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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18656-h.zip b/18656-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..33e9d70 --- /dev/null +++ b/18656-h.zip diff --git a/18656-h/18656-h.htm b/18656-h/18656-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..896f2be --- /dev/null +++ b/18656-h/18656-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2566 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Tale of Pony Twinkleheels, by Arthur Scott Bailey</title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1 {text-align: center; clear: both; font-size: 180%;} + h2 {text-align: center; clear: both; font-size: 120%;} + table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align: center;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} + hr.full {width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.major {width:75%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.minor {width:30%; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; + font-size: 90% } + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .pg {text-align: center;} + pre {font-size: 75%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Tale of Pony Twinkleheels, by Arthur +Scott Bailey, Illustrated by Harry L. Smith</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Tale of Pony Twinkleheels</p> +<p>Author: Arthur Scott Bailey</p> +<p>Release Date: June 22, 2006 [eBook #18656]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Roger Frank<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net/)</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-001" id="illus-001"></a> +<img src='images/illus-cov.jpg' width='300' alt='' title='' /><br /> +</div> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<table width="450" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="" border="1"> + <col style="width:80%;" /> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <span style="font-size: 120%;"><br/><i>SLUMBER-TOWN TALES</i></span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 80%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /><br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 200%;">THE TALE OF</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 240%;">PONY</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 240%;">TWINKLEHEELS</span><br /><br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">BY</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 120%;">ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY</span><br /><br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">Author of</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 110%;">"SLEEPY-TIME TALES"</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 110%;">"TUCK-ME-IN TALES"</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /><br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">ILLUSTRATED BY</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 110%;">HARRY L. SMITH</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 80%;">NEW YORK</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 120%;">GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">PUBLISHERS</span><br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 80%;">Made in the United States of America</span><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="illus-002" id="illus-002"></a> +<img src='images/illus-fpc.jpg' width='300' alt='Twinkleheels Races With Ebenezer.' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'>Twinkleheels Races With Ebenezer.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p style="text-align:center"> +<span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1921, <span class="smcap">by</span> GROSSET & DUNLAP +</p> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<table width="300" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="" border="1"> + <col style="width:100%;" /> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <br />S + <span style="font-size: 120%;"><i>SLUMBER-TOWN TALES</i></span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 80%;">(Trademark Registered)</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">BY</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style="font-size: 100%;">AUTHOR OF</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 80%;"><i>SLEEPY-TIME TALES</i> (Trademark Registered)</span><br /> + <span style="font-size: 80%;"><i>TUCK-ME-IN TALES</i> (Trademark Registered)</span><br /> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">The Tale of the Muley Cow</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">The Tale of Old Dog Spot</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">The Tale of Grunty Pig</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">The Tale of Henrietta Hen</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">The Tale of Turkey Proudfoot</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">The Tale of Pony Twinkleheels</span><br /> + <span class="smcap">The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat</span><br /> + <br /><br /> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2> +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<col style="width:48%;" /> +<col style="width:28%;" /> +<tr><td align="left">I</td><td align="left">A BIG LITTLE PONY</td><td align="right"><a href="#r1519">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">II</td><td align="left">FUN IN THE PASTURE</td><td align="right"><a href="#r5338">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">III</td><td align="left">TRICKING TWINKLEHEELS</td><td align="right"><a href="#r6338">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">IV</td><td align="left">THE CHEATER CHEATED</td><td align="right"><a href="#r1737">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">V</td><td align="left">FLYING FEET</td><td align="right"><a href="#r8571">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VI</td><td align="left">PICKING CURRANTS</td><td align="right"><a href="#r4397">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VII</td><td align="left">CAUGHT!</td><td align="right"><a href="#r2371">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">VIII</td><td align="left">A GOOD SLEEPER</td><td align="right"><a href="#r8682">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">IX</td><td align="left">THE RACE</td><td align="right"><a href="#r7665">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">X</td><td align="left">EBENEZER'S RECORD</td><td align="right"><a href="#r5188">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XI</td><td align="left">BRIGHT AND BROAD</td><td align="right"><a href="#r8668">51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XII</td><td align="left">NO SCHOOL TO-DAY</td><td align="right"><a href="#r7267">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XIII</td><td align="left">FUN AND GRUMBLES</td><td align="right"><a href="#r6421">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XIV</td><td align="left">STUCK IN A DRIFT</td><td align="right"><a href="#r9487">66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XV</td><td align="left">STEPPING HIGH</td><td align="right"><a href="#r8202">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XVI</td><td align="left">THE BLACKSMITH'S SHOP</td><td align="right"><a href="#r3934">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XVII</td><td align="left">A WHITE VIXEN</td><td align="right"><a href="#r1458">81</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XVIII</td><td align="left">NEW SHOES</td><td align="right"><a href="#r7886">86</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XIX</td><td align="left">THRASHING TIME</td><td align="right"><a href="#r9855">92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XX</td><td align="left">A MEALY NOSE</td><td align="right"><a href="#r6991">97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXI</td><td align="left">JUMPING MUD PUDDLES</td><td align="right"><a href="#r8144">103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXII</td><td align="left">THE CIRCUS RIDER</td><td align="right"><a href="#r3006">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXIII</td><td align="left">GOING FISHING</td><td align="right"><a href="#r3621">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">XXIV</td><td align="left">BOYS WILL BE BOYS</td><td align="right"><a href="#r5569">116</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<h2><a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a>Illustrations</h2> +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> +<col style="width:80%;" /> +<col style="width:20%;" /> +<tr><td align="left">Twinkleheels Races With Ebenezer.</td><td align="right"><a href="#illus-002">Frontispiece</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Twinkleheels Tells Spot About Kicking. (<i>Page 34</i>)</td><td align="right"><a href="#illus-003">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Twinkleheels Talks to the Oxen. (<i>Page 54</i>)</td><td align="right"><a href="#illus-004">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left">Spot Tells Twinkleheels He is Slow. (<i>Page 90</i>)</td><td align="right"><a href="#illus-005">88</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<h1>THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS</h1> + +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r1519" id="r1519"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span> +<h2>I<br/>A BIG LITTLE PONY</h2> +</div> + +<p>When Johnnie Green sent him along the road at a trot, Twinkleheels' tiny +feet moved so fast that you could scarcely have told one from another. +Being a pony, and only half as big as a horse, he had to move his legs +twice as quickly as a horse did in order to travel at a horse's speed. +Twinkleheels' friends knew that he didn't care to be beaten by any +horse, no matter how long-legged.</p> + +<p>"It's spirit, not size, that counts," Farmer Green often remarked as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +watched Twinkleheels tripping out of the yard, sometimes with Johnnie on +his back, sometimes drawing Johnnie in a little, red-wheeled buggy.</p> + +<p>Old dog Spot agreed with Farmer Green. When Twinkleheels first came to +live on the farm Spot had thought him something of a joke.</p> + +<p>"Huh! This pony's nothing but a toy," he had told the farmyard folk. +"He's a child's plaything—about as much use as the little wooly dog +that lives down by the sawmill."</p> + +<p>One trip to the village and back, behind Johnnie Green's glistening new +buggy, was enough to change Spot's opinion of the newcomer. Back from +the village Twinkleheels came clipping up the road and swung through +Farmer Green's front gate as fresh as a daisy. And old Spot, with his +tongue lolling out, and panting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> fast, was glad to lie down on the +woodshed step to rest.</p> + +<p>"My goodness!" said Spot to Miss Kitty Cat. "This Twinkleheels is the +<i>goingest</i> animal I ever followed. He doesn't seem to know the +difference between uphill and down. It's all the same to him. I did +think he'd walk now and then, or I'd never have travelled to the village +behind him."</p> + +<p>"He's not lazy, like some people," Miss Kitty Cat hissed; and then crept +into the farmhouse before Spot could chase her. She had a poor opinion +of old Spot. And she never failed to let him know it.</p> + +<p>It was true that Twinkleheels was not lazy. And it was just as true that +he liked to play. When Johnnie Green turned him loose in the pasture he +kicked and frisked about so gayly that Jimmy Rabbit and Billy Woodchuck +and their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> friends had to step lively now and then, to get out of his +way. They said they liked high spirits, but that Twinkleheels was almost +too playful.</p> + +<p>When Twinkleheels took it into his head to do anything he did it without +the slightest warning. If he decided to shy at a bit of paper he was out +of the road before Johnnie Green knew what had happened. And if he +wanted to take a wrong turn, just for fun, he darted off so fast that he +usually had his way before Johnnie could shout "Whoa!" Everybody said +that he was as quick as Miss Kitty Cat. And that was the same as saying +that there wasn't anybody any quicker—unless it was Grumpy Weasel +himself.</p> + +<p>But Twinkleheels and Miss Kitty were not alike in any other way; for +Twinkleheels was both merry and good-natured. He let Johnnie Green pick +up his feet, one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> at a time, and clean them. And the worst he ever did +was to give Johnnie a playful nip, just as Johnnie himself might have +pinched the boy that sat in front of him at school.</p> + +<p>Only, of course, Johnnie Green wouldn't have used his teeth to do that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r5338" id="r5338"></a> + +<h2>II<br/>FUN IN THE PASTURE</h2> +</div> + + +<p>The first time he tried to catch Twinkleheels in the pasture, Johnnie +Green found his new pet entirely too playful to suit him. In response to +Johnnie's whistling Twinkleheels came galloping towards the bars. But +when he caught sight of the halter that Johnnie held he stopped short. +And he snorted, as if to say, "I don't believe I'll go with you. I'm +having too much fun here."</p> + +<p>"Come on!" Johnnie called. "We're going to the village."</p> + +<p>But that news didn't catch Twinkleheels. When Johnnie Green began to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +walk towards him Twinkleheels waited until his young master reached out +a hand to take hold of his mane. Then Twinkleheels wheeled like a flash +and tore off across the pasture, leaving Johnnie to clutch the empty +air.</p> + +<p>Johnnie chased him, crying, "Whoa! Whoa!" It seemed that the faster he +ran the faster Twinkleheels drew away from him. So Johnnie soon fell +into a walk. At last Twinkleheels stopped and waited for him, pricking +up his ears at Johnnie's whistle. Now, however, he wouldn't let Johnnie +get within a dozen feet of him.</p> + +<p>"This is great sport!" Twinkleheels chuckled as he dashed away again.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green, however, did not enjoy the sport. After following +Twinkleheels all over the pasture he became tired and breathless.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + +<p>Back toward the barn he turned at last.</p> + +<p>As he climbed over the fence he looked at Twinkleheels, who stood on a +knoll and regarded him pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"I'll get you yet!" Johnnie called to him. "You needn't think you can +beat me!"</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels dropped his head, flung his hind feet into the air twice, +and galloped off. He was sorry that Johnnie Green had stopped chasing +him.</p> + +<p>Johnnie found his father at work in the barn.</p> + +<p>"What shall I do?" Johnnie asked him. "I can't catch Twinkleheels. I've +been trying for about an hour. And he won't let me get near enough to +him to grab him."</p> + +<p>Farmer Green laughed.</p> + +<p>"He's a rascal," he said. "You'll have to coax him with something to +eat.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> Put a few handfuls of oats in the four-quart measure and hold it +up so he can see it. Shake it, too, so he can hear the oats swishing +around in it. You'll get him that way."</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green hastened to carry out his father's plan. And he was +smiling as he stepped through the doorway, holding the four-quart +measure and shaking it to hear the sound that the oats made inside it. +Then his father called to him.</p> + +<p>"You'd better keep the halter behind you, when you get to the pasture," +Farmer Green said. "If Twinkleheels saw it he might not come—oats or no +oats."</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green chuckled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r6338" id="r6338"></a> + +<h2>III<br/>TRICKING TWINKLEHEELS</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Clutching in one hand the four-quart measure with a taste of oats in it, +and holding the halter carefully behind his back, Johnnie Green walked +slowly towards Twinkleheels. He called with short, sharp whistles—all +on one note. And Twinkleheels soon came cantering up from the other side +of the brook, where he had been feeding. As he neared Johnnie Green he +slowed down to a walk.</p> + +<p>Johnnie stood still and shook the oats about inside the measure, holding +it up so that Twinkleheels could see it.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels whinnied. He knew that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> sound. He thought it one of the +pleasantest on the farm. He, too, stopped. Then he moved forward a few +steps, stopped again, sniffed, and at last came straight up to Johnnie +and thrust his nose into the grain measure.</p> + +<p>While he was munching the oats Johnnie Green passed the end of the +halter rope about his neck.</p> + +<p>"There!" Johnnie cried. "There, young fellow! Now I've got you. And +you'll never lead me such a merry chase again."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels acted as mild as the Muley Cow. He stood perfectly still +while Johnnie slipped the halter on his head and buckled it. Then he +followed Johnnie to the pasture bars, down the lane, and into the barn.</p> + +<p>"I got him!" Johnnie called to his father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I thought you would," said Farmer Green. "That pony likes oats too well +to resist a taste of them."</p> + +<p>After that Johnnie had little trouble catching Twinkleheels in the +pasture. Somehow the sound of the shaking oats, and the sight of the +grain measure, seemed to put all thought of the halter out of his head.</p> + +<p>To be sure, once Johnnie forgot what he was doing and hid the oats +behind his back, while he held the halter up in front of him and shook +that at Twinkleheels. And it was an hour, that time, before Twinkleheels +would let Johnnie come near him.</p> + +<p>But that was a mistake.</p> + +<p>One day Johnnie Green was in a great hurry. He was going to ride over +the hill, to play with some friends. Running<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> to the barn, he caught up +Twinkleheels' halter and snatched the four-quart measure off the top of +a barrel.</p> + +<p>"I won't stop to take any oats to-day," Johnnie said to himself. "I'll +fool Twinkleheels. It will be a good joke on him when he puts his nose +into the measure and finds it empty."</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green hurried to the pasture. At his first whistle Twinkleheels +pricked up his ears. He had come to think only of one thing when that +whistle sounded in the pasture. That one thing was <i>oats</i>. And now +Twinkleheels squealed and kicked and tore down the hillside to the bars, +where Johnnie Green stood and waved the grain measure in the air.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels had long since given up stopping to listen for the swish of +the oats inside the measure. He came trotting up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> to Johnnie and reached +his head out for the treat that he had always found waiting for him.</p> + +<p>He thrust his nose into the measure. There was something wrong. He blew +into the measure. Then he snorted and drew back. And if Johnnie Green +hadn't been spry Twinkleheels would have given him the slip.</p> + +<p>But Johnnie grabbed him and had the halter on him in a twinkling.</p> + +<p>"I fooled you this time," said Johnnie as he turned to let down the +pasture bars.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels hung his head.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r1737" id="r1737"></a> + +<h2>IV<br/>THE CHEATER CHEATED</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Johnnie Green thought he had done something quite clever. He had coaxed +Twinkleheels up to him in the pasture with an empty grain measure.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels, however, had his own ideas about the matter.</p> + +<p>"This boy," he said to old dog Spot, "has cheated me."</p> + +<p>Spot lay on the barn floor, looking on while Johnnie Green harnessed +Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"This boy," Twinkleheels explained, "made me think he had some oats for +me. He caught me unfairly."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>Old dog Spot grinned. "Can't you take a joke?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"This is no joke," Twinkleheels grumbled. "Johnnie is going to drive me +over the hill. They're going to have a ball game over there. And you +know folks are always in a hurry when they're going to a ball +game—especially boys. And they're in the most terrible hurry of all +when somebody else has to get them there. If Johnny Green had to walk, +maybe he'd think there was time to stop and rest now and then."</p> + +<p>Old Spot recalled the day when he followed Twinkleheels to the village +and back.</p> + +<p>"I don't see what you're grumbling about," he remarked. "I've run behind +your little buggy and you kept snapping the miles off as if it was the +easiest thing you did."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>"<i>You'd</i> grumble yourself if you were cheated of a taste of oats that +you were expecting," said Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"I never eat oats," Spot retorted.</p> + +<p>"Then you don't know what's good," Twinkleheels declared. "After getting +your mouth all made up for oats, it's pretty disappointing to chew on +nothing more appetizing than an iron bit."</p> + +<p>Old dog Spot snickered.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels stamped one of his tiny feet upon the barn floor.</p> + +<p>"It will never happen again!" he cried.</p> + +<p>Old Spot gave him a sharp look.</p> + +<p>"I hope," he said, "you don't intend to hurt Johnnie Green. I hope you +aren't planning to run away with him."</p> + +<p>"No!" Twinkleheels assured him. "I'm too well trained to run away, +though I must say Johnnie Green deserves a spill. But of course I +wouldn't do such a thing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> as to tip the buggy over. What I have in mind +is something quite different. It's harmless." And that was all he would +say.