road. Gathering the reins in his left
hand, without giving her time to conjecture his object--for mounting her
was no easy task--he jumped lightly into the saddle, and screwed his
knees into her sides with all his might.

Now, this mare was not one of those ordinary quadrupeds possessing a
single vice, which the rider may learn and master. She was an animal of
infinite resources. Her modes of attack were innumerable. It is true she
rather preferred to settle matters upon the very threshold of the
contest in a short, sharp way, by kicking her man before he could mount.
But, if baffled in this design, she would vary the proceedings by
dashing her head down between her knees, sending her heels up in the
air, and, if possible, plunge the rider over her head to the ground; or,
she would waltz round on her hind legs in such a way as to render the
best balanced brain somewhat dizzy and uncertain; in the event of the
failure of these coquettish pleasantries, she had not a single scruple
against playing Shylock, and taking her pound of flesh out of his leg
with her teeth. Thus, you see, it would not do to go to sleep upon her
back; and Master Willard Glazier no sooner found himself firmly seated
than he made up his mind that for the time, at least, he had his hands
full of business. As the mare had been deprived of an opportunity to
kick him, by the suddenness with which he sprang upon her back, she
concluded to try her next favorite line of strategy and shake him off.
So down went her head and up went her heels, and, had he been less on
the alert, he must have gone to earth; but, with his knees dug into her
sides as if they were the opposite jaws of a vice, for every jerk of her
head _down_ he gave one with the reins _up_, and at each jerk the
hoe-handle gave her a rap over the ears, so that she began to find the
fun less agreeable than usual. Changing her tactics, with a bound she
proceeded to execute a fine imitation of the "German," and spin round
like a Fifth Avenue belle or a humming-top. But the boy's young, clear,
temperate brain and well-disciplined nerves were proof even against this
style of attack, and still firm in his seat, he belabored the brute with
his hoe with such a perfect rain of blows that she gave up her prancing
and dashed down the road at a break-neck pace. For perhaps five hundred
yards the road led down hill, and then, crossing a stream, ascended
again, the ascent being quite steep and by no means smoot