COLONEL EATON was a widower, his wife having been killed while jumping her horse in a fox hunt twenty years before our story. His family consisted of his sister, Miss Julia Eaton, who supervised Eaton Manor, his nephew Halsey Eaton, and his niece Margaret Moore. Both Halsey and Margaret were orphans, but to their adoring uncle, the Colonel, they were as his own children.
They were of the same age, fourteen years, and great chums. Margaret was called by her friends Pretty Peggy Moore, and she was very much spoiled by all. This had made her very wilful and headstrong, and the Colonel and Aunt Julia often found her a hard nut to crack.
A violent scene had taken place between Peggy and her uncle that very morning. This was when she insisted that she be allowed to ride in the hunt. The Colonel had stoutly refused and had reminded her of the tragic death of her aunt in the hunt. Peggy had stormed and coaxed but all to no purpose.
Halsey had also been refused the privilege of riding, and his uncle had told him to stay at home and keep Peggy company, and for both to help Aunt Julia with the festivities, as the fox hunt always ended with a great supper at the Manor.
So the young people had seen the gay hunting party ride away but had not been of it. Halsey had at once gone about several tasks for his aunt, but Peggy had retired to her room in a great fit of temper. An hour later Halsey had been greatly astonished to see her going out of the door, dressed in her riding habit.
"Hello, Peg, where are you going?" he had asked nonchalantly.
"After the hounds," the girl had replied grimly. "I am not going to be left behind, uncle or no uncle."
Halsey laughed and this further nettled the spirited girl.
"What will you ride on?" he asked. "A saw horse? That is all there is left. Every hunter in the stable is gone."
"I am going on Kentucky Babe," said the girl resolutely. "She used to be a famous hunter."
"Oh, I say Sis. You wouldn't do such a thing as that. Why uncle worships that mare and she only foaled a month ago. Why she would be as soft as butter. You might kill her."
The girl laughed and hurried away to the stable, while Halsey looked after her with genuine sympathy as he had been disappointed himself. He thought she had been joking and intending to give them a scare.
His astonishment could well be imagined when a few minutes later he heard a horse's hoofs on the turnpike in front of the Manor House. He ran to the porch with misgivings. Peggy was not like other girls. No one could tell just what she would do next, yet she had a heart of gold. Halsey's astonishment could well be imagined to see Peggy mounted on Kentucky Babe, trotting down the turnpike.
"Peggy, stop; stop, Peggy," cried the boy. "I say, you will kill the mare. Oh please don't go, Sis. Uncle will be furious."
But the wilful girl only waved him a careless farewell as she flicked the spirited mare with her quirt. Then Kentucky Babe broke into a swift gallop and they disappeared down the turnpike like the wind.
Halsey grabbed his cap and started for the stable. He must get some sort of a horse and follow her. Some one must be by her side. She would put the mare over anything that came in their way. Some one must be with her to keep her from killing both the horse and herself. As Halsey opened the stable door he remembered with chagrin that the only horse left in the stable was Sultan, the terrible. The stallion whom no negro dared bridle, much less saddle.
As the boy rushed into the stable, the spirited stallion threw up his head and whinnied, showing that they were on better terms than the people of Eaton Manor imagined. Although the grooms and trainers had frequently forbidden the boy going near the stallion, yet with the fearlessness of youth, he had often fed the great horse with carrots and apples, and even lumps of sugar. Also on several occasions he had climbed upon Sultan's back. The horse had pranced about some and acted rather nervous, but had not been vicious.
As Halsey stood by the stall hesitating, all the dreadful stories that he had heard concerning Sultan came surging through his mind. Especially vivid was the description of old Rastus of the never-to-be-forgotten time when Sultan had cornered him in the stockyard and tried to kill him.
He could see the old negro's eyes roll and the whites show as he talked.
"Yes, sah! Masser Halsey, dat wuz de time dis nigger suah done come close to smellin brimstun. Ah certin did. Ah got so scat inside, Ah wuz as white as a snowball. Ah suah was!