</p> + +<p>He took Johnnie Green to the ball game. And he brought him home again. +He was so well-behaved that when Johnnie turned him into the pasture, +afterward, Johnnie never dreamed that Twinkleheels could be planning any +mischief.</p> + +<p>The next morning Johnnie took Twinkleheels' halter and the four-quart +measure with three big handfuls of oats in it. Then he walked up the +lane to the pasture, leaned over the bars and whistled.</p> + +<p>Though there was no pony in sight, Twinkleheels soon came strolling out +from behind a clump of bushes. He took his own time in picking his way +down the hillside, as though he might be glad to keep Johnnie Green +waiting.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Come on! Come on!" Johnnie called. "Come and get your oats!" And he +shook the measure before him.</p> + +<p>To his great surprise, Twinkleheels didn't come running up and reach out +to get the oats. Instead, he stopped short, with his feet planted +squarely under him, as if he didn't intend to budge. Johnnie Green took +one step towards him. And then Twinkleheels whisked around and ran. He +shook his head and kicked up his heels. And something very like a laugh +came floating back to Johnnie Green's ears.</p> + +<p>Johnnie followed him all over the pasture. And when the dinner horn +sounded at the farmhouse Johnnie had to go home without Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was half gone before Twinkleheels let his young master put +the halter on him. By that time Johnnie<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> Green had learned something +that he never forgot.</p> + +<p>Never again did he cheat Twinkleheels with an empty measure. He knew +that Twinkleheels expected fair play, just as much as the boys with whom +Johnnie played ball, over the hill.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r8571" id="r8571"></a> + +<h2>V<br/>FLYING FEET</h2> +</div> + + +<p>When July brought hot, dry weather and the grass became short in the +pasture Johnnie Green no longer turned Twinkleheels out to graze. He +kept him in a stall in the barn and fed him oats and hay three times a +day.</p> + +<p>It was at that time that Johnnie Green made an interesting discovery. A +row of currant bushes grew behind the barn. And one day when Johnnie +stripped off a few stems of the red fruit and stood in the back door of +the barn, eating it, he happened to snap a currant at Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>The result both pleased and surprised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> him. When the currant struck +Twinkleheels he laid back his ears, dropped his head, and let fly with +both hind feet.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green promptly forgot that he had intended to eat those +currants. One by one he threw them at Twinkleheels. It made no +difference where they hit the pony. Whenever he felt one, he kicked. +Sometimes he kicked only the air; sometimes his feet crashed against the +side of his stall.</p> + +<p>Throwing currants at Twinkleheels became one of Johnnie Green's favorite +sports. Whenever boys from neighboring farms came to play with him, +Johnnie was sure to entertain them by taking them out behind the barn to +show them how high he could make Twinkleheels kick.</p> + +<p>As a mark of special favor, Johnnie would sometimes let his friends +flick a few currants at his pet. And sometimes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> they would even pelt the +old horse Ebenezer, who stood in the stall next to Twinkleheels. There +was little fun in that, however. Ebenezer refused to kick. The first +currant generally brought him out of a doze, with a start. But after +that he wouldn't budge, except perhaps to turn his head and look with a +bored expression at the boys in the doorway.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green and his friends were not alone in enjoying this sport. Old +dog Spot joined them when he could. Unfortunately, when Twinkleheels +kicked, old Spot always wanted to bark. And Johnnie didn't like noise at +such times. He and his friends were always amazingly quiet when they +were engaged in currant throwing behind the barn. And they were always +peering about as if they didn't want to be caught there.</p> + +<p>"Run out to the barn and tell your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> father that dinner's almost ready," +Mrs. Green said to Johnnie one day.</p> + +<p>"He's not in the barn," Johnnie answered.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure?" Mrs. Green asked. "I thought I heard him hammering out +there a few minutes ago."</p> + +<p>"No!" Johnnie murmured. "Father's in the hayfield."</p> + +<p>"That's queer," said his mother. "I was sure I heard hammering.... Well, +blow the horn, then! I don't want dinner to spoil."</p> + +<p>So Johnnie Green blew several loud blasts on the horn. And he was glad +to do it, for it gave him an excuse for having a red face.</p> + +<p>He threw no more currants at Twinkleheels that day. Somehow it didn't +seem just the wisest thing to do. But the next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> morning he made +Twinkleheels kick a few times. "It's really good for him," Johnnie tried +to make himself believe. "He needs the exercise."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r4397" id="r4397"></a> + +<h2>VI<br/>PICKING CURRANTS</h2> +</div> + + +<p>If there was one sort of work that Johnnie Green had always disliked +more than another, it was picking currants. Of course he didn't object +to strolling up to a currant bush and taking a few currants for his own +use, on the spot. What he hated was having to fill pail after pail full +of currants for his mother to make jelly and jam.</p> + +<p>It was queer. He certainly liked jelly. And he liked jam. But he had +never found currant picking anything but dull. He always groaned aloud +when his mother<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> told him that the currants were ripe enough to be +picked. And he always had a dozen reasons why he couldn't pick them just +then.</p> + +<p>Now, however, currant picking didn't seem such a bore to Johnnie. When +his mother announced at the supper table one evening that Johnnie would +have to begin picking currants right after breakfast the next morning he +didn't make a single objection. And he had intended to go swimming the +next day!</p> + +<p>"I think—" Johnnie remarked—"I think some of the boys would like to +help. After supper I'll ride Twinkleheels over the hill and ask the boys +to pick currants with me in the morning."</p> + +<p>Farmer Green and his wife listened to this speech with amazement.</p> + +<p>"I never heard of a boy that liked to pick currants," said Johnnie's +father.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> "Still, you can try if you want to."</p> + +<p>"Come home before it gets dark!" said his mother.</p> + +<p>"Look out for that pony!" Farmer Green exclaimed. "I don't know what's +come over him. I stepped into his stall to-day and he kicked at me. I've +never known him to do that before."</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green promised to be careful, and to come home early. Having +important business on his hands, he hurried away without a second piece +of cake. And that was a most unusual oversight on his part.</p> + +<p>In the morning three boys appeared before Johnnie had finished his +breakfast. Though they had already eaten theirs, they accepted Mrs. +Green's invitation to sit at the table and have some griddlecakes and +maple syrup. "If you boys are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> going to pick currants you'll want a +good, big breakfast," she told them.</p> + +<p>There was no doubt that they agreed with her.</p> + +<p>"If they're as lively at picking as they are at eating you'll have all +the currants in the kitchen by noon," Farmer Green remarked to his wife +with a laugh as the boys trooped off toward the barn with their tin +pails.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later a noise as of terrific pounding reached the ears of +Farmer Green as he stood talking with his wife.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" he muttered. "It sounds as if the barn was falling down."</p> + +<p>He ran out of doors. The racket came from the barn. There was no doubt +of that. And he could hear Spot barking.</p> + +<p>Farmer Green hurried across the yard. Somehow he guessed that Johnnie +and his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> helpers had a hand in whatever was going on. Farmer Green did +not run toward the broad front door of the barn. Instead he circled to +the back of the barn and peeped around the corner. What he saw caused +him no great surprise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r2371" id="r2371"></a> + +<h2>VII<br/>CAUGHT!</h2> +</div> + + +<p>There was a good deal of giggling and loud whispering at the back door +of the barn. It ceased instantly when Farmer Green cried "Stop that!" in +a loud voice.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green and his friends looked startled—and sheepish, too. They +had been throwing currants through the doorway, to make Twinkleheels +kick.</p> + +<p>The boys fell back a few steps as Farmer Green joined them.</p> + +<p>"Was Twinkleheels doing all that kicking?" Farmer Green asked Johnnie. +"It was so loud that I thought the barn would fall down any minute."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We threw a few currants at old Ebenezer," Johnnie Green explained +somewhat faintly.</p> + +<p>His father gave him a sharp look.</p> + +<p>"Huh!" Farmer Green grunted. "<i>He</i> didn't kick—did he?"</p> + +<p>"N-no! N-no, sir!"</p> + +<p>"Did you throw at the bays?" Johnnie's father demanded.</p> + +<p>"Only once or twice!" Johnnie confessed.</p> + +<p>"Once or twice is too much," his father said sternly. "Don't meddle with +the bays. And don't tease the pony, either. You've chosen the surest way +to make a kicker of him.</p> + +<p>"How long," Farmer Green demanded, "has this business been going on?"</p> + +<p>"Only a short time!" Johnnie assured him. "I never threw any currants +until they began to ripen."</p> + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +<a name="illus-003" id="illus-003"></a> +<img src='images/illus-032.jpg' width='300' alt='Twinkleheels Tells Spot About Kicking. (_Page 34_)' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'>Twinkleheels Tells Spot About Kicking. (<i>Page 34</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>"I suppose," said his father, "you never threw any until there were some +to throw."</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green appeared much more cheerful when he heard that remark of +his father's. Although Farmer Green's face wore a frown, and his voice +sounded most severe, Johnnie could tell that he was laughing, <i>inside</i>.</p> + +<p>"Come on!" Johnnie cried to his friends. "Let's get to work. If we +hustle we can get the currants all picked by noon."</p> + +<p>So long as Farmer Green stood there they all picked as busily as +squirrels. But after he left them the boys found so much to talk about +that they made little progress. It was a temptation, too, to flick a +currant into the face of another picker and see him jump.</p> + +<p>Finally the neighbors' boys announced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> that they were going swimming. +"Come along over to the swimming hole!" they urged Johnnie. "You can +finish picking these currants later."</p> + +<p>But Johnnie Green said that he couldn't leave his work. Though his +helpers left him, he stayed behind the barn and picked currants. Somehow +he felt that he ought to be on his best behavior—at least for a day or +two.</p> + +<p>"It was a pity that Johnnie Green's father caught him," old dog Spot +remarked to Twinkleheels after Farmer Green put an end to the boys' fun. +"I enjoyed the sport," said Spot.</p> + +<p>"If you're so fond of kicking, just step up behind me!" Twinkleheels +urged him.</p> + +<p>"No, thank you!" said Spot. "I don't want one of my ribs cracked."</p> + +<p>"Ho!" cried Twinkleheels. "Who said anything about <i>one</i> rib? I'll +crack<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> all of them for you if you'll come where I can reach you."</p> + +<p>Spot moved further away.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that?" he asked in a somewhat frightened voice.</p> + +<p>"Certainly not!" said Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"You kicked at Farmer Green yesterday," Spot reminded him.</p> + +<p>"Yes! But I never touched him," Twinkleheels answered. "I only wanted to +see him jump."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r8682" id="r8682"></a> + +<h2>VIII<br/>A GOOD SLEEPER</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Twinkleheels' stall was an end one. Next to him stood the old horse +Ebenezer; and beyond Ebenezer were the two bays. Twinkleheels often +wished that he might have someone for his nearest neighbor that was a +bit livelier than Ebenezer. When the old horse stayed in the barn he +spent a great deal of his time with his eyes half shut, dozing. If +Twinkleheels spoke to him, Ebenezer seldom heard him the first time. And +often Ebenezer even fell asleep while Twinkleheels was talking to him.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels always moved smartly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> Ebenezer took his time about +everything. When anybody backed him between the thills of a wagon he was +as slow as Timothy Turtle and no more graceful. And while people +harnessed him he usually sighed heavily now and then, because he dreaded +being hurried along the road.</p> + +<p>Before Twinkleheels came to the farm to live, Johnnie Green had thought +it quite a lark to drive or ride Ebenezer. Now, however, Johnnie paid +little heed to the old horse. And, to tell the truth, Ebenezer was +content to be let alone.</p> + +<p>"This boy must have found it a bit poky, riding you," Twinkleheels +remarked to Ebenezer one day when he noticed that the old horse was +actually wide-awake.</p> + +<p>"He found me safe," Ebenezer replied. "That's why Farmer Green let +Johnnie ride me."</p> + +<p>"It's a wonder you didn't fall asleep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> and tumble down and throw +Johnnie," Twinkleheels said.</p> + +<p>"I'm very sure-footed," Ebenezer told him proudly. "Of course, a person +will step on a loose stone now and then. But I've never really stumbled +in my whole life."</p> + +<p>"How old are you?" Twinkleheels inquired.</p> + +<p>"I'm twenty," Ebenezer told him.</p> + +<p>"And you've never stumbled in all that time!" Twinkleheels cried. "How +did you manage to stay on your feet like that?"</p> + +<p>"By minding my business," Ebenezer explained with a shrewd glance at his +young companion. The answer—and the look—were both lost on +Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"I heard Farmer Green tell Johnnie to turn me and you into the pasture +to-morrow," he told Ebenezer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Don't you mean 'you and me'?" Ebenezer suggested mildly.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's the same thing, isn't it?" Twinkleheels retorted.</p> + +<p>"There's a slight difference," said Ebenezer. "I see there are some +things you've never been taught. Colts were different when I was a +yearling."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels looked almost angry.</p> + +<p>"I hope," he snapped, "you don't take me for a yearling. Just because +I'm a pony—and small—you needn't think I'm an infant. Why, I'm five +years old!"</p> + +<p>Old Ebenezer yawned. It seemed as if he was always sleepy.</p> + +<p>"You've a good deal to learn," he said. "When I was five I thought I +knew everything.... I still find that I can learn something almost every +day."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels sniffed. "I don't believe you've picked up much that was +new to-day,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> he said. "You've been dozing every moment, except when you +ate your meals."</p> + +<p>To his great disgust, Ebenezer gave a sort of snort. He no longer heard +anything that his youthful neighbor said.</p> + +<p>"I'll see that he learns something in the pasture to-morrow," +Twinkleheels promised himself. "I'll get him to race with me—if he can +stay awake long enough. And I'll show him such a burst of speed as he's +never seen in all his twenty years."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r7665" id="r7665"></a> + +<h2>IX<br/>THE RACE</h2> +</div> + + +<p>When Johnnie Green turned Twinkleheels and the old horse Ebenezer into +the pasture, the first thing they did was to drop down on the grass and +enjoy a good roll.</p> + +<p>There was a vast difference in their actions. Twinkleheels was as spry +as a squirrel. He rolled from one side to the other and back again, +jumped up and shook himself like old dog Spot, almost before Ebenezer +had picked out a nice, smooth place to roll on.</p> + +<p>Ebenezer bent his legs beneath him in a gingerly fashion and sank with +something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> like a sigh upon the green, grassy carpet. It was only with a +great effort that he managed at last to roll all the way over; and then +he couldn't roll back again. Clumsily he flung his fore feet in front of +himself and by a mighty heave pulled himself off the ground.</p> + +<p>"Slow, isn't he?" Twinkleheels remarked to the Muley Cow, who was +chewing her cud and looking on.</p> + +<p>"He doesn't get up the right way," said the Muley Cow. "When rising from +the ground one should stand on his hind feet first."</p> + +<p>"I don't agree with you," Twinkleheels told her. "Ebenezer uses the +right method. But he's terribly poky about it. You can almost hear his +joints creak."</p> + +<p>The Muley Cow was somewhat offended.</p> + +<p>"I've known Ebenezer a great many years," she snapped. "I don't care to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +hear a young upstart—a mere pony—make fun of him."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels moved away. He felt the least bit uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"I don't like your young friend," said the Muley Cow to the old horse +Ebenezer. "He hasn't a proper respect for old people like you and me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's not a bad sort," Ebenezer replied. "He has a good many things +to learn. Perhaps he'll be wiser by night. I shouldn't worry about him, +if I were you."</p> + +<p>The Muley Cow told Ebenezer that he was entirely too good-natured. And +they went their own ways, grazing and rambling aimlessly about the +pasture.</p> + +<p>Now and then, during the day, they chanced to meet. And always the Muley +Cow asked Ebenezer if Twinkleheels had learned anything more.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not yet!" Ebenezer said, each time. "The day's not done till sunset."</p> + +<p>Well, late in the afternoon Johnnie Green came slowly up the lane and +stood by the pasture bars and whistled. Twinkleheels and Ebenezer +happened to be together when they heard that cheerful chirp.</p> + +<p>"I'll race you to the bars!" Twinkleheels exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Agreed!" cried Ebenezer. The word was no sooner out of his mouth than +he started with a rush. He was three jumps ahead of Twinkleheels before +that surprised pony began to run.</p> + +<p>"I'll soon catch the old horse," Twinkleheels thought. "He can't last +long. I'll pass him before we reach the brook."</p> + +<p>Before Twinkleheels came to the brook Ebenezer had crossed it in one +mighty leap. He was pounding along with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> powerful stride over the firm +turf of the pasture. And behind him Twinkleheels' pattering feet +struggled to shorten the distance between them.</p> + +<p>To Twinkleheels' dismay he saw that Ebenezer was steadily drawing away +from him. Although Twinkleheels ran his fastest, Ebenezer reached the +bars six good lengths ahead of him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r5188" id="r5188"></a> + +<h2>X<br/>EBENEZER'S RECORD</h2> +</div> + + +<p>The old horse Ebenezer had beaten Twinkleheels in the race to the bars. +While Johnnie Green slipped their halters on them, and they munched the +oats that he gave them, neither of them spoke. Johnnie mounted Ebenezer +bareback; and leading Twinkleheels, he turned down the lane.</p> + +<p>"You're not as slow as I thought you were," Twinkleheels said to +Ebenezer as they drew near the barn. "And somehow I couldn't seem to get +to running smoothly. I'd like to race you again. I think I could beat +you next time."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Perhaps you could," said Ebenezer. "I don't often run nowadays. But I +did running enough when I was younger. I used to race at the county +fair, every fall."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever win a race at the fair?" Twinkleheels inquired.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" Ebenezer answered. "Yes! I can remember winning a race now and +then."</p> + +<p>"He never lost a race in his whole life!" cried the Muley Cow, who was +walking just ahead of them. Ebenezer used to be known as the fastest +horse in these parts. He had a record."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels gasped. "A record!" he exclaimed. "What's that?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, exactly," said the Muley Cow. "I never saw Ebenezer's. +But it must have been a fine one, for Farmer Green was always talking +about it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>"A horse's record," Ebenezer explained, "is the fastest time he ever +makes in a race." Then he added, to Twinkleheels: "You and I will have +another race the next time we're in the pasture together."