You
dare to say my master ain't your master! That's your gratitude for the
way he feeds you and spares you! Pray where would your carcass be if it
weren't for him?"

"He doesn't do it for my sake. If I were his own horse, he would work me
as hard as he does you."

"And I'm proud to be so worked. I wouldn't be as fat as you--not for all
you're worth. You're a disgrace to the stable. Look at the horse next
you. He's something like a horse--all skin and bone. And his master
ain't over kind to him either. He put a stinging lash on his whip
last week. But that old horse knows he's got the wife and children
to keep--as well as his drunken master--and he works like a horse. I
daresay he grudges his master the beer he drinks, but I don't believe he
grudges anything else."

"Well, I don't grudge yours what he gets by me," said Ruby.

"Gets!" retorted Diamond. "What he gets isn't worth grudging. It comes
to next to nothing--what with your fat and shine.

"Well, at least you ought to be thankful you're the better for it. You
get a two hours' rest a day out of it."

"I thank my master for that--not you, you lazy fellow! You go along like
a buttock of beef upon castors--you do."

"Ain't you afraid I'll kick, if you go on like that, Diamond?"

"Kick! You couldn't kick if you tried. You might heave your rump up
half a foot, but for lashing out--oho! If you did, you'd be down on your
belly before you could get your legs under you again. It's my belief,
once out, they'd stick out for ever. Talk of kicking! Why don't you put
one foot before the other now and then when you're in the cab? The abuse
master gets for your sake is quite shameful. No decent horse would bring
it on him. Depend upon it, Ruby, no cabman likes to be abused any more
than his fare. But his fares, at least when you are between the shafts,
are very much to be excused. Indeed they are."

"Well, you see, Diamond, I don't want to go lame again."

"I don't believe you were so very lame after all--there!"

"Oh, but I was."

"Then I believe it was all your own fault. I'm not lame. I never was
lame in all my life. You don't take care of your legs. You never lay
them down at night. There you are with your huge carcass crushing down
your poor legs all night long. You don't even care for your own legs--so
long as you can eat, eat, and sleep, sleep. You a horse indeed!"

"But I tell you I was lame."

"I'm not denying there was a puffy look about your off-pastern