"Ah hates to tell dis here story cause it all sceers me up inside again. Ah sometimes dreams about it and then Ah hollers like Ah see a ghost.
"Ah suah did see a ghost dat time, an' it was the ghost of old Rastus suah nuff.
"You see Ah had gone out into the stockyard to drive the ole debble in. We did not know he was so ugly then. But de good Lord done put it into my woolly hade to take a pitchfork. Dat wuz what save my life. Ah wasn't thinking much about anything in particular when dat ole Satan he jes r'ar up on his him lages and come for dis here niggar.
"He make his foe lages go like he tink he was a windmill, and his teeth they snap an crack like he was a bear trap. He walk on his hin' lages jes like he allus walk dat way, an all the time he paw de air an snap his teeth fit to snap a man's arm off if he done get out his way.
"Ah jab with de pitchfork an yell, but it make no difference. He keep right on comin. So Ah back an Ah back an Ah jab away wid de pitchfork and finally Ah get through a do' into de stable. Then Ah bang de do' an Ah won't go into dat yard for all de money de Colonel gut. Ever since dat day, Masser Halsey, Ah don' trus myself wid dat hoss. No sah."
With this picture vivid in his mind it took all the nerve Halsey could muster to go inside the stall to the stallion and give him a lump of sugar from his pocket. The boy then stroked the horse's neck and he pranced and squealed. He seemed full of fire, but whether his spirits were good or evil the boy could not tell.
Finally he summoned courage to slip a saddle on the stallion's back. To the boy's great astonishment, with a wild squeal the stallion reared in the stall and broke his halter chain. At the sight of the broken chain Halsey's blood went cold in his veins. He was now at the mercy of the great horse. Yet Sultan made no further demonstration, but allowed the saddle girth to be drawn tight. Halsey had often seen him bite great pieces of wood from the edge of his manger, or shake the chain viciously with his teeth and he hesitated before approaching him with a bridle. But valuable time was being consumed. There was no knowing what trouble Peggy might be in with Kentucky Babe. So the boy put his arm over the stallion's neck and bent his head down for the bridle. To his astonishment the stallion submitted meekly to being bridled and led out into the yard.
But when the boy mounted as he did with a quick spring, the stallion went into the air and for a few minutes the boy had to cling to his mane and grip his sides with his knees. Finally to Halsey's great relief he ceased his antics and in answer to the bit and a pull on the rein, he galloped swiftly down the turnpike.
In ten minutes they overtook Peggy and the Babe. They were loping along the turnpike at a good trot, Peggy having tired of the gallop.
"What are you doing on Sultan?" cried Peggy as soon as the boy came in hailing distance.
"I have come to look after you. You must go careful with the mare."
"I shall go as I please," retorted the girl.
"Uncle will be furious at you for taking out the mare."
"I guess he will be equally furious at you for taking out the stallion."
"I had to look after you."
"I can look out for myself and I won't take any orders from you. I hear the hounds. They are crossing to the creek. I am going to head them off," and she struck Kentucky Babe with her quirt and was off at a canter.
Halsey followed on the stallion. "Don't run her so fast and don't try to take any fences. She isn't in condition," he warned.
He had espied the fence between Eaton Manor and a neighboring plantation in the distance and sensed coming trouble.
"You tend to your horse and I will tend to mine," snapped Peggy.
As they neared the high five-railed fence, Halsey's apprehension grew. He headed the stallion in close to Peggy's mount in hopes of persuading her to go to the north. There was a large gateway in the fence in that direction and he wanted to persuade her to wait for him to open the gate. In the meantime however the hounds came nearer and nearer and the girl's excitement grew.
"Margaret," cried the boy excitedly. "Let's go through the gate. It is the only safe way. The mare is in no condition to take that fence. It is a good jump for any horse in good condition."
"But we will lose a lot of time. I must be in at the finish."