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels gave him an odd look. Somehow Ebenezer did not seem just a +poky old farm horse, as Twinkleheels had always regarded him. For the +first time Twinkleheels noticed that Ebenezer had many good points. +There wasn't a single bunch on his legs. And his muscles showed plainly +as they rippled on his lean frame beneath a coat that was both short and +fine.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe I could beat you if we raced a hundred times," +Twinkleheels blurted.</p> + +<p>"Of course you couldn't!" the Muley Cow interrupted again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, you might," Ebenezer said. "There'd be no harm in trying, anyhow. +Racing with me would be good practice for you, even if I did win. If +you're going to have a race, don't look for an easy one! Choose a hard +one. That's the kind that will make you do your best."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels thanked him.</p> + +<p>"It's very kind of Ebenezer to race with you," the Muley Cow bellowed. +"You ought to feel honored."</p> + +<p>"I do," said Twinkleheels. "But please don't talk so loud! I don't want +everybody on the farm laughing at me because I lost a race."</p> + +<p>The Muley Cow went into the barn grumbling.</p> + +<p>"That pony is a young upstart," she muttered. "The idea of his telling +me not to talk so loud! Ebenezer is altogether too pleasant to him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>Old Ebenezer continued to be agreeable to Twinkleheels. They often raced +in the pasture, later. And though Twinkleheels never won once, he +enjoyed the sport.</p> + +<p>And he never called Ebenezer "poky" again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r8668" id="r8668"></a> + +<h2>XI<br/>BRIGHT AND BROAD</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Farmer Green had a yoke of oxen called Bright and Broad. They were huge, +slow-moving fellows, as different from Johnnie Green's pony, +Twinkleheels, as any pair could be. They never frisked about in the +pasture. They never ran, nor jumped, nor kicked. They seldom even +trotted. And when they did move faster than a walk they lurched into a +queer, shambling swing.</p> + +<p>The first time Twinkleheels saw them travelling at that gait he couldn't +help giggling.</p> + +<p>"They look as if their legs were going<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> to knock down all the fence +posts on the farm," he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>Despite their clumsiness, Bright and Broad did many a day's hard work in +an honest fashion for Farmer Green. Of course he never drove them to the +village when he was in a hurry. But whenever there was a heavy load to +pull he depended on Bright and Broad to help him. If the pair of bays +couldn't haul a wagon out of a mud hole Farmer Green would call on +Bright and Broad. And when they lunged forward the wagon just had to +move—or something broke.</p> + +<p>Though Twinkleheels admired their strength, he didn't care much for +Bright and Broad's company. They were too sober to suit him. They were +more than likely to stand and chew their cuds and look out upon the +world with vacant stares and say nothing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I used to think Ebenezer was a slow old horse," Twinkleheels remarked +to the bays on a winter's day as they stood in the barn. "I thought I +could beat him easily until he showed me that I was mistaken. But I can +certainly beat Bright and Broad. They're the slowest pair I ever saw."</p> + +<p>The bays glanced at each other.</p> + +<p>"You can't always tell by a person's looks what he can do," one of them +remarked. "Let Bright and Broad choose the race course and they'd leave +you behind."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" Twinkleheels cried. "They couldn't beat anybody unless it's +Timothy Turtle, who lives over in Black Creek."</p> + +<p>The bays winked at each other over the low partition that separated +their stalls.</p> + +<p>"Maybe you'll find out that you're<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> wrong," they told Twinkleheels. +"Maybe you'll learn that Bright and Broad are faster than you think they +are. We've known Farmer Green to take them and leave us here in the +barn—when he was in a hurry to go somewhere, too."</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha!" Twinkleheels laughed. "You're joking. You're trying to fool +me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" the bays cried. "Ask Bright and Broad themselves."</p> + +<p>So Twinkleheels spoke to Bright and Broad the very next day, when he met +them in the barnyard. While he told them what the bays had said to him +they chewed their cuds and listened with a dreamy look in their great, +mild eyes.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels paused and waited for them to speak. But they said nothing. +Their jaws moved steadily as they chewed; but they said never a word.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Can't you answer when you're spoken to?" Twinkleheels cried at last.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" they said, speaking as one—for they always did everything +together. "Yes! But you haven't asked us a question."</p> + +<p>"Is this true—what the bays told me about you?" he snapped.</p> + +<p>"We can't deny it," they chanted.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels was never more surprised.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r7267" id="r7267"></a> + +<h2>XII<br/>NO SCHOOL TO-DAY</h2> +</div> + + +<p>And that night it snowed. In the morning, when Johnnie Green crawled +from his bed and looked out of the window he could scarcely see the +barn. A driving white veil flickered across the farmyard. The wind +howled. The blinds rattled. Even the whole house shook now and then as a +mighty blast rocked it.</p> + +<p>It was just the sort of weather to suit Johnnie Green.</p> + +<p>"There won't be any school to-day!" he cried. And he hurried into his +clothes much faster than he usually did.</p> + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +<a name="illus-004" id="illus-004"></a> +<img src='images/illus-056.jpg' width='300' alt='Twinkleheels Talks to the Oxen. (_Page 54_)' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'>Twinkleheels Talks to the Oxen. (<i>Page 54</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>Though Johnnie Green was eager to get out of doors, most of those that +lived in the barn were quite content to stay there during such a storm. +The old horse Ebenezer especially looked pleased.</p> + +<p>"This will be a fine day to doze," he remarked to the pony, +Twinkleheels. "Farmer Green won't make me do any work in this weather. +The roads must be blocked with drifts already."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels moved restlessly in his stall.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to stand here with nothing to do," he grumbled. "If I +could sleep in the daytime, as you do, perhaps I wouldn't mind. And if I +were like the Muley Cow maybe I could pass the hours away by chewing a +cud. Bright and Broad can do that, too," said Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"Oh! Farmer Green will have the oxen out as soon as the storm +slackens,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> old Ebenezer told him. "And no doubt you'll get outside as +soon as they do, for Johnnie Green will want you to play with him in the +snow or I don't know anything about boys."</p> + +<p>"Good!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "I hope he'll take me out. It would be +great fun to toss him into a snowdrift.... But I don't see what Farmer +Green wants of Bright and Broad on a day like this. They'll be slower +than ever if the roads are choked with snow."</p> + +<p>The old horse Ebenezer smiled to himself as he shut his eyes for another +cat nap before breakfast. He thought that Twinkleheels would learn a +thing or two, a little later.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green was the first one to plough his way out to the barn that +morning. He burst into the barn and stamped the snow off his feet. And +Twinkleheels<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> stamped, too, because he wanted something to eat.</p> + +<p>Johnnie fed Twinkleheels and Ebenezer and the bays. He was shaking some +hay; in front of the Muley Cow (who belonged to him) when his father +arrived.</p> + +<p>"The worst storm of the winter!" Farmer Green observed. "We'll have work +enough after this, breaking the roads out."</p> + +<p>"I'll help," Johnnie said. "I'll take Twinkleheels and work hard."</p> + +<p>"I suppose," said his father, "we ought to get the road to the +schoolhouse cleared first."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" cried Johnnie. "Let's leave that till the last."</p> + +<p>"If we left it for you and Twinkleheels to clear, you wouldn't get back +to school before spring," Farmer Green declared.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<p>Twinkleheels had been listening eagerly to all this.</p> + +<p>"Now, I wonder what Farmer Green means by that," he muttered. "I hope he +doesn't think I can't get through the drifts as well as anybody. I can +certainly make my way through the snow better than those clumsy old +oxen, Bright and Broad."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r6421" id="r6421"></a> + +<h2>XIII<br/>FUN AND GRUMBLES</h2> +</div> + + +<p>It stopped snowing at last and the weather turned clear and crisp. The +sun came out. And so did Johnnie Green, riding on Twinkleheels. He did +not get far from the barn, however. Where the snow wasn't piled in +drifts high above Twinkleheels' head it reached up on his fat sides. He +floundered about the farmyard for a time. And, falling once, he dumped +Johnnie Green neatly into a drift, head first.</p> + +<p>The spill didn't hurt Johnnie in the least. But snow went up the inside +of his sleeves, and down his neck, and into his eyes and ears and even +his mouth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>He jumped up spluttering. And Twinkleheels jumped at the same time. He +tried to run. But he could make little headway in the snow, and Johnnie +caught his bridle rein and stopped him.</p> + +<p>"You'd better put that pony back in the barn," Farmer Green called from +the woodshed door. "After I yoke up Bright and Broad and break out the +drive to the road you can ride Twinkleheels again. He might cut himself +in this heavy going."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels sniffed as he heard what Farmer Green said.</p> + +<p>"This is all nonsense," he grumbled to the old horse Ebenezer as Johnnie +led him into his stall. "Farmer Green doesn't know what he's talking +about. I'm a hundred times sprier than Bright. And I'm a hundred times +sprier than Broad. That makes me two hundred times sprier<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> than both of +them. It's silly to put me in my stall and take them out. They won't be +able to move. They'll get stuck fast in a drift, and goodness knows how +we'll ever haul them out."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't worry about the oxen if I were you," Ebenezer replied. "It +seems to me Bright and Broad are old enough and big enough to look out +for themselves."</p> + +<p>"That's just the trouble!" cried Twinkleheels. "They're too old and +they're too big. They're terribly heavy. If they were stuck in a drift I +don't believe you and the bays could pull them out—not even if I helped +you."</p> + +<p>Ebenezer sighed deeply.</p> + +<p>"I'm going to sleep now," he told Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>Soon Twinkleheels could hear Farmer Green shouting "Gee!" and "Haw!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>"There!" Twinkleheels called to the two bays. "There's Farmer Green +talking to Bright and Broad. I hope they're not helpless already."</p> + +<p>The bays snickered.</p> + +<p>"Don't laugh!" Twinkleheels begged them. "It's not funny. It would be +awful for them to spend the rest of the winter in a snow bank."</p> + +<p>"We weren't laughing at Bright and Broad," the bays explained.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels tried to look at them; but old Ebenezer's bony back was in +the way.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what amuses you, then," he snapped.</p> + +<p>"Maybe you'll find out later," the bays told him.</p> + +<p>And he did. When Johnnie Green next led him out of the barn Twinkleheels +discovered that a broad path had been opened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> from the barn to the +highway. And a little distance up the road Farmer Green and Bright and +Broad were battling with the drifts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r9487" id="r9487"></a> + +<h2>XIV<br/>STUCK IN A DRIFT</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Outside the barn, in the snow-covered farmyard, Johnnie Green mounted +Twinkleheels and rode him beyond the gate, where he could watch the fun +up the road.</p> + +<p>Yoked to a sort of plough, Bright and Broad, the oxen, tore through the +piled-up snow and threw it to either side in great ridges.</p> + +<p>"I'm going ahead to the crossroads," Johnnie Green told his father.</p> + +<p>That plan pleased Twinkleheels. Before Farmer Green could speak he +plunged out of the broken road and wallowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> in snow up to his neck. He +was going to show Bright and Broad that he could get to the crossroads +before they did.</p> + +<p>"Don't do that!" Farmer Green shouted to Johnnie.</p> + +<p>He was too late. The words were scarcely out of his mouth before +Twinkleheels was reaching desperately for a footing. His toes found +nothing firm beneath them—nothing but yielding snow. And his frantic +struggles only made him sink the deeper.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green slid off Twinkleheels' back and tried to help him.</p> + +<p>He could do nothing. And he turned a somewhat frightened face to his +father.</p> + +<p>"We're stuck!" he faltered. "I can get out; but Twinkleheels can't. Do +you suppose Bright and Broad could pull him out?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<p>"They could yank twenty of him back on the road," Farmer Green declared. +"But we don't need them. I'll dig the pony out."</p> + +<p>Seizing a shovel, Johnnie's father slowly dug his way to Twinkleheels, +who had stopped struggling and was waiting glumly for help. In a few +minutes more he had scrambled out of the ditch and gained the road +again, through the path that Farmer Green made for him.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Farmer Green, "don't leave the broken road. This pony's too +small to handle himself in these drifts. I wouldn't try to put even a +full-sized horse through them. It takes oxen in such going. They're +slow; but they're strong and sure-footed, too. And they can go where +horses couldn't do anything but flounder and probably cut themselves +with their own feet. That's why we always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> use Bright and Broad to +gather sap in the sugar-bush."</p> + +<p>"I'll put Twinkleheels in the barn again," said Johnnie. "Then I'll come +back on foot and help you."</p> + +<p>So he rode Twinkleheels back and hitched him in his stall once more.</p> + +<p>Old Ebenezer woke up as Twinkleheels pattered over the barn floor.</p> + +<p>"What!" cried the old horse. "Back again so soon? Did you race with +Bright and Broad?"</p> + +<p>"The snow's too deep for a good race," Twinkleheels told him.</p> + +<p>"Bright and Broad don't mind the snow much, do they?" Ebenezer asked.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" Twinkleheels answered. "They're getting on slowly, up the +road. They take their time, of course."</p> + +<p>"Couldn't they beat you to the crossroads if you raced with them +to-day?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well—yes!" Twinkleheels admitted. And he gave Ebenezer a sharp look. +"Who's been talking with you?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"Nobody!" said Ebenezer. "I've been dozing here all the morning."</p> + +<p>"Not even a sparrow?" Twinkleheels asked.</p> + +<p>"No! Nobody has said a word to me."</p> + +<p>"That's strange," Twinkleheels mused. "I was almost sure a little bird +had told you something."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r8202" id="r8202"></a> + +<h2>XV<br/>STEPPING HIGH</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Twinkleheels was feeling quite important. Something that Farmer Green +had said to Johnnie in his hearing made him hold his head higher than he +usually did—and step higher, too.</p> + +<p>"You seem very proud to-day," the old horse Ebenezer said to him. "When +Johnnie Green led you back from the watering trough I noticed that you +were strutting in quite a lordly fashion. You made me think of Turkey +Proudfoot."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "I've just heard some news. I'm going to +the blacksmith's to-day to be shod. You<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> know I've never worn any shoes. +And I've always wanted some."</p> + +<p>Old Ebenezer smiled down at Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" he said. "I don't blame you for feeling a bit proud. I +remember the day I got my first set of shoes. You see, I was young once +myself."</p> + +<p>The old horse seemed to feel like talking. Twinkleheels was glad of +that, for he felt that he <i>must</i> chatter about the new shoes he was +going to have—or burst.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Twinkleheels, "most folks are shod before they're as +old as I am. But I've spent a good deal of my time in the pasture and I +don't often travel over hard roads.... How old were you when you first +visited the blacksmith's shop?"</p> + +<p>Ebenezer shut his eyes for a moment or two. And Twinkleheels feared he +was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> going to sleep. But he was only thinking hard.</p> + +<p>"I must have been about two months old," Ebenezer declared.</p> + +<p>"Goodness!" cried Twinkleheels. "I didn't suppose colts of that age ever +wore shoes."</p> + +<p>"They don't," Ebenezer replied. "You didn't ask me when I had my first +shoes. You asked me when I first visited a smithy. At the age of two +months I jogged alongside my mother when she went to be shod. I must +have been about three years old when the blacksmith nailed my first +shoes to my feet."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels gave Ebenezer an uneasy glance.</p> + +<p>"Does it hurt," he asked, "when they drive the nails into your hoofs?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!" Ebenezer assured him. "To be sure, a careless blacksmith could +prick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> you. But Farmer Green always takes us to the best one he can +find."</p> + +<p>"To tell the truth," Twinkleheels confessed, "I'm a bit timid about +going to the smithy. I don't know what to do when I get there. I don't +know which foot to hold up first."</p> + +<p>"Don't worry about that!" said old Ebenezer. "They'll tell you +everything. Just pay attention and obey orders and you won't have any +trouble."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels thanked Ebenezer.</p> + +<p>"It's pleasant," he said, "to have a kind, wise horse like you in the +next stall. There are some matters that I shouldn't care to mention to +the bays. They're almost sure to laugh at me if I ask them a question."</p> + +<p>The old horse Ebenezer nodded his head.</p> + +<p>"They're young and somewhat flighty,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> he admitted. "You know, they even +ran away last summer. You'll be better off! if you don't seek their +advice about things."</p> + +<p>"I wish you were going to the blacksmith's shop with me," Twinkleheels +told Ebenezer wistfully. "Somehow I'd feel better about being shod if +you were there."</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't be surprised if I went along with you," Ebenezer told him. +"I cast a shoe yesterday. And the three that I have left are well worn."</p> + +<p>And sure enough! Inside a half hour Farmer Green harnessed Ebenezer to +an open buggy. Johnnie Green brought Twinkleheels out of the barn by his +halter, led him up behind the buggy, and jumped in and sat beside his +father.</p> + +<p>Then they started off.</p> + +<p>"We're going to the village to get some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> new shoes," Twinkleheels called +to old dog Spot. "Why don't you come, too?"</p> + +<p>"I would," Spot barked, "but I always follow right behind the buggy; and +you've gone and taken my place."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r3934" id="r3934"></a> + +<h2>XVI<br/>THE BLACKSMITH'S SHOP</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Twinkleheels trotted proudly behind the buggy in which the old horse +Ebenezer was pulling Johnnie Green and his father towards the village. +Once Twinkleheels would have chafed at having to suit his pace to +Ebenezer's. He would have thought Ebenezer's gait too slow. But ever +since Ebenezer won a race with him in the pasture Twinkleheels had +thought more highly of his elderly friend. He knew that if Ebenezer +chose to take his time it wasn't because he couldn't have hurried had he +cared to.</p> + +<p>They reached the blacksmith shop at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> last, where Ebenezer and +Twinkleheels were to get new shoes. Having been there many a time +before, Ebenezer was quite calm. Twinkleheels, however, was somewhat +uneasy. He had never visited a smithy. And he looked with wide, staring +eyes at the low, dingy building. On the threshold he drew back, as he +sniffed odors that were strange to him.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green spoke to him and urged him forward.</p> + +<p>"I'll wait for Ebenezer," Twinkleheels decided. And he wouldn't budge +until Farmer Green led the old horse into the smithy. Then Twinkleheels +followed.</p> + +<p>"Goodness!" he cried to Ebenezer a moment later. "This place is afire. +Let's get outside at once!" He had caught sight of a sort of flaming +table against one of the walls.