tiful. The catalogue
did not attribute to him any special qualifications for hunting, but
limited itself to '_Brutus, riding horse_.' He was a large dapple-gray
horse, but never, I think, have I seen gray better dappled; the white
coat was strewn almost regularly with beautiful black spots, which were
well distributed and well marked.

"I left town the next day for Roche-Targe, and the following day, early,
they announced to me that the horses had arrived. I at once went down to
see them, and my first glance was at Brutus. He had been trotting in my
head for forty-eight hours, that devil of a gray horse, and I had a
singular desire to know what he was and of what he was capable.

"I had him taken out of the stable first. A groom led him to me with a
strap. The horse had long teeth, hollows in the chest, lumpy
fetlocks--in short, all the signs of respectable age; but he had
powerful shoulders, a large breast, a neck which was both strong and
supple, head well held, tail well placed, and an irreproachable back. It
wasn't, however, all this that attracted most my attention. What I
admired above all was the air with which Brutus looked at me, and with
what an attentive, intelligent, and curious eye he followed my movements
and gestures. Even my words seemed to interest him singularly; he
inclined his head to my side as if to hear me, and, as soon as I had
finished speaking, he neighed joyously in answer.

"They showed me successively the seven other horses; I examined them
rapidly and absent-mindedly. They were horses like all other horses.
Brutus certainly had something in particular, and I was anxious to make
in his company a short jaunt in the country. He allowed himself to be
saddled, bridled, and mounted like a horse who knows his business, and
so we both started in the quietest way in the world.

"I had at first ridden him with the snaffle, and Brutus had gone off at
a long easy gait, with rather a stiff neck and projected head; but as
soon as I let him feel the curb, he changed with extraordinary rapidity
and suppleness, drawing his head back to his breast, and champing his
bit noisily; then at the same time he took a short gait, which was light
and even, lifting well his feet and striking the sod with the regularity
of a pendulum.

"Cheri's catalogue had not lied; the horse was a good rider--too good a
rider, in fact. I made him trot, then gallop; the horse at the first
suggestion gave me an excellent little tr