The Florida agriculturist., 1907-10-16

colt.
About a mile or so from town Dan
pulled up for the night at sheltered
place where there was plenty Of grass
After he had had his supper and the
horses had finished grazing he fasten-
ed the four, two at each end Of the
wagon, then craW1ed in and rolled |
up in his blankets. The weather was
just cool enough to discourage the at
tacks of the mosquitoes and other in
sects, so the horses were quiet and
Dan soon fell asleep.
In the middle of the night he found
himself propped up on one elbow,
half awake listening for something,
he knew not what At length he was
fully awakened by low whinny from
up the road Half suspiciously he
craw1ed to the BACK end Of the wagon
and pushed aside the flap Of the cover.
There, some thirty Or forty rods up
the road si1houetted against the sky,
Dan saw the forms of the tall, 1ank
stranger and-Tri1by. He sprang from
the wagon, uttering a shri1l whistle.
Hardly had the notes reached Trilby's
ears till she reared up in the air and
gave a tremendous lunge forward.
Whether from fright or surprise, the
stranger dropped the rope and ran.
Dams only weapon was the neckyoke
which he had unconsciOusly picked up,
SO he contented himself with conJect-
uring as to what would have happen
ed had he been better armed
Tri1bv came tearing down the road,
frightened at the curious proceedings
and urged on by the dangling rope,
which kept Ticking her breast and
chin. AS she reached Dan she
paused blowing loudly, every muscle
quivering with excitement. He re-
moved the halter, and as he stood
stroking her silky name concluded
that she had paid him we'll for the
time he had spent in training her.
From that time on Trilby had even
more care than before and became
even a greater pet This was inter
ruDted, however, when the fall after
she was five years old, Dan bought an
interest in threshing outfit. Horses
were scarce and Dan was forced to
break Trilby in on the power. He
was a careful driver, however, and by
frequent changes soon had her doing
her share of the work.
During the next ten years lr1lby
was on the power a good share OF the
time. for Dan bought well-dr1ll1nTg
outfit which he ran with it when ne
was not threshing Dan used to say
that she seemed to enjoy that work.
Anyhow it did not worry her, for she
was always sleek and fat.
One fall Dan and his partner
bought a steam engine-the first in
that section-to replace the old, worm
out power. With the advent Of the
engine Tri1by was given an honorable
discharge and turned into the large
pasture.
It was a sweltering hot day the
first of September when the outfit
was started up for the trial run. The
engine ran fine and the separator
hummed steadily until noon. After
dinner, Dan speeded the engine up,
'iust to see what she'd do" he said.
It was still and the dust hung over
the separator like a dense fog. One
after another, the men sought the
shade, pantng for breath, and mop
ping the perspiration and dirt from
their faces. Finally Dan slowed down
to the regular motion and thus they
ran until quitting time.
After the chores were finished, Dan
could not resist the temptation to
take an ear of corn down to Trilby.
He went down to the gate and sound
ed her usual call. He repeated it
several times but received no answer.
He +houoh that some accident had be-