</p> + +<p>"Don't be alarmed!" Ebenezer said.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> "That's only the forge. That's where +the blacksmith heats the shoes red hot, so he can pound them into the +proper shape to fit the feet."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels had trembled with fear. And now he had scarcely recovered +from his fright when a terrible clanging clatter startled him. He +snorted and pulled back. He would have run out of the smithy had not +Johnnie Green tied his halter rope to a ring in the wall.</p> + +<p>"Don't do that!" the old horse Ebenezer called to him. "There's no +danger. That noise is nothing to be afraid of. It's only the smith +pounding a horseshoe on his anvil."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels looked relieved—and just a bit sheepish.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad you came with me," he said, "I'd have been frightened if +you—." A queer hiss made Twinkleheels forget what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> he was saying. +"What's that?" he cried. "Is there a goose hidden somewhere in the +smithy?"</p> + +<p>"No! The smith put the hot shoe into a tub of water, to cool," Ebenezer +explained. He couldn't help smiling a bit.</p> + +<p>A scrubby looking white mare who was being shod turned her head and +stared at Ebenezer and his small companion.</p> + +<p>"It's easy to see," she exclaimed, "that that colt has never been in a +smithy before. In my opinion he ought to be at home with his mother. +This is no place for children."</p> + +<p>Before Ebenezer could answer her, Twinkleheels himself spoke up sharply.</p> + +<p>"I don't know who you are, madam," he snapped. "But I'd like you to +understand that I'm no colt. I'm a pony. And I must say that I think you +owe me an apology."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r1458" id="r1458"></a> + +<h2>XVII<br/>A WHITE VIXEN</h2> +</div> + + +<p>The white mare that the blacksmith was shoeing looked much surprised +when Twinkleheels told her he was not a colt.</p> + +<p>"Well, well!" she cried. "A pony, eh? Who'd have thought it? Anyhow, +you've never been shod in your life. I can tell that by the way you +act." And she cackled in a most unpleasant fashion.</p> + +<p>"What shall I say to her?" Twinkleheels asked Ebenezer. "She hasn't +apologized to me."</p> + +<p>"Pay no attention to her," the old horse advised him in an undertone. +"She's a low bred person. I've often met her on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> the road and she always +wants to stop and talk. But I hurry past her."</p> + +<p>"What are you saying?" the white mare asked in a sour tone. "Are you +gossiping about me?" She laid her ears back and showed her yellow teeth.</p> + +<p>"You see why I don't care to have anything to do with her," Ebenezer +muttered to Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"I'd kick you if I could reach you—and that pony too," the white mare +squealed. "I'm a lady—I am. And you'd better be careful what you say +about me."</p> + +<p>Because she was angry and couldn't kick either Twinkleheels or Ebenezer +she felt that she must kick somebody. So she let fly at the blacksmith, +who had just stepped up beside her.</p> + +<p>Strangely enough, instead of jumping away from her, the blacksmith +crowded as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> close to her as he could get. He knew what he was about. He +hadn't shod horses for twenty years without learning something about +them. He stood so near the white mare that her kick hadn't room to get +going well. And the blacksmith wasn't hurt. He was merely disgusted.</p> + +<p>"I declare," he said to Farmer Green, "this mare is the meanest critter +that comes into my shop. She doesn't know anything except how to kick +and bite. That old horse of yours is worth a dozen like her. I'd give +more for his tail than I would for her."</p> + +<p>Ebenezer tried to look unconcerned. The blacksmith had a hearty voice. +Nobody in the shop could help hearing what he said. And Twinkleheels +made up his mind that the blacksmith shouldn't have any reason to speak +of him as he had of the silly white mare.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>Twinkleheels watched sharply as the blacksmith captured a hind foot of +the white mare's and held it between his knees. Then he began to nail on +the shoe.</p> + +<p>One thing puzzled Twinkleheels. Every time the blacksmith struck a blow +with his hammer he gave a funny grunt. Twinkleheels nudged Ebenezer with +his nose.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear that?" he asked. "Is he related to Grunty Pig—a sort of +cousin, perhaps?"</p> + +<p>The old horse Ebenezer gasped.</p> + +<p>"Bless you, no!" he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Then why does he grunt?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's just a way he has," said Ebenezer. "Some blacksmiths think +it's stylish to grunt like that."</p> + +<p>By this time the white mare seemed to be in a pleasanter frame of mind. +At least, she let the blacksmith nail a shoe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> on each of her feet +without making any objection—except to switch her tail now and then. +And just as the blacksmith finished with her a man came and led her +away.</p> + +<p>"Now," said the blacksmith, "I'm ready to shoe the pony. And if he's as +clever as he looks I shan't have a bit of trouble with him."</p> + +<p>When he heard that, Twinkleheels made up his mind that he would behave +his best, no matter what happened.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r7886" id="r7886"></a> + +<h2>XVIII<br/>NEW SHOES</h2> +</div> + + +<p>The blacksmith patted Twinkleheels and picked up one of his forefeet. +Then the blacksmith took a chisel and began to pare away at the horny +hoof. Twinkleheels looked over the blacksmith's shoulder. And what he +saw gave him a start.</p> + +<p>"Great green grass!" he cried to Ebenezer. "Is he going to cut my foot +off?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed!" Ebenezer answered. "The blacksmith always pares my feet a +bit when he fits new shoes. He may have to trim yours a good deal, +because you've never worn shoes and your feet have never been pared."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>In spite of his resolve to be on his best behavior, Twinkleheels had +been tempted to pull his foot from between the blacksmith's knees. And +if Ebenezer hadn't explained that he was in no danger of losing a foot +there's no knowing what might have happened. Twinkleheels breathed a +sigh of relief; and he made not the slightest trouble for the +blacksmith, but waited patiently while his little shoes were being +hammered into shape.</p> + +<p>When the blacksmith took the first one that he made and held it by a +pair of pincers against Twinkleheels' hoof there was a quick sizzling. +And a horrid smoke arose. Twinkleheels snorted with fear.</p> + +<p>"Easy! Easy, boy!" the blacksmith said to him. And old Ebenezer made +haste to explain that there was no danger.</p> + +<p>"Won't my foot be burned?" Twinkleheels faltered.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not enough to do any harm," said Ebenezer. "You don't feel any pain, do +you?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"The shoe's not very hot; and the blacksmith wouldn't hold it against +your hoof long enough to harm you," Ebenezer assured him.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels wriggled his nose.</p> + +<p>"I must say I don't care for this smoke," he remarked.</p> + +<p>"It's no pleasanter for the blacksmith than for you," Ebenezer reminded +him. "If I were you I shouldn't complain. Just see what pretty shoes the +blacksmith has made for you!"</p> + +<div class='figcenter' style='width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +<a name="illus-005" id="illus-005"></a> +<img src='images/illus-088.jpg' width='300' alt='Spot Tells Twinkleheels He is Slow. (_Page 90_)' title='' /><br /> +<span class='caption'>Spot Tells Twinkleheels He is Slow. (<i>Page 90</i>)</span> +</div> + +<p>"They're the nicest I've ever seen," Twinkleheels said. "After I wear +them a while and they get shiny on the bottoms, how they will twinkle in +the sunlight when I'm trotting along the road!"</p> + +<p>In a few minutes more the blacksmith had nailed all of Twinkleheels' +four shoes to his feet. It seemed to Twinkleheels that he could never +wait until Ebenezer was shod. He was in a great hurry to get out on the +street and show his new shoes to the people in the village.</p> + +<p>At last Ebenezer too was fitted out with new shoes. As Farmer Green led +him out of the shop, and Johnnie Green led Twinkleheels, a queer look +came over Twinkleheels' face.</p> + +<p>"My goodness!" he cried. "My feet feel very strange."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" Ebenezer asked him. "Surely your new shoes don't +hurt you!"</p> + +<p>"No! They don't hurt, exactly," Twinkleheels replied. "But my feet feel +terribly heavy. These iron shoes aren't as comfortable to wear as I had +expected."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You'll soon get used to them," said Ebenezer. "In a short time you +won't know you're wearing shoes—unless you happen to lose one."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels had supposed that when they reached Farmer Green's place +everybody that he met would speak about his new shoes. But nobody paid +any attention to them. Everybody seemed to stare at Johnnie Green as +soon as he jumped out of the buggy.</p> + +<p>"Why are folks looking at Johnnie?" Twinkleheels asked old dog Spot, who +had come running up to meet him.</p> + +<p>"Haven't you noticed?" Spot cried. "Didn't you <i>hear</i> anything when +Johnnie began to walk on the barn floor?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"Well, you're slow to-day," said Spot. "Johnnie Green's wearing some +new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> shoes that his father bought for him in the village. It's queer +that you didn't notice them.... Aren't they nice and squeaky?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r9855" id="r9855"></a> + +<h2>XIX<br/>THRASHING TIME</h2> +</div> + + +<p>The pair of bays were feeling grumpy. Thrashing time had come. And they +knew that they would have to spend long hours in the tread mill out in +the field, where the oats were stacked. They grumbled a good deal, as +they stood in their stalls.</p> + +<p>"I don't see why you object to turning the tread mill for Farmer Green," +Twinkleheels said to them. "I'd like to try my hand at it—or my feet, I +should say. I should think it would be great fun. Yesterday I saw +Johnnie Green and some other boys walking on the tread mill and making +it go. They seemed to find it a lark."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Huh!" said one of the bays. "They'd <i>hate</i> it if they had to walk up +hill hour after hour and never get anywhere. The noise of the tread mill +and the thrashing machine is most unpleasant."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be so bad," said his mate, "if Farmer Green would let us +eat all we wanted of the oats that we help thrash. But he doesn't give +us even an extra measure."</p> + +<p>"We'd run away," remarked the bay that had spoken first, "except that +running away wouldn't do us any good. All our running would only make +the mill turn faster."</p> + +<p>"We can't even stand still if we want to," his mate muttered. "There's a +bar that crosses the top of the tread mill, right in front of us. Farmer +Green ties us to it. There we are! When he unlocks the tread mill we +have to start walking or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> we'd slide down backwards; and unless our +halters broke, our necks would get a terrible stretching."</p> + +<p>The old horse Ebenezer, who stood between Twinkleheels and the bays and +couldn't miss hearing what was said, looked scornfully at the two +grumblers.</p> + +<p>"Think of the oats Farmer Green gives you every day!" he exclaimed. "I +should suppose you'd be glad to earn some of them."</p> + +<p>"The trouble is—" said the bay nearest him—"the trouble is, we have to +earn not only the oats that we eat, but those that Farmer Green feeds to +you and that pony."</p> + +<p>"I've helped thrash many a time," Ebenezer declared.</p> + +<p>"Well—I dare say you have," the bay admitted. "But what about that +pony? I never saw him do any work. I venture<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> to say that he's never +done a day's work in his life."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels couldn't help feeling uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"I'd be glad to help with the thrashing," he said. "But what can I do if +Farmer Green won't <i>let</i> me?"</p> + +<p>The bays talked to each other in an undertone. Then one of them said: +"You might refuse to eat any more oats."</p> + +<p>Somehow Twinkleheels did not care for that suggestion; and he said as +much.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter with hay?" the other bay asked him. "If you have +plenty of hay you ought to be satisfied."</p> + +<p>"No!" Twinkleheels told him. "I can't get along on hay alone. Johnnie +Green expects me to be spry and playful. And you know very well that a +horse or a pony can't be spirited without plenty of oats."</p> + +<p>Once more the bays muttered to each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> other in a low tone. And at last +they told Twinkleheels that he was greedy.</p> + +<p>"You don't need any oats," they said. "You have more to eat than we do, +all the time."</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels was astonished.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean," he cried. "Johnnie Green feeds me only +oats and hay; and that's no more than you have."</p> + +<p>"We don't agree with you," the bays retorted. "You have meal. And you +must eat a lot of it, too."</p> + +<p>"Never!" Twinkleheels declared. "Why do you say that?"</p> + +<p>"You have a mealy nose," they explained. "It always looks as if you'd +just eaten out of the meal bin."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r6991" id="r6991"></a> + +<h2>XX<br/>A MEALY NOSE</h2> +</div> + + +<p>It was true, as the bays had said, that Twinkleheels had a mealy nose. +So perhaps it was only natural that they should think he had meal to eat +when they didn't. And he hastened to explain matters to them.</p> + +<p>"My mealy nose," he said, "doesn't mean that I've been eating meal. My +nose happens to be the color of meal. All the brushing in the world +wouldn't change it."</p> + +<p>The bay pair snorted. It was plain that they didn't believe what +Twinkleheels told them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You can ask Ebenezer," Twinkleheels advised them. "He'll tell you that +what I say is true."</p> + +<p>"We don't want to ask him," said the bays. "Ask him yourself."</p> + +<p>"Don't be rude to this pony!" the old horse Ebenezer chided them. "If +you had spent more of your time off the farm, and seen more horses, +you'd know that mealy noses like his are not uncommon. In my younger +days, when I went to the county fair every fall, I used to meet a great +many horses. And I learned then that mealy noses are by no means rare."</p> + +<p>The bays stamped impatiently.</p> + +<p>"We don't care to argue about this pony's nose," said the one whose +stall was next to Ebenezer's. "His nose is a small matter. We do insist, +however, that he help with the thrashing. Maybe you've done your share +of the thrashing in times<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> past. But this pony's a loafer. We want to +see him work."</p> + +<p>Poor Twinkleheels felt most unhappy. "Haven't I said I'd like to walk on +the tread mill?" Twinkleheels cried. "But Farmer Green would never allow +me to."</p> + +<p>"We don't care to argue with you," said the bay who stood beside +Ebenezer. "You are altogether too small for us to bother with any +longer."</p> + +<p>"If I'm so small, then I shouldn't think what few oats I eat would annoy +you," said Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>"Oh, your appetite's big enough!" cried the other bay. "You're always +eating something. Yesterday we saw Johnnie Green ride you up to the +kitchen window where Mrs. Green was peeling potatoes. And she gave you a +potato. And you ate it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>"People are always feeding you," echoed the bay's bay mate.</p> + +<p>"How can I help that?" Twinkleheels asked them.</p> + +<p>"You could decline with thanks," they explained.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels shook his head.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be polite," he said. "Besides, I like potatoes and apples +and carrots even more than oats and hay."</p> + +<p>Just then Farmer Green came into the barn and backed the bays out of +their stalls. They both sighed.</p> + +<p>"We're in for it now," they told Ebenezer. "He's going to take us out +and make us walk on the tread mill."</p> + +<p>A little later Johnnie Green saddled Twinkleheels and followed his +father and the bays to the field where the thrashing machine stood +beside several stacks of oats.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before Johnnie and Twinkleheels arrived on the scene a great clatter +warned them that thrashing had already begun. Hurrying up, they found +the bays toiling up the endless path that slid always downward beneath +them.</p> + +<p>The bays were a glum appearing pair. Twinkleheels tried to speak to +them, but the thrashing machine made such a racket that they couldn't +hear him whinny; and he couldn't catch their eyes. They wouldn't look at +him.</p> + +<p>A stream of oats was pouring out of the grain spout. Johnnie Green +dismounted. Picking up a handful of the newly thrashed oats, he fed +Twinkleheels.</p> + +<p>The bays looked at Twinkleheels then. They looked at him with envy.</p> + +<p>"That pony has begun to eat up the new oats already," said one of the +bays to his mate. "I hoped he'd have the decency to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> decline them when +Johnnie Green offered him a taste."</p> + +<p>"Not he!" groaned his mate. "That pony even hinted to Johnnie Green that +he'd like some oats. I saw him hint, out of the corner of my eye."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" cried the other bay. "Twinkleheels not only has a mealy nose. He's +mealy-mouthed as well!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r8144" id="r8144"></a> + +<h2>XXI<br/>JUMPING MUD PUDDLES</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Johnnie Green had often ridden bareback. Lacking a pony, before +Twinkleheels came to the farm to live, he had ridden the old horse +Ebenezer back and forth between the barn and the pasture, guiding him by +his halter rope.</p> + +<p>Ebenezer was a steady old fellow. He never jumped nor shied. He +preferred walking to any other gait. Without a whip Johnnie Green had +hard work to make him trot. It took a great deal of drumming against his +ribs by Johnnie Green's heels to induce him to hurry his steps.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + +<p>Twinkleheels was different from Ebenezer. He was frisky. Yet Johnnie +sometimes put a bridle on him and rode him without a saddle. Especially +after the circus men came along and pasted posters on the barn Johnnie +Green liked to ride bareback. He had a notion that some day he would +learn to ride standing on Twinkleheels' back.</p> + +<p>Farmer Green, however, did not approve of that plan. When Johnnie +mentioned it to him he said "No!" in a most decided fashion. "That pony +would be sure to throw you," he told Johnnie.</p> + +<p>"I could try standing on Ebenezer first," Johnnie suggested. "His back +is broader. And he certainly wouldn't object."</p> + +<p>Somehow his father didn't care for that scheme either. "We don't want +any broken legs around here," he declared,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> "nor necks, either. Broken +necks are very slow to mend."</p> + +<p>So Johnnie Green had to give up his plan, for the time being. He made up +his mind, however, that when he was grown up he would learn to ride +standing up—and turn somersaults in the air off a horse's back. But now +he knew that he must content himself with less risky sports.</p> + +<p>Something happened one day that caused Johnnie to admit to himself the +wisdom of his father's advice. He was riding Twinkleheels along the +road, bareback, after a heavy rain. And the first thing that Johnnie +knew he was sitting almost on Twinkleheels' tail. Instead of splashing +through a big mud puddle, Twinkleheels had taken it into his head to +jump it.</p> + +<p>His leap took his rider unawares.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> Johnnie had slipped to the rear as if +Twinkleheels' back had been greased. And if he hadn't clutched the +bridle reins he would have dropped off into the very middle of the +puddle.</p> + +<p>After that Johnnie kept a sharp eye out for mud puddles. When he knew +that Twinkleheels was going to jump one he had no trouble in sticking to +his seat.</p> + +<p>Soon Johnnie decided once more that it would be easy to learn to be a +circus rider. Certainly it was no trick at all to sit on Twinkleheels' +bare back so long as he knew what the pony was going to do. It was as +easy as walking a tight rope. And that was a feat that Johnnie Green had +already mastered.</p> + +<p>He only broke a collar bone learning that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r3006" id="r3006"></a> + +<h2>XXII<br/>THE CIRCUS RIDER</h2> +</div> + + +<p>The next afternoon, when Johnnie went to the pasture with old dog Spot +to drive the cows home, he climbed a tree—not that climbing a tree +helped in any way to get the cows into the lane!</p> + +<p>Just for the moment Johnnie was a sailor—in his mind's eye. He went up +aloft to watch for a desert island, where pirate gold was hidden. And +circus riding would never have entered his head had not Twinkleheels, +who had been grazing in the pasture, come and stood under the tree into +which his young master had climbed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Johnnie came down out of the rigging of his ship—or when he +slipped down through the branches of the tree—Twinkleheels stood just +beneath the lowest limb. Johnnie Green swung off it, hung by his arms +for a moment, and then dropped astride of Twinkleheels' back.