ot and an excellent little
gallop, but always plunging to the ground and pulling my arms when I
tried to lift his head. When I wished to quicken his gait, the horse
broke at once. He began to rack in great style, trotting with the
fore-feet and galloping with the hind ones. 'Well,' I said to myself, 'I
see now; I've bought some old horse of the Saumur or Saint-Cyr school,
and it's not on this beast that I'll hunt in eight days.'

"I was about to turn and go home, quite edified as to Brutus's
qualities, when the report of a gun was heard twenty yards away in the
woods. It was one of my keepers who was shooting a rabbit, and who
received some time after a handsome present from my wife for that shot.

"I was then in the centre of the cross-roads, which formed a perfect
circle of five or six yards in radius; six long green alleys came to an
end at this spot. On hearing the report, Brutus had stopped short,
planted himself on his four legs, with ears erect and head raised. I was
surprised to find the horse so impressionable. I should have thought
that after the brilliant education that very certainly he had received
in his youth, Brutus must be an artillery horse, used to gun and cannon.
I drew in my legs to urge the horse on, but Brutus didn't move; I
spurred him sharply twice, but Brutus didn't move; I whipped him
soundly, but Brutus didn't move. I tried to back the horse, to push him
to the right, to the left, but I couldn't move him in the slightest
degree. Brutus seemed glued to the ground, and yet--don't you dare to
laugh, and be assured that my tale is absolutely true--each time that I
attempted to put the horse in motion he turned his head and looked at
me with an expression which could clearly be read as impatience and
surprise; then he would again become as immovable as a statue. There was
evidently some misunderstanding between the horse and myself. I saw that
in his eyes, and Brutus said to me, with all the clearness he could put
in his expression, 'I, as a horse, am doing my duty, and it's you, as a
rider, who are not doing yours!'

"I was more puzzled than embarrassed. 'What extraordinary kind of a
horse have I bought at Cheri's,' I said to myself, 'and why does he look
at me so queerly?' I was, however, going to take strong measures--that
is to say, I was preparing to whip him smartly--when another report was
heard.

"Then the horse gave a jump. I thought I had the best of it, and,
profiting by his bound,