l wait till they go back to
the haouse, an' you'll have time to think cool an' quiet," said Rod.

"Have you no respec' whatever fer the dignity o' our common horsehood?"
the yellow horse squealed.

"Nary respec' onless the horse kin do something. America's paved with
the kind er horse you are--jist plain yaller-dog horse--waitin' ter be
whipped inter shape. We call 'em yearlings an' colts when they're young.
When they're aged we pound 'em--in this pastur'. Horse, sonny, is
what you start from. We know all about horse here, an' he ain't any
high-toned, pure souled child o' nature. Horse, plain horse, same ez
you, is chock-full o' tricks, an' meannesses, an' cussednesses, an'
shirkin's, an' monkey-shines, which he's took over from his sire an'
his dam, an' thickened up with his own special fancy in the way o' goin'
crooked. Thet's horse, an' thet's about his dignity an' the size of his
soul 'fore he's been broke an' rawhided a piece. Now we ain't goin' to
give ornery unswitched horse, that hain't done nawthin' wuth a quart of
oats sence he wuz foaled, pet names that would be good enough fer Nancy
Hanks, or Alix, or Directum, who hev. Don't you try to back off acrost
them rocks. Wait where you are! Ef I let my Hambletonian temper git the
better o' me I'd frazzle you out finer than rye-straw inside o' three
minutes, you woman-scarin', kid-killin', dash-breakin', unbroke,
unshod, ungaited, pastur'-hoggin', saw-backed, shark-mouthed,
hair-trunk-thrown-in-in-trade son of a bronco an' a sewin'-machine!"

"I think we'd better get home," I said to my companion, when Rod had
finished; and we climbed into the coupe, Tedda whinnying, as we bumped
over the ledges: "Well, I'm dreffle sorry I can't stay fer the sociable;
but I hope an' trust my friends'll take a ticket fer me."

"Bet your natchul!" said Muldoon, cheerfully, and the horses scattered
before us, trotting into the ravine.

Next morning we sent back to the livery-stable what was left of the
yellow horse. It seemed tired, but anxious to go.

THE SHIP THAT FOUND HERSELF

It was her first voyage, and though she was but a cargo-steamer of
twenty-five hundred tons, she was the very best of her kind, the
outcome of forty years of experiments and improvements in framework and
machinery; and her designers and owner thought as much of her as though
she had been the Lucania. Any one can make a floating hotel that will
pay expenses, if he puts enough money into the sa