</p> + +<p>It may have been because old dog Spot let out a delighted yelp at that +instant. It may have been that Twinkleheels hadn't expected Johnnie to +mount him in that unusual fashion. Anyhow, he gave one jump and then +stood up on his hind legs.</p> + +<p>Johnnie Green didn't even have time to grab at Twinkleheels' mane. He +slid off Twinkleheels' back and struck the ground with a dull thud.</p> + +<p>For a few moments he lay there, unable to breathe. Then he struggled to +his feet and ran round and round in a circle,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> doubled up and groaning. +There was a strange, strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He +feared he would never be able to get his breath again.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels paid no heed to him, but nibbled at choice clumps of grass +and clover quite as if nothing had happened.</p> + +<p>Old dog Spot, however, seemed to think that Johnnie Green was having a +good time and enjoying himself thoroughly. Spot capered about him, +barking furiously.</p> + +<p>"Don't!" Johnnie managed to gasp. "Don't laugh, Spot! I'm terribly hurt. +I don't believe I'll ever get well again."</p> + +<p>But in a few moments he succeeded in drawing a long, deep breath. He lay +down upon the ground then and drew another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> and another and another. +Already he began to feel better. And soon he stood up gingerly and felt +of himself all over. To his great surprise, nothing seemed to be broken +except his suspenders.</p> + +<p>Old Spot came up and put his paws against Johnnie and barked.</p> + +<p>"Let's have a good romp!" he begged. Or at least that was what Johnnie +understood him to say.</p> + +<p>"No, Spot!" Johnnie answered. "Not now! I don't feel like running. You +wouldn't, either, if you had just had the breath knocked out of you."</p> + +<p>Then Johnnie went soberly about the business of driving the cows home. +At last he got them all started down the lane, put up the bars, and +followed them.</p> + +<p>As he reached the barn Johnnie looked up curiously at the pictures of +circus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> riders in pink tights gayly disporting themselves on the backs +of dappled gray horses.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" he muttered. "I don't believe that's half the fun I always +thought it was."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r3621" id="r3621"></a> + +<h2>XXIII<br/>GOING FISHING</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Twinkleheels never had any great liking for whips. Johnnie Green kept a +long one in the socket beside the dashboard of his little red-wheeled +buggy. And he had a shorter one that he carried in his hand when he rode +on Twinkleheels' back.</p> + +<p>Whenever Twinkleheels drew the buggy he seemed always to keep at least +one eye on the snapper of the whip, for Twinkleheels could see behind +him easily.</p> + +<p>He rarely needed urging. On the contrary, Johnnie Green often had to +pull quite hard upon the reins to keep him from going too fast. And when +a lazy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> mood came over Twinkleheels the merest shake of the whip in its +socket was enough to send him forward with a jump.</p> + +<p>When Johnnie rode him he never had to give Twinkleheels a cut with his +riding whip. Just a touch of it was all that was needed—if Twinkleheels +happened to be a bit headstrong and didn't quite agree with Johnnie as +to where they should go.</p> + +<p>Well, on a certain summer's day, after school was out, Johnnie Green +decided to go fishing in Black Creek. His mother made him a luncheon to +take with him, he dug some angleworms in the garden for bait, and the +hired man consented to let him take a long pole that he used himself +when he fished in the river.</p> + +<p>Then Johnnie backed Twinkleheels out of his stall and threw the saddle +on him. Farmer Green chanced to be in the barn at the time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You don't intend to ride the pony and carry all those things, do you?" +he asked Johnnie. "It seems to me that a basket, a tin can, a fish pole +and a boy would ride much better in the buggy than horseback."</p> + +<p>Now, Johnnie Green did not always agree with his father. He expected to +meet some other boys at the creek. They were going on horseback. And +Johnnie wanted to do likewise. Besides, there might be a horseback race. +And he didn't want to miss that.</p> + +<p>"I don't want to bother with the buggy," he told his father. "This way's +easier. I shan't have any trouble carrying these things."</p> + +<p>"Suit yourself, then!" said Farmer Green. "I think my way's better. But +if you want to try yours, go ahead! You won't be half as comfortable, +though, as you would be if you went in the buggy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> And you know you may +have some fish to carry, too, when you come home."</p> + +<p>"Yes!" said Johnnie. "But I won't have any lunch."</p> + +<p>Being determined to ride on Twinkleheels' back, he buckled the saddle +girth and slipped on the pony's bridle. Then he led him out of the barn, +clutched the basket, the tin pail, and the reins as well in one hand, +mounted, and then reached out his other hand for the pole, which he had +leaned against the side of the barn.</p> + +<p>"I'll show Father that he's mistaken," he said to himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;'> +<a name="r5569" id="r5569"></a> + +<h2>XXIV<br/>BOYS WILL BE BOYS</h2> +</div> + + +<p>Up to the moment that Johnnie Green reached out a hand for the long fish +pole Twinkleheels had behaved like a little gentleman. He saw that +something unusual was afoot. And feeling quite sure that it was some +kind of fun, he was glad that he was going to have a part in it.</p> + +<p>"I hope Johnnie has some oats for me in that basket," he thought.</p> + +<p>Just then Johnnie caught up the pole.</p> + +<p>"Oats and corn!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "What's he going to do with +that enormous whip?" He was so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> startled that he jumped sideways, and +Johnnie Green all but lost his seat on Twinkleheels' back. As he lurched +in the saddle he brought the fish pole smartly against Twinkleheels' +head.</p> + +<p>"I won't stand this," Twinkleheels decided. "I don't see what Johnnie is +thinking of, to beat me over the head. I've certainly done nothing to +deserve such treatment." Thereupon he dashed madly across the farmyard +and made for the orchard.</p> + +<p>"Whoa!" cried Johnnie Green.</p> + +<p>"Whoa!" cried his father. "Stop him! Hang to him! Don't let him run!"</p> + +<p>"He'll have to drop that great whip if he expects me to mind," +Twinkleheels said with a snort.</p> + +<p>Johnnie's hands were so full of a number of things that he could do +little more than stick to the saddle.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Drop that junk that you're carrying!" Farmer Green shouted.</p> + +<p>"Why doesn't he tell Johnnie to drop that long whip?" Twinkleheels +muttered to himself.</p> + +<p>What Farmer Green said was of no account, anyhow, for Johnnie was so +busy that he didn't hear a word of his father's advice.</p> + +<p>Twinkleheels had reached the orchard and already was tearing in and out +among the trees. The tin pail containing Johnnie's bait slipped from his +grasp and clattered upon the ground, causing Twinkleheels to run all the +faster. The fish pole struck the tree trunks right and left. One end of +it lodged for an instant in a branch, while the other end nearly swept +Johnnie off Twinkleheels' back. Still Johnnie Green clung to it and to +his lunch basket as well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wh-wh-whoa! Wh-wh-whoa!" Jolted as he was, he couldn't get a whole word +out of his mouth at a time. He could only jerk a word out piecemeal.</p> + +<p>If the fish pole hadn't at last snapped off short, leaving only the butt +of it in Johnnie's hand, there's no telling when Twinkleheels would have +stopped.</p> + +<p>Finding himself with only a bit of the pole left in his hand, Johnnie +gave it a fling, slipped an arm through the handle of his lunch basket, +and set to pulling mightily on the bridle reins.</p> + +<p>"There!" said Twinkleheels. "There goes that whip. I'm glad I broke it. +Now I'll let Johnnie pull me down to a walk—but not too quickly."</p> + +<p>With Johnnie Green tugging steadily, Twinkleheels changed from a run to +a canter, from a canter to a trot, from a trot to a walk; and finally +stood still.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Johnnie turned him around and rode slowly back to the barn. He +jumped down, unbuckled the girth, and drew off Twinkleheels' saddle.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?" his father asked him. "You haven't given up going +fishing—have you?"</p> + +<p>"No!" Johnnie answered. "I'm going to harness Twinkleheels to the buggy. +And I'll cut a pole at the creek."</p> + +<p>His father said nothing more. But he smiled a little to himself when +Johnnie wasn't looking his way.</p> + +<p>"Boys will be boys," Farmer Green remarked after Johnnie had gone.</p> + +<p>"Yes!" the hired man agreed. "And ponies will be ponies."</p> + +<p>They may have been talking in riddles.</p> + +<p>Anyhow, they seemed to understand each other.</p> + +<p style='text-align: center'><br/><br/>THE END<br/></p> + +<hr class='full' /> + +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> +<p>1. Punctuation has been brought into conformity with +contemporary standards.</p> +<p>2. Frontispiece illustration relocated to after title page.</p> +<p>3. Typographic errors corrected in original:<br/> + p. 18 Twinkleheels's to Twinkleheels' ("took Twinkleheels' halter")<br/> + p. 58 Johnne to Johnnie ("for Johnnie Green")<br/> +</p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 18656-h.txt or 18656-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/5/18656">http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/6/5/18656</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Smith + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Tale of Pony Twinkleheels + + +Author: Arthur Scott Bailey + + + +Release Date: June 22, 2006 [eBook #18656] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS*** + + +E-text prepared by Roger Frank and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18656-h.htm or 18656-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/5/18656/18656-h/18656-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/5/18656/18656-h.zip) + + + + + +Slumber-Town Tales +(Trademark Registered) + +THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS + +by + +ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + +Author of +"Sleepy-Time Tales" +(Trademark Registered) +"Tuck-Me-In Tales" +(Trademark Registered) + +Illustrated by Harry L. Smith + + + + + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap Publishers +Publishers +Made in the United States of America +Copyright, 1921, by Grosset & Dunlap + + + +[Illustration: Twinkleheels Races With Ebenezer. Frontispiece (Page 44)] + + + * * * * * * * + + +SLUMBER-TOWN TALES +(Trademark Registered) + +by + +ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY + +AUTHOR OF +_SLEEPY-TIME TALES_ (Trademark Registered) +_TUCK-ME-IN TALES_ (Trademark Registered) + +The Tale of the Muley Cow +The Tale of Old Dog Spot +The Tale of Grunty Pig +The Tale of Henrietta Hen +The Tale of Turkey Proudfoot +The Tale of Pony Twinkleheels +The Tale of Miss Kitty Cat + + + * * * * * * * + + +CONTENTS + +I A BIG LITTLE PONY 1 +II FUN IN THE PASTURE 6 +III TRICKING TWINKLEHEELS 10 +IV THE CHEATER CHEATED 15 +V FLYING FEET 21 +VI PICKING CURRANTS 26 +VII CAUGHT! 31 +VIII A GOOD SLEEPER 36 +IX THE RACE 41 +X EBENEZER'S RECORD 46 +XI BRIGHT AND BROAD 51 +XII NO SCHOOL TO-DAY 56 +XIII FUN AND GRUMBLES 61 +XIV STUCK IN A DRIFT 66 +XV STEPPING HIGH 71 +XVI THE BLACKSMITH'S SHOP 77 +XVII A WHITE VIXEN 81 +XVIII NEW SHOES 86 +XIX THRASHING TIME 92 +XX A MEALY NOSE 97 +XXI JUMPING MUD PUDDLES 103 +XXII THE CIRCUS RIDER 107 +XXIII GOING FISHING 112 +XXIV BOYS WILL BE BOYS 116 + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Twinkleheels Races With Ebenezer. (Page 44) Frontispiece +Twinkleheels Tells Spot About Kicking. (Page 34) 32 +Twinkleheels Talks to the Oxen. (Page 54) 56 +Spot Tells Twinkleheels He is Slow. (Page 90) 88 + + + + + + +THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS + +I + +A BIG LITTLE PONY + + +When Johnnie Green sent him along the road at a trot, Twinkleheels' tiny +feet moved so fast that you could scarcely have told one from another. +Being a pony, and only half as big as a horse, he had to move his legs +twice as quickly as a horse did in order to travel at a horse's speed. +Twinkleheels' friends knew that he didn't care to be beaten by any +horse, no matter how long-legged. + +"It's spirit, not size, that counts," Farmer Green often remarked as +he watched Twinkleheels tripping out of the yard, sometimes with +Johnnie on his back, sometimes drawing Johnnie in a little, red-wheeled +buggy. + +Old dog Spot agreed with Farmer Green. When Twinkleheels first came to +live on the farm Spot had thought him something of a joke. + +"Huh! This pony's nothing but a toy," he had told the farmyard folk. +"He's a child's plaything--about as much use as the little wooly dog +that lives down by the sawmill." + +One trip to the village and back, behind Johnnie Green's glistening new +buggy, was enough to change Spot's opinion of the newcomer. Back from +the village Twinkleheels came clipping up the road and swung through +Farmer Green's front gate as fresh as a daisy. And old Spot, with his +tongue lolling out, and panting fast, was glad to lie down on the +woodshed step to rest. + +"My goodness!" said Spot to Miss Kitty Cat. "This Twinkleheels is the +_goingest_ animal I ever followed. He doesn't seem to know the +difference between uphill and down. It's all the same to him. I did +think he'd walk now and then, or I'd never have travelled to the village +behind him." + +"He's not lazy, like some people," Miss Kitty Cat hissed; and then crept +into the farmhouse before Spot could chase her. She had a poor opinion +of old Spot. And she never failed to let him know it. + +It was true that Twinkleheels was not lazy. And it was just as true that +he liked to play. When Johnnie Green turned him loose in the pasture he +kicked and frisked about so gayly that Jimmy Rabbit and Billy Woodchuck +and their friends had to step lively now and then, to get out of his +way. They said they liked high spirits, but that Twinkleheels was almost +too playful. + +When Twinkleheels took it into his head to do anything he did it without +the slightest warning. If he decided to shy at a bit of paper he was out +of the road before Johnnie Green knew what had happened. And if he +wanted to take a wrong turn, just for fun, he darted off so fast that he +usually had his way before Johnnie could shout "Whoa!" Everybody said +that he was as quick as Miss Kitty Cat. And that was the same as saying +that there wasn't anybody any quicker--unless it was Grumpy Weasel +himself. + +But Twinkleheels and Miss Kitty were not alike in any other way; for +Twinkleheels was both merry and good-natured. He let Johnnie Green pick +up his feet, one at a time, and clean them. And the worst he ever did +was to give Johnnie a playful nip, just as Johnnie himself might have +pinched the boy that sat in front of him at school. + +Only, of course, Johnnie Green wouldn't have used his teeth to do that. + + + + +II + +FUN IN THE PASTURE + + +The first time he tried to catch Twinkleheels in the pasture, Johnnie +Green found his new pet entirely too playful to suit him. In response to +Johnnie's whistling Twinkleheels came galloping towards the bars. But +when he caught sight of the halter that Johnnie held he stopped short. +And he snorted, as if to say, "I don't believe I'll go with you. I'm +having too much fun here." + +"Come on!" Johnnie called. "We're going to the village." + +But that news didn't catch Twinkleheels. When Johnnie Green began to +walk towards him Twinkleheels waited until his young master reached out +a hand to take hold of his mane. Then Twinkleheels wheeled like a flash +and tore off across the pasture, leaving Johnnie to clutch the empty +air. + +Johnnie chased him, crying, "Whoa! Whoa!" It seemed that the faster he +ran the faster Twinkleheels drew away from him. So Johnnie soon fell +into a walk. At last Twinkleheels stopped and waited for him, pricking +up his ears at Johnnie's whistle. Now, however, he wouldn't let Johnnie +get within a dozen feet of him. + +"This is great sport!" Twinkleheels chuckled as he dashed away again. + +Johnnie Green, however, did not enjoy the sport. After following +Twinkleheels all over the pasture he became tired and breathless. + +Back toward the barn he turned at last. + +As he climbed over the fence he looked at Twinkleheels, who stood on a +knoll and regarded him pleasantly. + +"I'll get you yet!" Johnnie called to him. "You needn't think you can +beat me!" + +Twinkleheels dropped his head, flung his hind feet into the air twice, +and galloped off. He was sorry that Johnnie Green had stopped chasing +him. + +Johnnie found his father at work in the barn. + +"What shall I do?" Johnnie asked him. "I can't catch Twinkleheels. I've +been trying for about an hour. And he won't let me get near enough to +him to grab him." + +Farmer Green laughed. + +"He's a rascal," he said. "You'll have to coax him with something to +eat. Put a few handfuls of oats in the four-quart measure and hold it up +so he can see it. Shake it, too, so he can hear the oats swishing around +in it. You'll get him that way." + +Johnnie Green hastened to carry out his father's plan. And he was +smiling as he stepped through the doorway, holding the four-quart +measure and shaking it to hear the sound that the oats made inside it. +Then his father called to him. + +"You'd better keep the halter behind you, when you get to the pasture," +Farmer Green said. "If Twinkleheels saw it he might not come--oats or no +oats." + +Johnnie Green chuckled. + + + + +III + +TRICKING TWINKLEHEELS + + +Clutching in one hand the four-quart measure with a taste of oats in it, +and holding the halter carefully behind his back, Johnnie Green walked +slowly towards Twinkleheels. He called with short, sharp whistles--all +on one note. And Twinkleheels soon came cantering up from the other side +of the brook, where he had been feeding. As he neared Johnnie Green he +slowed down to a walk. + +Johnnie stood still and shook the oats about inside the measure, holding +it up so that Twinkleheels could see it. + +Twinkleheels whinnied. He knew that sound. He thought it one of the +pleasantest on the farm. He, too, stopped. Then he moved forward a few +steps, stopped again, sniffed, and at last came straight up to Johnnie +and thrust his nose into the grain measure. + +While he was munching the oats Johnnie Green passed the end of the +halter rope about his neck. + +"There!" Johnnie cried. "There, young fellow! Now I've got you. And +you'll never lead me such a merry chase again." + +Twinkleheels acted as mild as the Muley Cow. He stood perfectly still +while Johnnie slipped the halter on his head and buckled it. Then he +followed Johnnie to the pasture bars, down the lane, and into the barn. + +"I got him!" Johnnie called to his father. + +"I thought you would," said Farmer Green. "That pony likes oats too well +to resist a taste of them." + +After that Johnnie had little trouble catching Twinkleheels in the +pasture. Somehow the sound of the shaking oats, and the sight of the +grain measure, seemed to put all thought of the halter out of his head. + +To be sure, once Johnnie forgot what he was doing and hid the oats +behind his back, while he held the halter up in front of him and shook +that at Twinkleheels. And it was an hour, that time, before Twinkleheels +would let Johnnie come near him. + +But that was a mistake. + +One day Johnnie Green was in a great hurry. He was going to ride over +the hill, to play with some friends. Running to the barn, he caught up +Twinkleheels' halter and snatched the four-quart measure off the top of +a barrel. + +"I won't stop to take any oats to-day," Johnnie said to himself. "I'll +fool Twinkleheels. It will be a good joke on him when he puts his nose +into the measure and finds it empty." + +Johnnie Green hurried to the pasture. At his first whistle Twinkleheels +pricked up his ears. He had come to think only of one thing when that +whistle sounded in the pasture. That one thing was _oats_. And now +Twinkleheels squealed and kicked and tore down the hillside to the bars, +where Johnnie Green stood and waved the grain measure in the air. + +Twinkleheels had long since given up stopping to listen for the swish of +the oats inside the measure. He came trotting up to Johnnie and reached +his head out for the treat that he had always found waiting for him. + +He thrust his nose into the measure. There was something wrong. He blew +into the measure. Then he snorted and drew back. And if Johnnie Green +hadn't been spry Twinkleheels would have given him the slip. + +But Johnnie grabbed him and had the halter on him in a twinkling. + +"I fooled you this time," said Johnnie as he turned to let down the +pasture bars. + +Twinkleheels hung his head. + + + + +IV + +THE CHEATER CHEATED + + +Johnnie Green thought he had done something quite clever. He had coaxed +Twinkleheels up to him in the pasture with an empty grain measure. + +Twinkleheels, however, had his own ideas about the matter. + +"This boy," he said to old dog Spot, "has cheated me." + +Spot lay on the barn floor, looking on while Johnnie Green harnessed +Twinkleheels. + +"This boy," Twinkleheels explained, "made me think he had some oats for +me. He caught me unfairly." + +Old dog Spot grinned. "Can't