St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-02-14
The Trumpeter's Horse.

Wa- nearly forty, and felt my self :,
securely anchored III my old bachelor
cI"tchct>. that on every occasion
>w"rr. with all sincerity and bv all the
| gods i'll the hrathcn calendar. would
never take Il single risk in the matri-
monial lottery but counted without
/ the trumpctcIS horse.
/ 1t WAS toward the last of September.
/ lcGl. Wa> on my way back from
/ Baden Baden. and intended Ia spend.
at most. IL day i'll Paris. had invited
four "r live of my friends. for the hunt
! ing season, to my estate III pitou. They
/ were to arrive early in October. and at
/ least Il week WIS needed 10 make prep
arati"m>. LII Rochc-TaIgr. for THEN
reception. y letter from my steward.
! that awaited me III Paris. brought me
/ mWClc0mc news. The hounds were all
| in good condition. but five ofmy twelve
| hunters had either fallen sick of some
/ horse disorder. or had hccom.- lame
| during my absence. Their places must
be supplied hl others.
10 this end il tom WAS made i'll the
| Ely sian fields among the dealers. who
showed me amy number of animals
some better. some wor>c-ihat were.
ICcUmncndc' as hunters. AT il mndrr-
ate price about three thousand francs.
on the average. had experienced
LOSSES i'll Baden Baden. and conscquent-
| ly WAS i'll no hum"r t" spend seven or
! eight Thousand loui>-d'or without ma
/ tme delibcration.
1t WAS Wednesday. Chrri. one of
| the principal dealers. had his fist snlt,
of the season. Without amy further
/ knowledge of the animals he offered
/ than WaS derived from the catalogue
and from thciI appearance. | bought
eight for five Thousand trauc<. Among
them hoped to iind four ur five. at
/ least. that would do for RELAYS. which
would enable me To get through the
season.
Among my purchases there WAS one
/ horse that bought almost solely ON
account of his color. which Was truly
hcautiiul. The catalogue attributed no
/ special qualifications To him fur the
chase. lie WIS entered simply as ''Brl-
tus. >;tddlch"Isc. we'll built, th"r"ughly
hl"kcn. age unknown" He WAS Il
beautiful dapplc-gray. large. and very
handsomely formed. The next day |
went home and the day following.
early III the forenoon. Il servant came
in and informed me that the horses had
arrived. | Immediately went out to
see them. nr. rather to see Brutu> for
the handsome fellow had been in nv
| head ever since had bought him. and
i was impatient to timd out what kind
of Il comrldc he WAS going to make
and what he WIS capable of doing.
had hlought him ont of the stable
first. He certainty had all the signs of
being of Il respectable age hut he WAS
clean limhcd. had Il very handsome
ucck and head. Il powerful shoulder
and Il wcil-turmed quarter. But it was
not his fine points that So much cX-
cited my admiration as the intelligent
manner with which he observed all my
movements. II" even seemed to be i'll
tcrc>trd in what ! said. He inclined
his head toward me. III order. appar-
emily. tn hear better. and when had
done speaking, he uttered Il low Whin-
ny, seemingly in response. looked at
the other horses hastily. They were
ordinary animals. without anything to
distinguish them from thousands of
others: not So with BrTtuS. He Ger
tainly differed much from the vulgar
herd. and was impatient to make IL
littlr tour through the park with him.
He allowed himself to he Saddled.
bIidled and mounted. like horse that
knows his business; and we started in
the best possible humor with each
other.
Cheli'S catalogue had told only the
truth. BrutuS was exceedingly well
broken indeed. he was too well broken
tor my purposes. He would give me II
slow gallop ut call, but would contin-
uallN strike the ground with his fore
feet III II peculiar manner: and when
tlicd To make him raise his head. which
he carried very low. he would nearly
tear my arm oil. Finally, he took to
prancimg i'll grand style. like IL show
horse i'll the arena.
'IIumph - said to myself. Il have
hcre-Or am greatly in error-an old
stager from the riding school of Saumer
OF It. Cyr. lie will have to he gotten
ont of some Of his fancy PAGES before
he will do for the chase"
was about to return home, having
sufficiently satisfied my curiosity with
regard to Brutus' accomplishments
when heard the report of Il gun, dis
charged apparently within twenty yards
OF III 1t WIS one of my keepers shoot
ing IL hare, and who atterward received
il handsome present for the shot from
my wife.
was at the moment exactly i'll the
centre of an open space formed by the
junction of six long. shaded alleys.
When Brutus heard the report of the
gun he stopped short: planted his feet
firmly in the sand. pricked up his ears.
and raised his head high III the air. ]
was surprised to see him so disturbed