St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-04-07

were erect tie began Dy d. SiOWs
measured canter, raising his feet very
high and letting them fall with the
regularity of pendulum. ] tried him
at a trot and short gallop, bat when |
sought to quicken his pace he began to
amble in grand STYLE. .sAh,h said l.;
I" see how it is: j have bought on old
horse of the cavalry riding-scilool at
Saumur.''
was about to turn homeward, salts
fed with the talents of Brutus, when a
shot was heard short distance OH. 1t
was one of my keepers firing at a rab-
bit, for which shot be it said, en- PEASANT,
he afterN ards received a handsome
present fro ii my wife. ] was then ex-
actly in the enter of an open space
where six long, green roads met. On
hearing the shot Brutus stopped short
and put his ears forward in an attitude
of listening. was surpr sed to see him
so impressionable. After the brilliant
military education I assumed he had
received in his youth, he must be ac-
customed to the report of a gun. |
pressed my knees against him to make
him move on, but BrItus would not
stir. Itried to back him, to make him
turn to the right or to the left, but in
vain. I made him feel my whip. but
still he was mmo able. Brutus was
not to be displaced; and yet-do not
smile. TOR mine is q true history
time urged him to move the horse
turned his head round and gazed upon
| me with an eye expressive of ,impa-
| tience and surpriseand then relapsed
into his motionless attitude. There was
| evidently some misunderstanding le-
tween me and my horse. | saw it IN
his eyes Brutus was saying as plainly
as he could without speech: II, horse,
| do what ought to do aud you. horse
man, do not perform your part.
/ was more puzzled than embarrassed
.'What strange horse Cheri had sold
me! and why does he look upon me in
such way?' / was about to proceed
to extremeties and administer to him a
good ttrashing when another shot was
| fred. ,
The horse then made one bound. ]
| thought had gained my point and
| again tried to start him. but in vain.
He stopped short and planted himself
| more resolutely than ever. l then got
into rage and my riding whip entered
into play; I took it in both hands and
struck the horse right and left. But
| Brutus, too, lost patience, and, finding
p ssiye resistance unavailing, defended
himself by rearing, kicking and plung-
| inc, and, in the midst OF the battle,
while the horse capered and kicked,
AMI 7. exasperated, was f1ogging him
with the loaded butt end of my broken
whip, Brutns, nevertheless, found time
to look at me, not only with Impotence
and surprise. but with rage and indig-
nation. While required Of the horse
/ the obedience he refused, he. on his
part. was expecting OF me something !
did not do.
How did this end? To my shame be
/ it spoken, i was relentlessly and Is
grace July unseateI. Brutus saw there
W s to be moth ng gained by violence.
so judged it necessary to employ mall
/ ice After moment $ pause, evi emily
passed in reflection, the horse put down
| his he d and stood upright on his fore
| legs with the address and equilibriu d Of
a clown upon his hands. was, conse-
quently. deposited upon the sand,
which. fortunately, happened to be rath-
er thick IN the place where I fell.
| [ tried to raise myself. but cried out
AMI fell stretched with my face towards
| the ground. l felt as if knife were
sticking in my left leg. The hurt did
not prove serious-the swapping OF one
of the small tendons-but not the less
painful. succeeded, however, in turn.
ing myself, and sat down, but while |
was rubbing my eyes, which were filled
with sand, I saw the great foot OF a
| horse descend gently upon my head and
again extend me on my back. then
iieltauite disheartened, and was ruminat-
ing in my mind what this strange horse
could be, when felt quantity of sand
strike me in the face. ] opened my
eyes and saw Brutus throwing up the
dust with both fore and hind feet, try
ING to bury me. This lasted tor several
minutes, when, apparently thinking me
sufficiently inferred, Brutus kneit by my
grave and then galloped around me, de-
scribing q perfect circle. / called out
to him to stop. He appeared to be en-
barrassed; but seeing my hat, which
had been separated from me in the fall.
he took it between his teeth and galloped
down one Of the green paths out OF
sight.
t. Twas left alone. shook off the sand
which covered me and with my arm and
right leg-my left could not move
dragged myself to a bushy bank, where
I seated myself and shouted with all
my might for assistance. But no an
swer; the wood was perfectly silent and
deserted.
I remained alone in this wretched
condition above half an hour, when I
saw Brutus in the distance, returning
by the same road by which he went,
enveloped in a cloud Of dust Gradu-
ally, as it cleared away, / saw a little
carriage approaching pony chaise
and in the pony chaise a lady. who