you take a joke?" he asked. + +"This is no joke," Twinkleheels grumbled. "Johnnie is going to drive me +over the hill. They're going to have a ball game over there. And you +know folks are always in a hurry when they're going to a ball +game--especially boys. And they're in the most terrible hurry of all +when somebody else has to get them there. If Johnny Green had to walk, +maybe he'd think there was time to stop and rest now and then." + +Old Spot recalled the day when he followed Twinkleheels to the village +and back. + +"I don't see what you're grumbling about," he remarked. "I've run behind +your little buggy and you kept snapping the miles off as if it was the +easiest thing you did." + +"_You'd_ grumble yourself if you were cheated of a taste of oats that +you were expecting," said Twinkleheels. + +"I never eat oats," Spot retorted. + +"Then you don't know what's good," Twinkleheels declared. "After getting +your mouth all made up for oats, it's pretty disappointing to chew on +nothing more appetizing than an iron bit." + +Old dog Spot snickered. + +Twinkleheels stamped one of his tiny feet upon the barn floor. + +"It will never happen again!" he cried. + +Old Spot gave him a sharp look. + +"I hope," he said, "you don't intend to hurt Johnnie Green. I hope you +aren't planning to run away with him." + +"No!" Twinkleheels assured him. "I'm too well trained to run away, +though I must say Johnnie Green deserves a spill. But of course I +wouldn't do such a thing as to tip the buggy over. What I have in mind +is something quite different. It's harmless." And that was all he would +say. + +He took Johnnie Green to the ball game. And he brought him home again. +He was so well-behaved that when Johnnie turned him into the pasture, +afterward, Johnnie never dreamed that Twinkleheels could be planning any +mischief. + +The next morning Johnnie took Twinkleheels' halter and the four-quart +measure with three big handfuls of oats in it. Then he walked up the +lane to the pasture, leaned over the bars and whistled. + +Though there was no pony in sight, Twinkleheels soon came strolling out +from behind a clump of bushes. He took his own time in picking his way +down the hillside, as though he might be glad to keep Johnnie Green +waiting. + +"Come on! Come on!" Johnnie called. "Come and get your oats!" And he +shook the measure before him. + +To his great surprise, Twinkleheels didn't come running up and reach out +to get the oats. Instead, he stopped short, with his feet planted +squarely under him, as if he didn't intend to budge. Johnnie Green took +one step towards him. And then Twinkleheels whisked around and ran. He +shook his head and kicked up his heels. And something very like a laugh +came floating back to Johnnie Green's ears. + +Johnnie followed him all over the pasture. And when the dinner horn +sounded at the farmhouse Johnnie had to go home without Twinkleheels. + +The afternoon was half gone before Twinkleheels let his young master put +the halter on him. By that time Johnnie Green had learned something that +he never forgot. + +Never again did he cheat Twinkleheels with an empty measure. He knew +that Twinkleheels expected fair play, just as much as the boys with whom +Johnnie played ball, over the hill. + + + + +V + +FLYING FEET + + +When July brought hot, dry weather and the grass became short in the +pasture Johnnie Green no longer turned Twinkleheels out to graze. He +kept him in a stall in the barn and fed him oats and hay three times a +day. + +It was at that time that Johnnie Green made an interesting discovery. A +row of currant bushes grew behind the barn. And one day when Johnnie +stripped off a few stems of the red fruit and stood in the back door of +the barn, eating it, he happened to snap a currant at Twinkleheels. + +The result both pleased and surprised him. When the currant struck +Twinkleheels he laid back his ears, dropped his head, and let fly with +both hind feet. + +Johnnie Green promptly forgot that he had intended to eat those +currants. One by one he threw them at Twinkleheels. It made no +difference where they hit the pony. Whenever he felt one, he kicked. +Sometimes he kicked only the air; sometimes his feet crashed against the +side of his stall. + +Throwing currants at Twinkleheels became one of Johnnie Green's favorite +sports. Whenever boys from neighboring farms came to play with him, +Johnnie was sure to entertain them by taking them out behind the barn to +show them how high he could make Twinkleheels kick. + +As a mark of special favor, Johnnie would sometimes let his friends +flick a few currants at his pet. And sometimes they would even pelt the +old horse Ebenezer, who stood in the stall next to Twinkleheels. There +was little fun in that, however. Ebenezer refused to kick. The first +currant generally brought him out of a doze, with a start. But after +that he wouldn't budge, except perhaps to turn his head and look with a +bored expression at the boys in the doorway. + +Johnnie Green and his friends were not alone in enjoying this sport. Old +dog Spot joined them when he could. Unfortunately, when Twinkleheels +kicked, old Spot always wanted to bark. And Johnnie didn't like noise at +such times. He and his friends were always amazingly quiet when they +were engaged in currant throwing behind the barn. And they were always +peering about as if they didn't want to be caught there. + +"Run out to the barn and tell your father that dinner's almost ready," +Mrs. Green said to Johnnie one day. + +"He's not in the barn," Johnnie answered. + +"Are you sure?" Mrs. Green asked. "I thought I heard him hammering out +there a few minutes ago." + +"No!" Johnnie murmured. "Father's in the hayfield." + +"That's queer," said his mother. "I was sure I heard hammering.... Well, +blow the horn, then! I don't want dinner to spoil." + +So Johnnie Green blew several loud blasts on the horn. And he was glad +to do it, for it gave him an excuse for having a red face. + +He threw no more currants at Twinkleheels that day. Somehow it didn't +seem just the wisest thing to do. But the next morning he made +Twinkleheels kick a few times. "It's really good for him," Johnnie tried +to make himself believe. "He needs the exercise." + + + + +VI + +PICKING CURRANTS + + +If there was one sort of work that Johnnie Green had always disliked +more than another, it was picking currants. Of course he didn't object +to strolling up to a currant bush and taking a few currants for his own +use, on the spot. What he hated was having to fill pail after pail full +of currants for his mother to make jelly and jam. + +It was queer. He certainly liked jelly. And he liked jam. But he had +never found currant picking anything but dull. He always groaned aloud +when his mother told him that the currants were ripe enough to be +picked. And he always had a dozen reasons why he couldn't pick them just +then. + +Now, however, currant picking didn't seem such a bore to Johnnie. When +his mother announced at the supper table one evening that Johnnie would +have to begin picking currants right after breakfast the next morning he +didn't make a single objection. And he had intended to go swimming the +next day! + +"I think--" Johnnie remarked--"I think some of the boys would like to +help. After supper I'll ride Twinkleheels over the hill and ask the boys +to pick currants with me in the morning." + +Farmer Green and his wife listened to this speech with amazement. + +"I never heard of a boy that liked to pick currants," said Johnnie's +father. "Still, you can try if you want to." + +"Come home before it gets dark!" said his mother. + +"Look out for that pony!" Farmer Green exclaimed. "I don't know what's +come over him. I stepped into his stall to-day and he kicked at me. I've +never known him to do that before." + +Johnnie Green promised to be careful, and to come home early. Having +important business on his hands, he hurried away without a second piece +of cake. And that was a most unusual oversight on his part. + +In the morning three boys appeared before Johnnie had finished his +breakfast. Though they had already eaten theirs, they accepted Mrs. +Green's invitation to sit at the table and have some griddlecakes and +maple syrup. "If you boys are going to pick currants you'll want a good, +big breakfast," she told them. + +There was no doubt that they agreed with her. + +"If they're as lively at picking as they are at eating you'll have all +the currants in the kitchen by noon," Farmer Green remarked to his wife +with a laugh as the boys trooped off toward the barn with their tin +pails. + +A few minutes later a noise as of terrific pounding reached the ears of +Farmer Green as he stood talking with his wife. + +"What's that?" he muttered. "It sounds as if the barn was falling down." + +He ran out of doors. The racket came from the barn. There was no doubt +of that. And he could hear Spot barking. + +Farmer Green hurried across the yard. Somehow he guessed that Johnnie +and his helpers had a hand in whatever was going on. Farmer Green did +not run toward the broad front door of the barn. Instead he circled to +the back of the barn and peeped around the corner. What he saw caused +him no great surprise. + + + + +VII + +CAUGHT! + + +There was a good deal of giggling and loud whispering at the back door +of the barn. It ceased instantly when Farmer Green cried "Stop that!" in +a loud voice. + +Johnnie Green and his friends looked startled--and sheepish, too. They +had been throwing currants through the doorway, to make Twinkleheels +kick. + +The boys fell back a few steps as Farmer Green joined them. + +"Was Twinkleheels doing all that kicking?" Farmer Green asked Johnnie. +"It was so loud that I thought the barn would fall down any minute." + +"We threw a few currants at old Ebenezer," Johnnie Green explained +somewhat faintly. + +His father gave him a sharp look. + +"Huh!" Farmer Green grunted. "_He_ didn't kick--did he?" + +"N-no! N-no, sir!" + +"Did you throw at the bays?" Johnnie's father demanded. + +"Only once or twice!" Johnnie confessed. + +"Once or twice is too much," his father said sternly. "Don't meddle with +the bays. And don't tease the pony, either. You've chosen the surest way +to make a kicker of him. + +"How long," Farmer Green demanded, "has this business been going on?" + +"Only a short time!" Johnnie assured him. "I never threw any currants +until they began to ripen." + +[Illustration: Twinkleheels Tells Spot About Kicking. (Page 34)] + +"I suppose," said his father, "you never threw any until there were some +to throw." + +Johnnie Green appeared much more cheerful when he heard that remark of +his father's. Although Farmer Green's face wore a frown, and his voice +sounded most severe, Johnnie could tell that he was laughing, _inside_. + +"Come on!" Johnnie cried to his friends. "Let's get to work. If we +hustle we can get the currants all picked by noon." + +So long as Farmer Green stood there they all picked as busily as +squirrels. But after he left them the boys found so much to talk about +that they made little progress. It was a temptation, too, to flick a +currant into the face of another picker and see him jump. + +Finally the neighbors' boys announced that they were going swimming. +"Come along over to the swimming hole!" they urged Johnnie. "You can +finish picking these currants later." + +But Johnnie Green said that he couldn't leave his work. Though his +helpers left him, he stayed behind the barn and picked currants. Somehow +he felt that he ought to be on his best behavior--at least for a day or +two. + +"It was a pity that Johnnie Green's father caught him," old dog Spot +remarked to Twinkleheels after Farmer Green put an end to the boys' fun. +"I enjoyed the sport," said Spot. + +"If you're so fond of kicking, just step up behind me!" Twinkleheels +urged him. + +"No, thank you!" said Spot. "I don't want one of my ribs cracked." + +"Ho!" cried Twinkleheels. "Who said anything about _one_ rib? I'll crack +all of them for you if you'll come where I can reach you." + +Spot moved further away. + +"Do you mean that?" he asked in a somewhat frightened voice. + +"Certainly not!" said Twinkleheels. + +"You kicked at Farmer Green yesterday," Spot reminded him. + +"Yes! But I never touched him," Twinkleheels answered. "I only wanted to +see him jump." + + + + +VIII + +A GOOD SLEEPER + + +Twinkleheels' stall was an end one. Next to him stood the old horse +Ebenezer; and beyond Ebenezer were the two bays. Twinkleheels often +wished that he might have someone for his nearest neighbor that was a +bit livelier than Ebenezer. When the old horse stayed in the barn he +spent a great deal of his time with his eyes half shut, dozing. If +Twinkleheels spoke to him, Ebenezer seldom heard him the first time. And +often Ebenezer even fell asleep while Twinkleheels was talking to him. + +Twinkleheels always moved smartly. Ebenezer took his time about +everything. When anybody backed him between the thills of a wagon he was +as slow as Timothy Turtle and no more graceful. And while people +harnessed him he usually sighed heavily now and then, because he dreaded +being hurried along the road. + +Before Twinkleheels came to the farm to live, Johnnie Green had thought +it quite a lark to drive or ride Ebenezer. Now, however, Johnnie paid +little heed to the old horse. And, to tell the truth, Ebenezer was +content to be let alone. + +"This boy must have found it a bit poky, riding you," Twinkleheels +remarked to Ebenezer one day when he noticed that the old horse was +actually wide-awake. + +"He found me safe," Ebenezer replied. "That's why Farmer Green let +Johnnie ride me." + +"It's a wonder you didn't fall asleep and tumble down and throw +Johnnie," Twinkleheels said. + +"I'm very sure-footed," Ebenezer told him proudly. "Of course, a person +will step on a loose stone now and then. But I've never really stumbled +in my whole life." + +"How old are you?" Twinkleheels inquired. + +"I'm twenty," Ebenezer told him. + +"And you've never stumbled in all that time!" Twinkleheels cried. "How +did you manage to stay on your feet like that?" + +"By minding my business," Ebenezer explained with a shrewd glance at his +young companion. The answer--and the look--were both lost on +Twinkleheels. + +"I heard Farmer Green tell Johnnie to turn me and you into the pasture +to-morrow," he told Ebenezer. + +"Don't you mean 'you and me'?" Ebenezer suggested mildly. + +"Well, it's the same thing, isn't it?" Twinkleheels retorted. + +"There's a slight difference," said Ebenezer. "I see there are some +things you've never been taught. Colts were different when I was a +yearling." + +Twinkleheels looked almost angry. + +"I hope," he snapped, "you don't take me for a yearling. Just because +I'm a pony--and small--you needn't think I'm an infant. Why, I'm five +years old!" + +Old Ebenezer yawned. It seemed as if he was always sleepy. + +"You've a good deal to learn," he said. "When I was five I thought I +knew everything.... I still find that I can learn something almost every +day." + +Twinkleheels sniffed. "I don't believe you've picked up much that was +new to-day," he said. "You've been dozing every moment, except when you +ate your meals." + +To his great disgust, Ebenezer gave a sort of snort. He no longer heard +anything that his youthful neighbor said. + +"I'll see that he learns something in the pasture to-morrow," +Twinkleheels promised himself. "I'll get him to race with me--if he can +stay awake long enough. And I'll show him such a burst of speed as he's +never seen in all his twenty years." + + + + +IX + +THE RACE + + +When Johnnie Green turned Twinkleheels and the old horse Ebenezer into +the pasture, the first thing they did was to drop down on the grass and +enjoy a good roll. + +There was a vast difference in their actions. Twinkleheels was as spry +as a squirrel. He rolled from one side to the other and back again, +jumped up and shook himself like old dog Spot, almost before Ebenezer +had picked out a nice, smooth place to roll on. + +Ebenezer bent his legs beneath him in a gingerly fashion and sank with +something like a sigh upon the green, grassy carpet. It was only with a +great effort that he managed at last to roll all the way over; and then +he couldn't roll back again. Clumsily he flung his fore feet in front of +himself and by a mighty heave pulled himself off the ground. + +"Slow, isn't he?" Twinkleheels remarked to the Muley Cow, who was +chewing her cud and looking on. + +"He doesn't get up the right way," said the Muley Cow. "When rising from +the ground one should stand on his hind feet first." + +"I don't agree with you," Twinkleheels told her. "Ebenezer uses the +right method. But he's terribly poky about it. You can almost hear his +joints creak." + +The Muley Cow was somewhat offended. + +"I've known Ebenezer a great many years," she snapped. "I don't care to +hear a young upstart--a mere pony--make fun of him." + +Twinkleheels moved away. He felt the least bit uncomfortable. + +"I don't like your young friend," said the Muley Cow to the old horse +Ebenezer. "He hasn't a proper respect for old people like you and me." + +"Oh, he's not a bad sort," Ebenezer replied. "He has a good many things +to learn. Perhaps he'll be wiser by night. I shouldn't worry about him, +if I were you." + +The Muley Cow told Ebenezer that he was entirely too good-natured. And +they went their own ways, grazing and rambling aimlessly about the +pasture. + +Now and then, during the day, they chanced to meet. And always the Muley +Cow asked Ebenezer if Twinkleheels had learned anything more. + +"Not yet!" Ebenezer said, each time. "The day's not done till sunset." + +Well, late in the afternoon Johnnie Green came slowly up the lane and +stood by the pasture bars and whistled. Twinkleheels and Ebenezer +happened to be together when they heard that cheerful chirp. + +"I'll race you to the bars!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. + +"Agreed!" cried Ebenezer. The word was no sooner out of his mouth than +he started with a rush. He was three jumps ahead of Twinkleheels before +that surprised pony began to run. + +"I'll soon catch the old horse," Twinkleheels thought. "He can't last +long. I'll pass him before we reach the brook." + +Before Twinkleheels came to the brook Ebenezer had crossed it in one +mighty leap. He was pounding along with a powerful stride over the firm +turf of the pasture. And behind him Twinkleheels' pattering feet +struggled to shorten the distance between them. + +To Twinkleheels' dismay he saw that Ebenezer was steadily drawing away +from him. Although Twinkleheels ran his fastest, Ebenezer reached the +bars six good lengths ahead of him. + + + + +X + +EBENEZER'S RECORD + + +The old horse Ebenezer had beaten Twinkleheels in the race to the bars. +While Johnnie Green slipped their halters on them, and they munched the +oats that he gave them, neither of them spoke. Johnnie mounted Ebenezer +bareback; and leading Twinkleheels, he turned down the lane. + +"You're not as slow as I thought you were," Twinkleheels said to +Ebenezer as they drew near the barn. "And somehow I couldn't seem to get +to running smoothly. I'd like to race you again. I think I could beat +you next time." + +"Perhaps you could," said Ebenezer. "I don't often run nowadays. But I +did running enough when I was younger. I used to race at the county +fair, every fall." + +"Did you ever win a race at the fair?" Twinkleheels inquired. + +"Yes!" Ebenezer answered. "Yes! I can remember winning a race now and +then." + +"He never lost a race in his whole life!" cried the Muley Cow, who was +walking just ahead of them. "Ebenezer used to be known as the fastest +horse in these parts. He had a record." + +Twinkleheels gasped. "A record!" he exclaimed. "What's that?" + +"I don't know, exactly," said the Muley Cow. "I never saw Ebenezer's. +But it must have been a fine one, for Farmer Green was always talking +about it." + +"A horse's record," Ebenezer explained, "is the fastest time he ever +makes in a race." Then he added, to Twinkleheels: "You and I will have +another race the next time we're in the pasture together." + +Twinkleheels gave him an odd look. Somehow Ebenezer did not seem just a +poky old farm horse, as Twinkleheels had always regarded him. For the +first time Twinkleheels noticed that Ebenezer had many good points. +There wasn't a single bunch on his legs. And his muscles showed plainly +as they rippled on his lean frame beneath a coat that was both short and +fine. + +"I don't believe I could beat you if we raced a hundred times," +Twinkleheels blurted. + +"Of course you couldn't!" the Muley Cow interrupted again. + +"Oh, you might," Ebenezer said. "There'd be no harm in trying, anyhow. +Racing with me would be good practice for you, even if I did win. If +you're going to have a race, don't look for an easy one! Choose a hard +one. That's the kind that will make you do your best." + +Twinkleheels thanked him. + +"It's very kind of Ebenezer to race with you," the Muley Cow bellowed. +"You ought to feel honored." + +"I do," said Twinkleheels. "But please don't talk so loud! I don't want +everybody on the farm laughing at me because I lost a race." + +The Muley Cow went into the barn grumbling. + +"That pony is a young upstart," she muttered. "The idea of his telling +me not to talk so loud! Ebenezer is altogether too pleasant to him." + +Old Ebenezer continued to be agreeable to Twinkleheels. They often raced +in the pasture, later. And though Twinkleheels never won once, he +enjoyed the sport. + +And he never called Ebenezer "poky" again. + + + + +XI + +BRIGHT AND BROAD + + +Farmer Green had a yoke of oxen called Bright and Broad. They were huge, +slow-moving fellows, as different from Johnnie Green's pony, +Twinkleheels, as any pair could be. They never frisked about in the +pasture. They never ran, nor jumped, nor kicked. They seldom even +trotted. And when they did move faster than a walk they lurched into a +queer, shambling swing. + +The first time Twinkleheels saw them travelling at that gait he couldn't +help giggling. + +"They look as if their legs were going to knock down all the fence posts +on the farm," he exclaimed. + +Despite their clumsiness, Bright and Broad did many a day's hard work in +an honest fashion for Farmer Green. Of course he never drove them to the +village