my belief that it made the horse mad, being tender in the mouth and so full of spirit.”

  “Likely enough; I’ll come and see him,” said Jerry.

  The next day Hotspur, that was his name, came home; he was a fine brown horse, without a white hair in him, as tall as Captain, with a very handsome head, and only five years old. I gave him a friendly greeting by way of good fellowship, but did not ask him any questions. The first night he was very restless. Instead of lying down, he kept jerking his halter rope up and down through the ring, and knocking the block about against the manger till I could not sleep. However, the next day, after five or six hours in the cab, he came in quiet and sensible. Jerry patted and talked to him a good deal, and very soon they understood each other, and Jerry said that with an easy bit and plenty of work he would be as gentle as a lamb; and that it was an ill wind that blew nobody good, for if his lordship had lost a hundred-guinea favorite, the cabman had gained a good horse with all his strength in him.

  Hotspur thought it a great come-down to be a cab-horse, and was disgusted at standing in the rank, but he confessed to me at the end of the week that an easy mouth and a free head made up for a great deal, and after all, the work was not so degrading as having one’s head and tail fastened to each other at the saddle. In fact, he settled in well, and Jerry liked him very much.

  45 Jerry’s New Year

  For some people Christmas and the New Year are very merry times; but for cabmen and cabmen’s horses it is no holiday, though it may be a harvest. There are so many parties, balls, and places of amusement open that the work is hard and often late. Sometimes driver and horse have to wait for hours in the rain or frost, shivering with the cold, while the merry people within are dancing away to the music. I wonder if the beautiful ladies ever think of the weary cabman waiting on his box, and his patient beast standing, till his legs get stiff with cold.

  I had now most of the evening work, as I was well accustomed to standing, and Jerry was also more afraid of Hotspur taking cold. We had a great deal of late work in the Christmas week, and Jerry’s cough was bad; but however late we were, Polly sat up for him, and came out with a lantern to meet him, looking anxious and troubled.

  On the evening of the New Year we had to take two gentlemen to a house in one of the West End Squares. We set them down at nine o’clock, and were told to come again at eleven, “but,” said one, “as it is a card party, you may have to wait a few minutes, but don’t be late.”

  As the clock struck eleven we were at the door, for Jerry was always punctual. The clock chimed the quarters, one, two, three, and then struck twelve, but the door did not open.

  The wind had been very changeable, with squalls of rain during the day, but now it came on sharp, driving sleet, which seemed to come all the way round; it was very cold, and there was no shelter. Jerry got off his box and came and pulled one of my cloths a little more over my neck; then he took a turn or two up and down, stamping his feet; then he began to beat his arms, but that set him off coughing; so he opened the cab door and sat at the bottom with his feet on the pavement, and was a little sheltered. Still the clock chimed the quarters, and no one came. At half-past twelve he rang the bell and asked the servant if he would be wanted that night.

  “Oh, yes, you’ll be wanted safe enough,” said the man; “you must not go, it will soon be over,” and again Jerry sat down, but his voice was so hoarse I could hardly hear him.

  At a quarter past one the door opened, and the two gentlemen came out; they got into the cab without a word, and told Jerry where to drive, that was nearly two miles. My legs were numb with cold, and I thought I should have stumbled. When the men got out they never said they were sorry to have kept us waiting so long, but were angry at the charge; however, as Jerry never charged more than was his due, so he never took less, and they had to pay for the two hours and a quarter waiting; but it was hard-earned money to Jerry.

  At last we got home; he could hardly speak, and his cough was dreadful. Polly asked no questions, but opened the door and held the lantern for him.

  “Can’t I do something?” she said.

  “Yes; get Jack something warm, and then boil me some gruel.”

  This was said in a hoarse whisper; he could hardly get his breath, but he gave me a rub-down as usual, and even went up into the hayloft for an extra bundle of straw for my bed. Polly brought me a warm mash that made me comfortable, and then they locked the door.

  It was late the next morning before any one came, and then it was only Harry. He cleaned us and fed us, and swept out the stalls, then he put the straw back again as if it was Sunday. He was very still, and neither whistled nor sang. At noon he came again and gave us our food and water; this time Dolly came with him; she was crying, and I could gather from what they said that Jerry was dangerously ill, and the doctor said it was a bad case. So two days passed, and there was great trouble indoors. We only saw Harry, and sometimes Dolly. I think she came for company, for Polly was always with Jerry, and he had to be kept very quiet.

