CHAPTER EIGHT

Mrs Gordon Falls III

After the night of the fire, we had no further trouble and managed to reach the home of our master's friend the very next day. We stayed for three relaxing days and then returned to Birtwick Park eager to share our story about the fire with the others.

But James had other things on his mind. He was interested in finding out if John knew who was to replace him.

"Little Joe Greene, "said John.

"How can he replace me? He's too young!"

"That he may be, but he's also a hard-worker and very well-behaved. We're going to give him six weeks to get used to working here. If he's not doing well enough, we'll find someone else."

And the very next day, Joe arrived to start his training with James. He was shown how to care for the animals and the equipment. James hadn't realized until now how many things he did every day. It seemed like so much.

Merrylegs was the horse Joe got to test his skills on, because he was the most gentle of all the horses. At first, Merrylegs didn't like the way the boy did his work, but after a couple of weeks he found that Joe had greatly improved.

The two weeks of training went by quickly, and it was soon time for James to leave. He seemed very sad to leave all of his friends, both human and animal. He had become very close to Merrylegs, and when he came over to say good-bye to him, he began to cry a little.

After he'd gone, Merrylegs wouldn't eat for several days. John decided to take care of him personally, instead of Joe, and by the following week the horse was back to his old self again.

A few nights afterward I was surprised out of my sleep by the sound of the stable bell ringing. Soon I saw John before me saying, "Come, Beauty. We need your strength and speed more than ever tonight. The Squire's wife is very ill."

He had all of my equipment on in no time and then led me to the front of the house where the squire met us. He was holding a letter in his right hand.

"My wife's life is depending on you tonight, John. Here's a letter for the doctor. Don't waste any time and make sure he comes tonight. I don't know how long she'll be able to wait. But you should make sure Beauty gets a little rest at the hotel and just bring him back tomorrow."

I ran like I'd never run before. Nothing could have slowed me down or stopped me, and we crossed a lot of difficult fields and roads. It was eight full miles to the doctor's home and every minute seemed like an hour. When we finally reached his home it was three o'clock.

John jumped from the carriage and hit the doctor's front door as hard as he could, but no one answered. Seeing that this wasn't working, he started to kick the door. If anyone else had seen this, they might have thought he was a robber or murderer, so desperately he seemed to want to get inside. Soon the second story lights came on and out the bedroom window came the doctor's gray face, shouting, "What in the hell are you doing, trying to break down my doorfy?!"

"Sir, I am John Manley. I work for Squire Gordon. Please, sir, his wife is terribly ill and is in great need of medical treatment! Come quickly!"

When the doctor came to the front door with his medical bag, he was still not completely dressed and his hair looked wild. "I can't possibly take my horse. He had a very busy day today and wouldn't be able to take me that far very quickly. I must take yours."

John didn't have much choice but to let the doctor take me, even though he knew I badly needed a rest. "OK. Take mine, but I must ask you not to use your whip on him. I promise you he'll get you to the squire's quickly."

As soon as the doctor was sitting on my back, I could tell he hadn't any riding skills and that I would be working even harder just to keep him from falling off. On the way back he gave me a brief rest, which I appreciated greatly, although we would have made it back to Birtwick Park without it.

When we arrived at the squire's home, we found him and Joe waiting in the front yard. Squire Gordon took the doctor directly to Mrs Gordon, and Joe led me back to the stables. My coat was wet with sweat and my legs were weak from all the running I had just done.

"Don't worry, Beauty. You'll be fine. I know just what to do to make you feel better." And the boy meant what he said, however, because of his lack of experience he made a few very serious mistakes that evening. He thought it a bad idea to give me a blanket because I was so hot, but without the blanket I soon became very cold. And he also gave me cold water, hoping to cool me down. I was so thirsty I just drank whatever he gave me, without thinking. Joe stayed with me for a while and fed me some corn, but soon, thinking I was going to be fine, he turned out the lights and went to his sleeping quarters.

And it was just after he left that I started to become cold. I wished he had given me that blanket, after all. And I knew that John Manley would not be back for quite some time, so I did my best to lie down and rest.

Many hours later, John finally returned. He immediately walked to my stall to see how I was. When he saw me shaking with cold he became very angry and cried out, "Ah, how could that boy have done such a stupid thing?"

At this time, I really did feel quite bad. I found it very hard to breathe. John covered me with a heavy blanket and sat next to me for the entire night until the squire came to the stable to see me.

"Oh, Beauty. You did such a great thing today. You saved two peoples' lives. My wife's and my own, for I could never have gone on living without her."

It's difficult for me to remember how many days I was ill. I know the doctor came to see me several times to check my blood and temperature. But eventually I started feeling better and better. And I remember the day that Joe's father came to visit me.

"This really is a fine horse, John. Joe feels horrible about what he did. He realizes it was his fault, but he's sure it will never happen again. Would you mind saying a few kind words to him?"

It seems that John did speak with Joe soon after his father's visit, for Joe was back working in the stables a couple of days later. And from that time on, he was always very careful about everything he did. And he became a very reliable worker, in fact. But just to be safe, John always took care of Ginger and me, himself.

Then, one afternoon, while John was out on business with another horse, the squire needed a letter delivered to a friend a few miles down the road. He asked James to take it, with me as his horse. We finished the job quickly without any problem, so we rode back home slowly. On the way, we came upon a wagon that was too heavily loaded. It was so heavy that it couldn't move any further because the wheels had sunk deep into the wet ground. To our surprise, the driver was hitting his horse again and again. It seemed that he believed everything to be the horse's fault.

James couldn't stand to see this, so he shouted, "Please, I'm free now, I can help you to lighten your load. Just stop hitting your horse!"

But the driver continued to hit the horse anyway.

Joe became angry and jumped on my back, urging me toward the nearest house we could find. Luckily, the man who lived there was the owner of the horse being hit. Joe told him what we had seen and the man thanked him for the news.

"Will you tell the police what you just told me if I need you to?"

"Of course I will," Joe answered.

As soon as we returned to Birtwick Park, Joe told John everything.

"You did the right thing, boy," said John. "Many people would have done nothing and would have tried to forget what they had seen, pretending it wasn't anything important."

We horses were lucky to have Joe, because he soon became one of the greatest stable boys I'd ever had. But our luck would quickly disappear, for our lives were soon going to change.

(end of section)