when he was in a hurry. But whenever there was a heavy load to +pull he depended on Bright and Broad to help him. If the pair of bays +couldn't haul a wagon out of a mud hole Farmer Green would call on +Bright and Broad. And when they lunged forward the wagon just had to +move--or something broke. + +Though Twinkleheels admired their strength, he didn't care much for +Bright and Broad's company. They were too sober to suit him. They were +more than likely to stand and chew their cuds and look out upon the +world with vacant stares and say nothing. + +"I used to think Ebenezer was a slow old horse," Twinkleheels remarked +to the bays on a winter's day as they stood in the barn. "I thought I +could beat him easily until he showed me that I was mistaken. But I can +certainly beat Bright and Broad. They're the slowest pair I ever saw." + +The bays glanced at each other. + +"You can't always tell by a person's looks what he can do," one of them +remarked. "Let Bright and Broad choose the race course and they'd leave +you behind." + +"Nonsense!" Twinkleheels cried. "They couldn't beat anybody unless it's +Timothy Turtle, who lives over in Black Creek." + +The bays winked at each other over the low partition that separated +their stalls. + +"Maybe you'll find out that you're wrong," they told Twinkleheels. +"Maybe you'll learn that Bright and Broad are faster than you think they +are. We've known Farmer Green to take them and leave us here in the +barn--when he was in a hurry to go somewhere, too." + +"Ha! ha!" Twinkleheels laughed. "You're joking. You're trying to fool +me." + +"Oh, no!" the bays cried. "Ask Bright and Broad themselves." + +So Twinkleheels spoke to Bright and Broad the very next day, when he met +them in the barnyard. While he told them what the bays had said to him +they chewed their cuds and listened with a dreamy look in their great, +mild eyes. + +Twinkleheels paused and waited for them to speak. But they said nothing. +Their jaws moved steadily as they chewed; but they said never a word. + +"Can't you answer when you're spoken to?" Twinkleheels cried at last. + +"Yes!" they said, speaking as one--for they always did everything +together. "Yes! But you haven't asked us a question." + +"Is this true--what the bays told me about you?" he snapped. + +"We can't deny it," they chanted. + +Twinkleheels was never more surprised. + + + + +XII + +NO SCHOOL TO-DAY + + +And that night it snowed. In the morning, when Johnnie Green crawled +from his bed and looked out of the window he could scarcely see the +barn. A driving white veil flickered across the farmyard. The wind +howled. The blinds rattled. Even the whole house shook now and then as a +mighty blast rocked it. + +It was just the sort of weather to suit Johnnie Green. + +"There won't be any school to-day!" he cried. And he hurried into his +clothes much faster than he usually did. + +[Illustration: Twinkleheels Talks to the Oxen. (Page 64)] + +Though Johnnie Green was eager to get out of doors, most of those that +lived in the barn were quite content to stay there during such a storm. +The old horse Ebenezer especially looked pleased. + +"This will be a fine day to doze," he remarked to the pony, +Twinkleheels. "Farmer Green won't make me do any work in this weather. +The roads must be blocked with drifts already." + +Twinkleheels moved restlessly in his stall. + +"I don't want to stand here with nothing to do," he grumbled. "If I +could sleep in the daytime, as you do, perhaps I wouldn't mind. And if I +were like the Muley Cow maybe I could pass the hours away by chewing a +cud. Bright and Broad can do that, too," said Twinkleheels. + +"Oh! Farmer Green will have the oxen out as soon as the storm slackens," +old Ebenezer told him. "And no doubt you'll get outside as soon as they +do, for Johnnie Green will want you to play with him in the snow or I +don't know anything about boys." + +"Good!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "I hope he'll take me out. It would be +great fun to toss him into a snowdrift.... But I don't see what Farmer +Green wants of Bright and Broad on a day like this. They'll be slower +than ever if the roads are choked with snow." + +The old horse Ebenezer smiled to himself as he shut his eyes for another +cat nap before breakfast. He thought that Twinkleheels would learn a +thing or two, a little later. + +Johnnie Green was the first one to plough his way out to the barn that +morning. He burst into the barn and stamped the snow off his feet. And +Twinkleheels stamped, too, because he wanted something to eat. + +Johnnie fed Twinkleheels and Ebenezer and the bays. He was shaking some +hay; in front of the Muley Cow (who belonged to him) when his father +arrived. + +"The worst storm of the winter!" Farmer Green observed. "We'll have work +enough after this, breaking the roads out." + +"I'll help," Johnnie said. "I'll take Twinkleheels and work hard." + +"I suppose," said his father, "we ought to get the road to the +schoolhouse cleared first." + +"Oh, no!" cried Johnnie. "Let's leave that till the last." + +"If we left it for you and Twinkleheels to clear, you wouldn't get back +to school before spring," Farmer Green declared. + +Twinkleheels had been listening eagerly to all this. + +"Now, I wonder what Farmer Green means by that," he muttered. "I hope he +doesn't think I can't get through the drifts as well as anybody. I can +certainly make my way through the snow better than those clumsy old +oxen, Bright and Broad." + + + + +XIII + +FUN AND GRUMBLES + + +It stopped snowing at last and the weather turned clear and crisp. The +sun came out. And so did Johnnie Green, riding on Twinkleheels. He did +not get far from the barn, however. Where the snow wasn't piled in +drifts high above Twinkleheels' head it reached up on his fat sides. He +floundered about the farmyard for a time. And, falling once, he dumped +Johnnie Green neatly into a drift, head first. + +The spill didn't hurt Johnnie in the least. But snow went up the inside +of his sleeves, and down his neck, and into his eyes and ears and even +his mouth. + +He jumped up spluttering. And Twinkleheels jumped at the same time. He +tried to run. But he could make little headway in the snow, and Johnnie +caught his bridle rein and stopped him. + +"You'd better put that pony back in the barn," Farmer Green called from +the woodshed door. "After I yoke up Bright and Broad and break out the +drive to the road you can ride Twinkleheels again. He might cut himself +in this heavy going." + +Twinkleheels sniffed as he heard what Farmer Green said. + +"This is all nonsense," he grumbled to the old horse Ebenezer as Johnnie +led him into his stall. "Farmer Green doesn't know what he's talking +about. I'm a hundred times sprier than Bright. And I'm a hundred times +sprier than Broad. That makes me two hundred times sprier than both of +them. It's silly to put me in my stall and take them out. They won't be +able to move. They'll get stuck fast in a drift, and goodness knows how +we'll ever haul them out." + +"I shouldn't worry about the oxen if I were you," Ebenezer replied. "It +seems to me Bright and Broad are old enough and big enough to look out +for themselves." + +"That's just the trouble!" cried Twinkleheels. "They're too old and +they're too big. They're terribly heavy. If they were stuck in a drift I +don't believe you and the bays could pull them out--not even if I helped +you." + +Ebenezer sighed deeply. + +"I'm going to sleep now," he told Twinkleheels. + +Soon Twinkleheels could hear Farmer Green shouting "Gee!" and "Haw!" + +"There!" Twinkleheels called to the two bays. "There's Farmer Green +talking to Bright and Broad. I hope they're not helpless already." + +The bays snickered. + +"Don't laugh!" Twinkleheels begged them. "It's not funny. It would be +awful for them to spend the rest of the winter in a snow bank." + +"We weren't laughing at Bright and Broad," the bays explained. + +Twinkleheels tried to look at them; but old Ebenezer's bony back was in +the way. + +"I don't know what amuses you, then," he snapped. + +"Maybe you'll find out later," the bays told him. + +And he did. When Johnnie Green next led him out of the barn Twinkleheels +discovered that a broad path had been opened from the barn to the +highway. And a little distance up the road Farmer Green and Bright and +Broad were battling with the drifts. + + + + +XIV + +STUCK IN A DRIFT + + +Outside the barn, in the snow-covered farmyard, Johnnie Green mounted +Twinkleheels and rode him beyond the gate, where he could watch the fun +up the road. + +Yoked to a sort of plough, Bright and Broad, the oxen, tore through the +piled-up snow and threw it to either side in great ridges. + +"I'm going ahead to the crossroads," Johnnie Green told his father. + +That plan pleased Twinkleheels. Before Farmer Green could speak he +plunged out of the broken road and wallowed in snow up to his neck. He +was going to show Bright and Broad that he could get to the crossroads +before they did. + +"Don't do that!" Farmer Green shouted to Johnnie. + +He was too late. The words were scarcely out of his mouth before +Twinkleheels was reaching desperately for a footing. His toes found +nothing firm beneath them--nothing but yielding snow. And his frantic +struggles only made him sink the deeper. + +Johnnie Green slid off Twinkleheels' back and tried to help him. + +He could do nothing. And he turned a somewhat frightened face to his +father. + +"We're stuck!" he faltered. "I can get out; but Twinkleheels can't. Do +you suppose Bright and Broad could pull him out?" + +"They could yank twenty of him back on the road," Farmer Green declared. +"But we don't need them. I'll dig the pony out." + +Seizing a shovel, Johnnie's father slowly dug his way to Twinkleheels, +who had stopped struggling and was waiting glumly for help. In a few +minutes more he had scrambled out of the ditch and gained the road +again, through the path that Farmer Green made for him. + +"Now," said Farmer Green, "don't leave the broken road. This pony's too +small to handle himself in these drifts. I wouldn't try to put even a +full-sized horse through them. It takes oxen in such going. They're +slow; but they're strong and sure-footed, too. And they can go where +horses couldn't do anything but flounder and probably cut themselves +with their own feet. That's why we always use Bright and Broad to gather +sap in the sugar-bush." + +"I'll put Twinkleheels in the barn again," said Johnnie. "Then I'll come +back on foot and help you." + +So he rode Twinkleheels back and hitched him in his stall once more. + +Old Ebenezer woke up as Twinkleheels pattered over the barn floor. + +"What!" cried the old horse. "Back again so soon? Did you race with +Bright and Broad?" + +"The snow's too deep for a good race," Twinkleheels told him. + +"Bright and Broad don't mind the snow much, do they?" Ebenezer asked. + +"Oh, no!" Twinkleheels answered. "They're getting on slowly, up the +road. They take their time, of course." + +"Couldn't they beat you to the crossroads if you raced with them +to-day?" + +"Well--yes!" Twinkleheels admitted. And he gave Ebenezer a sharp look. +"Who's been talking with you?" he demanded. + +"Nobody!" said Ebenezer. "I've been dozing here all the morning." + +"Not even a sparrow?" Twinkleheels asked. + +"No! Nobody has said a word to me." + +"That's strange," Twinkleheels mused. "I was almost sure a little bird +had told you something." + + + + +XV + +STEPPING HIGH + + +Twinkleheels was feeling quite important. Something that Farmer Green +had said to Johnnie in his hearing made him hold his head higher than he +usually did--and step higher, too. + +"You seem very proud to-day," the old horse Ebenezer said to him. "When +Johnnie Green led you back from the watering trough I noticed that you +were strutting in quite a lordly fashion. You made me think of Turkey +Proudfoot." + +"Ah!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "I've just heard some news. I'm going to +the blacksmith's to-day to be shod. You know I've never worn any shoes. +And I've always wanted some." + +Old Ebenezer smiled down at Twinkleheels. + +"Well, well!" he said. "I don't blame you for feeling a bit proud. I +remember the day I got my first set of shoes. You see, I was young once +myself." + +The old horse seemed to feel like talking. Twinkleheels was glad of +that, for he felt that he _must_ chatter about the new shoes he was +going to have--or burst. + +"Of course," said Twinkleheels, "most folks are shod before they're as +old as I am. But I've spent a good deal of my time in the pasture and I +don't often travel over hard roads.... How old were you when you first +visited the blacksmith's shop?" + +Ebenezer shut his eyes for a moment or two. And Twinkleheels feared he +was going to sleep. But he was only thinking hard. + +"I must have been about two months old," Ebenezer declared. + +"Goodness!" cried Twinkleheels. "I didn't suppose colts of that age ever +wore shoes." + +"They don't," Ebenezer replied. "You didn't ask me when I had my first +shoes. You asked me when I first visited a smithy. At the age of two +months I jogged alongside my mother when she went to be shod. I must +have been about three years old when the blacksmith nailed my first +shoes to my feet." + +Twinkleheels gave Ebenezer an uneasy glance. + +"Does it hurt," he asked, "when they drive the nails into your hoofs?" + +"Oh, no!" Ebenezer assured him. "To be sure, a careless blacksmith could +prick you. But Farmer Green always takes us to the best one he can +find." + +"To tell the truth," Twinkleheels confessed, "I'm a bit timid about +going to the smithy. I don't know what to do when I get there. I don't +know which foot to hold up first." + +"Don't worry about that!" said old Ebenezer. "They'll tell you +everything. Just pay attention and obey orders and you won't have any +trouble." + +Twinkleheels thanked Ebenezer. + +"It's pleasant," he said, "to have a kind, wise horse like you in the +next stall. There are some matters that I shouldn't care to mention to +the bays. They're almost sure to laugh at me if I ask them a question." + +The old horse Ebenezer nodded his head. + +"They're young and somewhat flighty," he admitted. "You know, they even +ran away last summer. You'll be better off! if you don't seek their +advice about things." + +"I wish you were going to the blacksmith's shop with me," Twinkleheels +told Ebenezer wistfully. "Somehow I'd feel better about being shod if +you were there." + +"I shouldn't be surprised if I went along with you," Ebenezer told him. +"I cast a shoe yesterday. And the three that I have left are well worn." + +And sure enough! Inside a half hour Farmer Green harnessed Ebenezer to +an open buggy. Johnnie Green brought Twinkleheels out of the barn by his +halter, led him up behind the buggy, and jumped in and sat beside his +father. + +Then they started off. + +"We're going to the village to get some new shoes," Twinkleheels called +to old dog Spot. "Why don't you come, too?" + +"I would," Spot barked, "but I always follow right behind the buggy; and +you've gone and taken my place." + + + + +XVI + +THE BLACKSMITH'S SHOP + + +Twinkleheels trotted proudly behind the buggy in which the old horse +Ebenezer was pulling Johnnie Green and his father towards the village. +Once Twinkleheels would have chafed at having to suit his pace to +Ebenezer's. He would have thought Ebenezer's gait too slow. But ever +since Ebenezer won a race with him in the pasture Twinkleheels had +thought more highly of his elderly friend. He knew that if Ebenezer +chose to take his time it wasn't because he couldn't have hurried had he +cared to. + +They reached the blacksmith shop at last, where Ebenezer and +Twinkleheels were to get new shoes. Having been there many a time +before, Ebenezer was quite calm. Twinkleheels, however, was somewhat +uneasy. He had never visited a smithy. And he looked with wide, staring +eyes at the low, dingy building. On the threshold he drew back, as he +sniffed odors that were strange to him. + +Johnnie Green spoke to him and urged him forward. + +"I'll wait for Ebenezer," Twinkleheels decided. And he wouldn't budge +until Farmer Green led the old horse into the smithy. Then Twinkleheels +followed. + +"Goodness!" he cried to Ebenezer a moment later. "This place is afire. +Let's get outside at once!" He had caught sight of a sort of flaming +table against one of the walls. + +"Don't be alarmed!" Ebenezer said. "That's only the forge. That's where +the blacksmith heats the shoes red hot, so he can pound them into the +proper shape to fit the feet." + +Twinkleheels had trembled with fear. And now he had scarcely recovered +from his fright when a terrible clanging clatter startled him. He +snorted and pulled back. He would have run out of the smithy had not +Johnnie Green tied his halter rope to a ring in the wall. + +"Don't do that!" the old horse Ebenezer called to him. "There's no +danger. That noise is nothing to be afraid of. It's only the smith +pounding a horseshoe on his anvil." + +Twinkleheels looked relieved--and just a bit sheepish. + +"I'm glad you came with me," he said, "I'd have been frightened if +you--." A queer hiss made Twinkleheels forget what he was saying. +"What's that?" he cried. "Is there a goose hidden somewhere in the +smithy?" + +"No! The smith put the hot shoe into a tub of water, to cool," Ebenezer +explained. He couldn't help smiling a bit. + +A scrubby looking white mare who was being shod turned her head and +stared at Ebenezer and his small companion. + +"It's easy to see," she exclaimed, "that that colt has never been in a +smithy before. In my opinion he ought to be at home with his mother. +This is no place for children." + +Before Ebenezer could answer her, Twinkleheels himself spoke up sharply. + +"I don't know who you are, madam," he snapped. "But I'd like you to +understand that I'm no colt. I'm a pony. And I must say that I think you +owe me an apology." + + + + +XVII + +A WHITE VIXEN + + +The white mare that the blacksmith was shoeing looked much surprised +when Twinkleheels told her he was not a colt. + +"Well, well!" she cried. "A pony, eh? Who'd have thought it? Anyhow, +you've never been shod in your life. I can tell that by the way you +act." And she cackled in a most unpleasant fashion. + +"What shall I say to her?" Twinkleheels asked Ebenezer. "She hasn't +apologized to me." + +"Pay no attention to her," the old horse advised him in an undertone. +"She's a low bred person. I've often met her on the road and she always +wants to stop and talk. But I hurry past her." + +"What are you saying?" the white mare asked in a sour tone. "Are you +gossiping about me?" She laid her ears back and showed her yellow teeth. + +"You see why I don't care to have anything to do with her," Ebenezer +muttered to Twinkleheels. + +"I'd kick you if I could reach you--and that pony too," the white mare +squealed. "I'm a lady--I am. And you'd better be careful what you say +about me." + +Because she was angry and couldn't kick either Twinkleheels or Ebenezer +she felt that she must kick somebody. So she let fly at the blacksmith, +who had just stepped up beside her. + +Strangely enough, instead of jumping away from her, the blacksmith +crowded as close to her as he could get. He knew what he was about. He +hadn't shod horses for twenty years without learning something about +them. He stood so near the white mare that her kick hadn't room to get +going well. And the blacksmith wasn't hurt. He was merely disgusted. + +"I declare," he said to Farmer Green, "this mare is the meanest critter +that comes into my shop. She doesn't know anything except how to kick +and bite. That old horse of yours is worth a dozen like her. I'd give +more for his tail than I would for her." + +Ebenezer tried to look unconcerned. The blacksmith had a hearty voice. +Nobody in the shop could help hearing what he said. And Twinkleheels +made up his mind that the blacksmith shouldn't have any reason to speak +of him as he had of the silly white mare. + +Twinkleheels watched sharply as the blacksmith captured a hind foot of +the white mare's and held it between his knees. Then he began to nail on +the shoe. + +One thing puzzled Twinkleheels. Every time the blacksmith struck a blow +with his hammer he gave a funny grunt. Twinkleheels nudged Ebenezer with +his nose. + +"Do you hear that?" he asked. "Is he related to Grunty Pig--a sort of +cousin, perhaps?" + +The old horse Ebenezer gasped. + +"Bless you, no!" he exclaimed. + +"Then why does he grunt?" + +"Oh, that's just a way he has," said Ebenezer. "Some blacksmiths think +it's stylish to grunt like that." + +By this time the white mare seemed to be in a pleasanter frame of mind. +At least, she let the blacksmith nail a shoe on each of her feet without +making any objection--except to switch her tail now and then. And just +as the blacksmith finished with her a man came and led her away. + +"Now," said the blacksmith, "I'm ready to shoe the pony. And if he's as +clever as he looks I shan't have a bit of trouble with him." + +When he heard that, Twinkleheels made up his mind that he would behave +his best, no matter what happened. + + + + +XVIII + +NEW SHOES + + +The blacksmith patted Twinkleheels and picked up one of his forefeet. +Then the blacksmith took a chisel and began to pare away at the horny +hoof. Twinkleheels looked over the blacksmith's shoulder. And what he +saw gave him a start. + +"Great green grass!" he cried to Ebenezer. "Is he going to cut my foot +off?" + +"No, indeed!" Ebenezer answered. "The blacksmith always pares my feet a +bit when he fits new shoes. He may have to trim yours a good deal, +because you've never worn shoes and your feet have never been pared." + +In spite of his resolve to be on his best behavior, Twinkleheels had +been tempted to pull his foot from between the blacksmith's knees. And +if Ebenezer hadn't explained that he was in no danger of losing a foot +there's no knowing what might have happened. Twinkleheels breathed a +sigh of relief; and he made not the slightest trouble for the +blacksmith, but waited patiently while his little shoes were being +hammered into shape. + +When the blacksmith took the first one that he made and held it by a +pair of pincers against Twinkleheels' hoof there was a quick sizzling. +And a horrid smoke