covered with a bushel basket, turned upside down. Then, stepping back,
Mr. Tallman said:

"Now, Toby, go and get your oats! Go and get your oats!"

The little Shetland pony bobbed his head up and down, just as if he were
saying that this is just what he would do. Then he took a few steps
toward the oat bin, which had a hinged cover like the boxes in the
grocery where the coffee is kept.

"No! No! Don't go to the oat bin yet," said Mr. Tallman. "First, get the
wooden measure, Toby! I have to have that first, before I can dish you
out any oats. Take the measure over to the box."

Whether Toby knew all that Mr. Tallman said to him, or whether the pony
had learned to go for the measure because he knew there was a lump of
sugar in it, I can't exactly say. Perhaps it was a little of both. At
any rate, he walked over to the bushel basket that covered the wooden
measure.

With a quick motion of his head Toby knocked the basket to one side.
Then he reached down and took out the lump of sugar, which he chewed.

"Oh, he did it! He did it!" cried Sue, clapping her hands.

"But this isn't all," said Mr. Tallman. "This is only half the trick.
Watch and see if he does the rest."

The children and Mrs. Brown waited until Toby had chewed down the lump
of sugar. And then, with a little whinny, which seemed as if he tried to
talk, Toby picked the two-quart measure up in his mouth.

Over to the oat bin he walked with it, and Bunny and Sue could hardly
keep still, they were so excited.

Would Toby open the box, as Mr. Tallman wanted him to?

And that is just what the Shetland pony did. Dropping the wooden
measure at one side of the wooden box where his oats were kept, Toby
lifted the cover with his nose. Then he picked up the measure again, and
dropped it in the box, on top of the oats that filled it nearly to the
brim.

"Ha! that's the way to do it!" cried Mr. Tallman. "Now you have done the
trick, Toby, and you shall have another lump of sugar!"

And he gave the pony a large one.

"Was that what you wanted him to do?" asked Mrs. Brown.

"Yes, that was the trick I taught him in his own stable. I was afraid
perhaps he might have forgotten it here, but I see he hasn't."

"Aren't you going to give him some oats now?" asked Bunny.

"Well, I thought maybe you or Sue would like to have him do the trick
over again before he had any oats. Usually I didn't let him have any
until after I had made him do the trick three or four ti