  On the third day, while Harry was in the stable, a tap came at the door, and Governor Grant came in.

  “I wouldn’t go to the house, my boy,” he said, “but I want to know how your father is.”

  “He is very bad,” said Harry, “he can’t be much worse; they call it ‘bronchitis’; the doctor thinks it will turn one way or another to-night.”

  “That’s bad, very bad,” said Grant, shaking his head; “I know two men who died of that last week; it takes ‘em off in no time; but while there’s life there’s hope, so you must keep up your spirits.”

  “Yes,” said Harry quickly, “and the doctor said that father had a better chance than most men, because he didn’t drink. He said yesterday the fever was so high that if father had been a drinking man it would have burned him up like a piece of paper; but I believe he thinks he will get over it; don’t you think he will, Mr. Grant?”

  The governor looked puzzled.

  “If there’s any rule that good men should get over these things, I’m sure he will, my boy; he’s the best man I know. I’ll look in early to-morrow.”

  Early next morning he was there.

  “Well?” said he.

  “Father is better,” said Harry. “Mother hopes he will get over it.”

  “Thank God!” said the governor, “and now you must keep him warm, and keep his mind easy, and that brings me to the horses; you see Jack will be all the better for the rest of a week or two in a warm stable, and you can easily take him a turn up and down the street to stretch his legs; but this young one, if he does not get work, he will soon be all up on end, as you may say, and will be rather too much for you; and when he does go out there’ll be an accident.”

  “It is like that now,” said Harry. “I have kept him short of corn, but he’s so full of spirit I don’t know what to do with him.”

  “Just so,” said Grant. “Now look here, will you tell your mother that if she is agreeable I will come for him every day till something is arranged, and take him for a good spell of work, and whatever he earns, I’ll bring your mother half of it, and that will help with the horses’ feed. Your father is in a good club, I know, but that won’t keep the horses, and they’ll be eating their heads off all this time; I’ll come at noon and hear what she says,” and without waiting for Harry’s thanks he was gone.

  At noon I think he went and saw Polly, for he and Harry came to the stable together, harnessed Hotspur, and took him out.

  For a week or more he came for Hotspur, and when Harry thanked him or said anything about his kindness, he laughed it off, saying it was all good luck for him, for his horses were wanting a little rest which they would not otherwise have had.

  Jerry grew better steadily, but the doctor said that he must never go back to the cab work again if he wished to be an old man. The children had many consultations together about what father and mother would do, and how they could help to earn money.

  One afternoon Hotspur was brought in very wet and dirty.

  “The streets are nothing but slush,” said the governor; “it will give you a good warming, my boy, to get him clean and dry.”

  “All right, governor,” said Harry, “I shall not leave him till he is; you know I have been trained by my father.”

  “I wish all the boys had been trained like you,” said the governor.

  While Harry was sponging off the mud from Hotspur’s body and legs Dolly came in, looking very full of something.

  “Who lives at Fairstowe, Harry? Mother has got a letter from Fairstowe; she seemed so glad, and ran upstairs to father with it.”

  “Don’t you know? Why, it is the name of Mrs. Fowler’s place—mother’s old mistress, you know—the lady that father met last summer, who sent you and me five shillings each.”

  “Oh! Mrs. Fowler. Of course, I know all about her. I wonder what she is writing to mother about.”

  “Mother wrote to her last week,” said Harry; “you know she told father if ever he gave up the cab work she would like to know. I wonder what she says; run in and see, Dolly.”

  Harry scrubbed away at Hotspur with a huish! huish! like any old hostler. In a few minutes Dolly came dancing into the stable.

  “Oh! Harry, there never was anything so beautiful; Mrs. Fowler says we are all to go and live near her. There is a cottage now empty that will just suit us, with a garden and a henhouse, and apple-trees, and everything! and her coachman is going away in the spring, and then she will want father in his place; and there are good families round, where you can get a place in the garden or the stable, or as a page-boy; and there’s a good school for me; and mother is laughing and crying by turns, and father does look so happy!”

  “That’s uncommon jolly,” said Harry, “and just the right thing, I should say; it will suit father and mother both; but I don’t intend to be a page-boy with tight clothes and rows of buttons. I’ll be a groom or a gardener.”

  It was quickly settled that as soon as Jerry was well enough they should remove to the country, and that the cab and horses should be sold as soon as possible.

  This was heavy news for me, for I was not young now, and could not look for any improvement in my condition. Since I left Birtwick I had never been so happy as with my dear master Jerry; but three years of cab work, even under the best conditions, will tell on one’s strength, and I felt that I was not the horse that I had been.