arose. Twinkleheels snorted with fear. + +"Easy! Easy, boy!" the blacksmith said to him. And old Ebenezer made +haste to explain that there was no danger. + +"Won't my foot be burned?" Twinkleheels faltered. + +"Not enough to do any harm," said Ebenezer. "You don't feel any pain, do +you?" + +"No!" + +"The shoe's not very hot; and the blacksmith wouldn't hold it against +your hoof long enough to harm you," Ebenezer assured him. + +Twinkleheels wriggled his nose. + +"I must say I don't care for this smoke," he remarked. + +"It's no pleasanter for the blacksmith than for you," Ebenezer reminded +him. "If I were you I shouldn't complain. Just see what pretty shoes the +blacksmith has made for you!" + +[Illustration: Spot Tells Twinkleheels He is Slow. (Page 90)] + +"They're the nicest I've ever seen," Twinkleheels said. "After I wear +them a while and they get shiny on the bottoms, how they will twinkle in +the sunlight when I'm trotting along the road!" + +In a few minutes more the blacksmith had nailed all of Twinkleheels' +four shoes to his feet. It seemed to Twinkleheels that he could never +wait until Ebenezer was shod. He was in a great hurry to get out on the +street and show his new shoes to the people in the village. + +At last Ebenezer too was fitted out with new shoes. As Farmer Green led +him out of the shop, and Johnnie Green led Twinkleheels, a queer look +came over Twinkleheels' face. + +"My goodness!" he cried. "My feet feel very strange." + +"What's the matter?" Ebenezer asked him. "Surely your new shoes don't +hurt you!" + +"No! They don't hurt, exactly," Twinkleheels replied. "But my feet feel +terribly heavy. These iron shoes aren't as comfortable to wear as I had +expected." + +"You'll soon get used to them," said Ebenezer. "In a short time you +won't know you're wearing shoes--unless you happen to lose one." + +Twinkleheels had supposed that when they reached Farmer Green's place +everybody that he met would speak about his new shoes. But nobody paid +any attention to them. Everybody seemed to stare at Johnnie Green as +soon as he jumped out of the buggy. + +"Why are folks looking at Johnnie?" Twinkleheels asked old dog Spot, who +had come running up to meet him. + +"Haven't you noticed?" Spot cried. "Didn't you _hear_ anything when +Johnnie began to walk on the barn floor?" + +"No!" + +"Well, you're slow to-day," said Spot. "Johnnie Green's wearing some new +shoes that his father bought for him in the village. It's queer that you +didn't notice them.... Aren't they nice and squeaky?" + + + + +XIX + +THRASHING TIME + + +The pair of bays were feeling grumpy. Thrashing time had come. And they +knew that they would have to spend long hours in the tread mill out in +the field, where the oats were stacked. They grumbled a good deal, as +they stood in their stalls. + +"I don't see why you object to turning the tread mill for Farmer Green," +Twinkleheels said to them. "I'd like to try my hand at it--or my feet, I +should say. I should think it would be great fun. Yesterday I saw +Johnnie Green and some other boys walking on the tread mill and making +it go. They seemed to find it a lark." + +"Huh!" said one of the bays. "They'd _hate_ it if they had to walk up +hill hour after hour and never get anywhere. The noise of the tread mill +and the thrashing machine is most unpleasant." + +"It wouldn't be so bad," said his mate, "if Farmer Green would let us +eat all we wanted of the oats that we help thrash. But he doesn't give +us even an extra measure." + +"We'd run away," remarked the bay that had spoken first, "except that +running away wouldn't do us any good. All our running would only make +the mill turn faster." + +"We can't even stand still if we want to," his mate muttered. "There's a +bar that crosses the top of the tread mill, right in front of us. Farmer +Green ties us to it. There we are! When he unlocks the tread mill we +have to start walking or we'd slide down backwards; and unless our +halters broke, our necks would get a terrible stretching." + +The old horse Ebenezer, who stood between Twinkleheels and the bays and +couldn't miss hearing what was said, looked scornfully at the two +grumblers. + +"Think of the oats Farmer Green gives you every day!" he exclaimed. "I +should suppose you'd be glad to earn some of them." + +"The trouble is--" said the bay nearest him--"the trouble is, we have to +earn not only the oats that we eat, but those that Farmer Green feeds to +you and that pony." + +"I've helped thrash many a time," Ebenezer declared. + +"Well--I dare say you have," the bay admitted. "But what about that +pony? I never saw him do any work. I venture to say that he's never done +a day's work in his life." + +Twinkleheels couldn't help feeling uncomfortable. + +"I'd be glad to help with the thrashing," he said. "But what can I do if +Farmer Green won't _let_ me?" + +The bays talked to each other in an undertone. Then one of them said: +"You might refuse to eat any more oats." + +Somehow Twinkleheels did not care for that suggestion; and he said as +much. + +"What's the matter with hay?" the other bay asked him. "If you have +plenty of hay you ought to be satisfied." + +"No!" Twinkleheels told him. "I can't get along on hay alone. Johnnie +Green expects me to be spry and playful. And you know very well that a +horse or a pony can't be spirited without plenty of oats." + +Once more the bays muttered to each other in a low tone. And at last +they told Twinkleheels that he was greedy. + +"You don't need any oats," they said. "You have more to eat than we do, +all the time." + +Twinkleheels was astonished. + +"I don't know what you mean," he cried. "Johnnie Green feeds me only +oats and hay; and that's no more than you have." + +"We don't agree with you," the bays retorted. "You have meal. And you +must eat a lot of it, too." + +"Never!" Twinkleheels declared. "Why do you say that?" + +"You have a mealy nose," they explained. "It always looks as if you'd +just eaten out of the meal bin." + + + + +XX + +A MEALY NOSE + + +It was true, as the bays had said, that Twinkleheels had a mealy nose. +So perhaps it was only natural that they should think he had meal to eat +when they didn't. And he hastened to explain matters to them. + +"My mealy nose," he said, "doesn't mean that I've been eating meal. My +nose happens to be the color of meal. All the brushing in the world +wouldn't change it." + +The bay pair snorted. It was plain that they didn't believe what +Twinkleheels told them. + +"You can ask Ebenezer," Twinkleheels advised them. "He'll tell you that +what I say is true." + +"We don't want to ask him," said the bays. "Ask him yourself." + +"Don't be rude to this pony!" the old horse Ebenezer chided them. "If +you had spent more of your time off the farm, and seen more horses, +you'd know that mealy noses like his are not uncommon. In my younger +days, when I went to the county fair every fall, I used to meet a great +many horses. And I learned then that mealy noses are by no means rare." + +The bays stamped impatiently. + +"We don't care to argue about this pony's nose," said the one whose +stall was next to Ebenezer's. "His nose is a small matter. We do insist, +however, that he help with the thrashing. Maybe you've done your share +of the thrashing in times past. But this pony's a loafer. We want to see +him work." + +Poor Twinkleheels felt most unhappy. "Haven't I said I'd like to walk on +the tread mill?" Twinkleheels cried. "But Farmer Green would never allow +me to." + +"We don't care to argue with you," said the bay who stood beside +Ebenezer. "You are altogether too small for us to bother with any +longer." + +"If I'm so small, then I shouldn't think what few oats I eat would annoy +you," said Twinkleheels. + +"Oh, your appetite's big enough!" cried the other bay. "You're always +eating something. Yesterday we saw Johnnie Green ride you up to the +kitchen window where Mrs. Green was peeling potatoes. And she gave you a +potato. And you ate it." + +"People are always feeding you," echoed the bay's bay mate. + +"How can I help that?" Twinkleheels asked them. + +"You could decline with thanks," they explained. + +Twinkleheels shook his head. + +"It wouldn't be polite," he said. "Besides, I like potatoes and apples +and carrots even more than oats and hay." + +Just then Farmer Green came into the barn and backed the bays out of +their stalls. They both sighed. + +"We're in for it now," they told Ebenezer. "He's going to take us out +and make us walk on the tread mill." + +A little later Johnnie Green saddled Twinkleheels and followed his +father and the bays to the field where the thrashing machine stood +beside several stacks of oats. + +Before Johnnie and Twinkleheels arrived on the scene a great clatter +warned them that thrashing had already begun. Hurrying up, they found +the bays toiling up the endless path that slid always downward beneath +them. + +The bays were a glum appearing pair. Twinkleheels tried to speak to +them, but the thrashing machine made such a racket that they couldn't +hear him whinny; and he couldn't catch their eyes. They wouldn't look at +him. + +A stream of oats was pouring out of the grain spout. Johnnie Green +dismounted. Picking up a handful of the newly thrashed oats, he fed +Twinkleheels. + +The bays looked at Twinkleheels then. They looked at him with envy. + +"That pony has begun to eat up the new oats already," said one of the +bays to his mate. "I hoped he'd have the decency to decline them when +Johnnie Green offered him a taste." + +"Not he!" groaned his mate. "That pony even hinted to Johnnie Green that +he'd like some oats. I saw him hint, out of the corner of my eye." + +"Ah!" cried the other bay. "Twinkleheels not only has a mealy nose. He's +mealy-mouthed as well!" + + + + +XXI + +JUMPING MUD PUDDLES + + +Johnnie Green had often ridden bareback. Lacking a pony, before +Twinkleheels came to the farm to live, he had ridden the old horse +Ebenezer back and forth between the barn and the pasture, guiding him by +his halter rope. + +Ebenezer was a steady old fellow. He never jumped nor shied. He +preferred walking to any other gait. Without a whip Johnnie Green had +hard work to make him trot. It took a great deal of drumming against his +ribs by Johnnie Green's heels to induce him to hurry his steps. + +Twinkleheels was different from Ebenezer. He was frisky. Yet Johnnie +sometimes put a bridle on him and rode him without a saddle. Especially +after the circus men came along and pasted posters on the barn Johnnie +Green liked to ride bareback. He had a notion that some day he would +learn to ride standing on Twinkleheels' back. + +Farmer Green, however, did not approve of that plan. When Johnnie +mentioned it to him he said "No!" in a most decided fashion. "That pony +would be sure to throw you," he told Johnnie. + +"I could try standing on Ebenezer first," Johnnie suggested. "His back +is broader. And he certainly wouldn't object." + +Somehow his father didn't care for that scheme either. "We don't want +any broken legs around here," he declared, "nor necks, either. Broken +necks are very slow to mend." + +So Johnnie Green had to give up his plan, for the time being. He made up +his mind, however, that when he was grown up he would learn to ride +standing up--and turn somersaults in the air off a horse's back. But now +he knew that he must content himself with less risky sports. + +Something happened one day that caused Johnnie to admit to himself the +wisdom of his father's advice. He was riding Twinkleheels along the +road, bareback, after a heavy rain. And the first thing that Johnnie +knew he was sitting almost on Twinkleheels' tail. Instead of splashing +through a big mud puddle, Twinkleheels had taken it into his head to +jump it. + +His leap took his rider unawares. Johnnie had slipped to the rear as if +Twinkleheels' back had been greased. And if he hadn't clutched the +bridle reins he would have dropped off into the very middle of the +puddle. + +After that Johnnie kept a sharp eye out for mud puddles. When he knew +that Twinkleheels was going to jump one he had no trouble in sticking to +his seat. + +Soon Johnnie decided once more that it would be easy to learn to be a +circus rider. Certainly it was no trick at all to sit on Twinkleheels' +bare back so long as he knew what the pony was going to do. It was as +easy as walking a tight rope. And that was a feat that Johnnie Green had +already mastered. + +He only broke a collar bone learning that. + + + + +XXII + +THE CIRCUS RIDER + + +The next afternoon, when Johnnie went to the pasture with old dog Spot +to drive the cows home, he climbed a tree--not that climbing a tree +helped in any way to get the cows into the lane! + +Just for the moment Johnnie was a sailor--in his mind's eye. He went up +aloft to watch for a desert island, where pirate gold was hidden. And +circus riding would never have entered his head had not Twinkleheels, +who had been grazing in the pasture, come and stood under the tree into +which his young master had climbed. + +When Johnnie came down out of the rigging of his ship--or when he +slipped down through the branches of the tree--Twinkleheels stood just +beneath the lowest limb. Johnnie Green swung off it, hung by his arms +for a moment, and then dropped astride of Twinkleheels' back. + +It may have been because old dog Spot let out a delighted yelp at that +instant. It may have been that Twinkleheels hadn't expected Johnnie to +mount him in that unusual fashion. Anyhow, he gave one jump and then +stood up on his hind legs. + +Johnnie Green didn't even have time to grab at Twinkleheels' mane. He +slid off Twinkleheels' back and struck the ground with a dull thud. + +For a few moments he lay there, unable to breathe. Then he struggled to +his feet and ran round and round in a circle, doubled up and groaning. +There was a strange, strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He +feared he would never be able to get his breath again. + +Twinkleheels paid no heed to him, but nibbled at choice clumps of grass +and clover quite as if nothing had happened. + +Old dog Spot, however, seemed to think that Johnnie Green was having a +good time and enjoying himself thoroughly. Spot capered about him, +barking furiously. + +"Don't!" Johnnie managed to gasp. "Don't laugh, Spot! I'm terribly hurt. +I don't believe I'll ever get well again." + +But in a few moments he succeeded in drawing a long, deep breath. He lay +down upon the ground then and drew another and another and another. +Already he began to feel better. And soon he stood up gingerly and felt +of himself all over. To his great surprise, nothing seemed to be broken +except his suspenders. + +Old Spot came up and put his paws against Johnnie and barked. + +"Let's have a good romp!" he begged. Or at least that was what Johnnie +understood him to say. + +"No, Spot!" Johnnie answered. "Not now! I don't feel like running. You +wouldn't, either, if you had just had the breath knocked out of you." + +Then Johnnie went soberly about the business of driving the cows home. +At last he got them all started down the lane, put up the bars, and +followed them. + +As he reached the barn Johnnie looked up curiously at the pictures of +circus riders in pink tights gayly disporting themselves on the backs of +dappled gray horses. + +"Humph!" he muttered. "I don't believe that's half the fun I always +thought it was." + + + + +XXIII + +GOING FISHING + + +Twinkleheels never had any great liking for whips. Johnnie Green kept a +long one in the socket beside the dashboard of his little red-wheeled +buggy. And he had a shorter one that he carried in his hand when he rode +on Twinkleheels' back. + +Whenever Twinkleheels drew the buggy he seemed always to keep at least +one eye on the snapper of the whip, for Twinkleheels could see behind +him easily. + +He rarely needed urging. On the contrary, Johnnie Green often had to +pull quite hard upon the reins to keep him from going too fast. And when +a lazy mood came over Twinkleheels the merest shake of the whip in its +socket was enough to send him forward with a jump. + +When Johnnie rode him he never had to give Twinkleheels a cut with his +riding whip. Just a touch of it was all that was needed--if Twinkleheels +happened to be a bit headstrong and didn't quite agree with Johnnie as +to where they should go. + +Well, on a certain summer's day, after school was out, Johnnie Green +decided to go fishing in Black Creek. His mother made him a luncheon to +take with him, he dug some angleworms in the garden for bait, and the +hired man consented to let him take a long pole that he used himself +when he fished in the river. + +Then Johnnie backed Twinkleheels out of his stall and threw the saddle +on him. Farmer Green chanced to be in the barn at the time. + +"You don't intend to ride the pony and carry all those things, do you?" +he asked Johnnie. "It seems to me that a basket, a tin can, a fish pole +and a boy would ride much better in the buggy than horseback." + +Now, Johnnie Green did not always agree with his father. He expected to +meet some other boys at the creek. They were going on horseback. And +Johnnie wanted to do likewise. Besides, there might be a horseback race. +And he didn't want to miss that. + +"I don't want to bother with the buggy," he told his father. "This way's +easier. I shan't have any trouble carrying these things." + +"Suit yourself, then!" said Farmer Green. "I think my way's better. But +if you want to try yours, go ahead! You won't be half as comfortable, +though, as you would be if you went in the buggy. And you know you may +have some fish to carry, too, when you come home." + +"Yes!" said Johnnie. "But I won't have any lunch." + +Being determined to ride on Twinkleheels' back, he buckled the saddle +girth and slipped on the pony's bridle. Then he led him out of the barn, +clutched the basket, the tin pail, and the reins as well in one hand, +mounted, and then reached out his other hand for the pole, which he had +leaned against the side of the barn. + +"I'll show Father that he's mistaken," he said to himself. + + + + +XXIV + +BOYS WILL BE BOYS + + +Up to the moment that Johnnie Green reached out a hand for the long fish +pole Twinkleheels had behaved like a little gentleman. He saw that +something unusual was afoot. And feeling quite sure that it was some +kind of fun, he was glad that he was going to have a part in it. + +"I hope Johnnie has some oats for me in that basket," he thought. + +Just then Johnnie caught up the pole. + +"Oats and corn!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "What's he going to do with +that enormous whip?" He was so startled that he jumped sideways, and +Johnnie Green all but lost his seat on Twinkleheels' back. As he lurched +in the saddle he brought the fish pole smartly against Twinkleheels' +head. + +"I won't stand this," Twinkleheels decided. "I don't see what Johnnie is +thinking of, to beat me over the head. I've certainly done nothing to +deserve such treatment." Thereupon he dashed madly across the farmyard +and made for the orchard. + +"Whoa!" cried Johnnie Green. + +"Whoa!" cried his father. "Stop him! Hang to him! Don't let him run!" + +"He'll have to drop that great whip if he expects me to mind," +Twinkleheels said with a snort. + +Johnnie's hands were so full of a number of things that he could do +little more than stick to the saddle. + +"Drop that junk that you're carrying!" Farmer Green shouted. + +"Why doesn't he tell Johnnie to drop that long whip?" Twinkleheels +muttered to himself. + +What Farmer Green said was of no account, anyhow, for Johnnie was so +busy that he didn't hear a word of his father's advice. + +Twinkleheels had reached the orchard and already was tearing in and out +among the trees. The tin pail containing Johnnie's bait slipped from his +grasp and clattered upon the ground, causing Twinkleheels to run all the +faster. The fish pole struck the tree trunks right and left. One end of +it lodged for an instant in a branch, while the other end nearly swept +Johnnie off Twinkleheels' back. Still Johnnie Green clung to it and to +his lunch basket as well. + +"Wh-wh-whoa! Wh-wh-whoa!" Jolted as he was, he couldn't get a whole word +out of his mouth at a time. He could only jerk a word out piecemeal. + +If the fish pole hadn't at last snapped off short, leaving only the butt +of it in Johnnie's hand, there's no telling when Twinkleheels would have +stopped. + +Finding himself with only a bit of the pole left in his hand, Johnnie +gave it a fling, slipped an arm through the handle of his lunch basket, +and set to pulling mightily on the bridle reins. + +"There!" said Twinkleheels. "There goes that whip. I'm glad I broke it. +Now I'll let Johnnie pull me down to a walk--but not too quickly." + +With Johnnie Green tugging steadily, Twinkleheels changed from a run to +a canter, from a canter to a trot, from a trot to a walk; and finally +stood still. + +Then Johnnie turned him around and rode slowly back to the barn. He +jumped down, unbuckled the girth, and drew off Twinkleheels' saddle. + +"What's the matter?" his father asked him. "You haven't given up going +fishing--have you?" + +"No!" Johnnie answered. "I'm going to harness Twinkleheels to the buggy. +And I'll cut a pole at the creek." + +His father said nothing more. But he smiled a little to himself when +Johnnie wasn't looking his way. + +"Boys will be boys," Farmer Green remarked after Johnnie had gone. + +"Yes!" the hired man agreed. "And ponies will be ponies." + +They may have been talking in riddles. + +Anyhow, they seemed to understand each other. + +THE END + + + + * * * * * * * + + + +Transcriber's notes + + 1. Punctuation has been brought into conformity with + contemporary standards. + + 2. Frontispiece illustration relocated to after title page. + + 3. List of books by Arthur Scott Bailey relocated to after + Frontispiece. + + 4. Typographical corrections from original: + Page 18 Twinkleheels's to Twinkleheels' ("Twinkleheels' halter") + Page 58 Johnne to Johnnie ("for Johnnie Green") + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALE OF PONY TWINKLEHEELS*** + + +******* This file should be named 18656.txt or 18656.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/5/18656 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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