  Grant said at once that he would take Hotspur, and there were men on the stand who would have bought me; but Jerry said I should not go to cab work again with just anybody, and the governor promised to find a place for me where I should be comfortable.

  The day came for going away. Jerry had not been allowed to go out yet, and I never saw him after that New Year’s eve. Polly and the children came to bid me good-by. “Poor old Jack! dear old Jack! I wish we could take you with us,” she said, and then laying her hand on my mane she put her face close to my neck and kissed me. Dolly was crying and kissed me too. Harry stroked me a great deal, but said nothing, only he seemed very sad, and so I was led away to my new place.

  Part IV

  46 Jakes and the Lady

  I was sold to a corn dealer and baker, whom Jerry knew, and with him he thought I should have good food and fair work. In the first he was quite right, and if my master had always been on the premises I do not think I should have been overloaded, but there was a foreman who was always hurrying and driving every one, and frequently when I had quite a full load he would order something else to be taken on. My carter, whose name was Jakes, often said it was more than I ought to take, but the other always overruled him. “‘Twas no use going twice when once would do, and he chose to get business forward.”

  Jakes, like the other carters, always had the check-rein up, which prevented me from drawing easily, and by the time I had been there three or four months I found the work telling very much on my strength.

  One day I was loaded more than usual, and part of the road was a steep uphill. I used all my strength, but I could not get on, and was obliged continually to stop. This did not please my driver, and he laid his whip on badly. “Get on, you lazy fellow,” he said, “or I’ll make you.”

  Again I started the heavy load, and struggled on a few yards; again the whip came down, and again I struggled forward. The pain of that great cart whip was sharp, but my mind was hurt quite as much as my poor sides. To be punished and abused when I was doing my very best was so hard it took the heart out of me. A third time he was flogging me cruelly, when a lady stepped quickly up to him, and said in a sweet, earnest voice:

  “Oh! pray do not whip your good horse any more; I am sure he is doing all he can, and the road is very steep; I am sure he is doing his best.”

  “If doing his best won’t get this load up he must do something more than his best; that’s all I know, ma’am,” said Jakes.

  “But is it not a heavy load?” she said.

  “Yes, yes, too heavy,” he said; “but that’s not my fault; the foreman came just as we were starting, and would have three hundredweight more put on to save him trouble, and I must get on with it as well as I can.”

  He was raising the whip again, when the lady said:

  “Pray, stop; I think I can help you if you will let me.”

  The man laughed.

  “You see,” she said, “you do not give him a fair chance; he cannot use all his power with his head held back as it is with that check-rein; if you would take it off I am sure he would do better—do try it,” she said persuasively, “I should be very glad if you would.”

  “Well, well,” said Jakes, with a short laugh, “anything to please a lady, of course. How far would you wish it down, ma’am?”

  “Quite down, give him his head altogether.”

  The rein was taken off, and in a moment I put my head down to my very knees. What a comfort it was! Then I tossed it up and down several times to get the aching stiffness out of my neck.

  “Poor fellow! that is what you wanted,” said she, patting and stroking me with her gentle hand; “and now if you will speak kindly to him and lead him on I believe he will be able to do better.”

  Jakes took the rein. “Come on, Blackie.” I put down my head, and threw my whole weight against the collar; I spared no strength; the load moved on, and I pulled it steadily up the hill, and then stopped to take breath.

  The lady had walked along the footpath, and now came across into the road. She stroked and patted my neck, as I had not been patted for many a long day.

  “You see he was quite willing when you gave him the chance; I am sure he is a fine-tempered creature, and I dare say has known better days. You won’t put that rein on again, will you?” for he was just going to hitch it up on the old plan.

  “Well, ma’am, I can’t deny that having his head has helped him up the hill, and I’ll remember it another time, and thank you, ma’am; but if he went without a check-rein I should be the laughing-stock of all the carters; it is the fashion, you see.”

  “Is it not better,” she said, “to lead a good fashion than to follow a bad one? A great many gentlemen do not use check-reins now; our carriage horses have not worn them for fifteen years, and work with much less fatigue than those who have them; besides,” she added in a very serious voice, “we have no right to distress any of God’s creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words. But I must not detain you now; I thank you for trying my plan with your good horse, and I am sure you will find it far better than the whip. Good-day,” and with another soft pat on my neck she stepped lightly across the path, and I saw her no more.