"It will only take a few extra seconds. Let's play it safe, Sis. I will go ahead and have it all open for you."
"No," cried the girl. "The hounds are coming. Uncle said I couldn't ride fast enough for a funeral procession. I want to show him. I am going to take the fence." The boy tried to get in her way, but she waved him away with her quirt. He entreated and implored, but to no avail. So the headstrong girl rode fine mare straight for the high fence. Halsey kept the stallion close by her side in hopes of catching her bridle rein at the last moment. But even this ruse was frustrated. For with a sudden movement she reined the mare away from him and went at the fence a little upon a slant, which in itself was almost fatal.
Kentucky Babe had been a famous hunter in her prime, but recently had been kept entirely for breeding. In addition to that she was soft, and had also partly lost the jumping art. Besides, her rider did not steady her as she should have done. So, although she made a mighty effort, she landed upon the top rail and horse, rail and rider landing in a sorry heap upon the ground. Halsey tried vainly to rein in his own mount, but at this point in the exciting game, Sultan took matters into his own hands, or rather, his teeth.
Halsey had thought him quite soft-bitted, but now when he pulled with all his might upon the curb as they came within a rod or
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two of the fence, it was like pulling against a steel post. The stallion had taken the bit between his teeth and no rider, be he ever so good, could have stopped him. Vainly the young boy sawed and jerked upon the bit. The old horse would have his own way.
Halsey gripped the horse's side with his knees and clung to his mane as he felt him gathering for the spring. But the old warhorse made the fence with ease, and before the astonished boy could realize what had happened they were galloping wildly across the fields in pursuit of the hounds.
He looked back over his shoulder and to his great relief saw Peggy get to her feet. She was evidently unhurt, but the splendid mare lay where she had fallen and the boy feared the worst. After that he had all he could do to keep his seat in the saddle and guide the stallion as well as he could in the mad flight after the hounds.
In five minutes' time they overtook the stragglers and thundered on by them after the leaders. Again and again Halsey sought to pull the stallion down, but he might as well have pulled on a church steeple. Finally they thundered up to the leaders. Halsey had a fleeting glimpse of his uncle's scared face and heard his cry of warning and his counsel to stop him, but he might as well have tried to stop a whirlwind.
The creek was now only fifty yards away. The fox was swimming for his life and was nearly across. The hounds were in midstream. Halsey had no sort of notion as to what the stallion would do when he reached the water, but he thought the horse would stop. There was a bridge a hundred yards further up stream and the other riders now headed for that crossing place. But not so the stallion.
He had become crazed with the excitement of the hunt and earth and water were alike to him. So when he reached the bank, with a mighty leap that carried them twenty feet into the creek, he cleared the bank. Halsey thought his last hour had come. The mighty jump carried both horse and rider nearly under. Just the top of the boy's head and the tip of the horse's nose showed. Yet the stallion was equal to this emergency, for he struck out bravely for the farther shore. He gained rapidly upon the swimming dogs, so that he scrambled upon the sloping bank only a few rods behind them.
But this last short swim had taken the last ounce of fight and life out of poor Red Fox. He had made a wonderful run, but this was his finish. A hundred yards from the creek the pack overtook him and bore him to earth fighting feebly.
Halsey and the stallion came thundering up just in time to keep him from being torn to bits. The boy sprang from the horse and began kicking right and left to scatter the pack. Finally he beat them all off and with his pocket knife secured the coveted brush.
In the meantime old Sultan stood perfectly docile. One would have thought by his manner that he had never done such a thing as bolt with his rider in his whole life. Halsey patted him on the neck and then climbed back into the saddle with the red fox's brush, just as his uncle and Charley came cantering up.
"You young scrapegrace, what do you mean cutting in on the hunt in this way? Didn't you know that stallion might have killed you?
"He came mighty near it if I am any judge. What do you mean taking a horse and following the hunt without my leave?"
"I didn't mean to, Uncle," stammered the boy.
"You didn't mean to. I don't see how you could do it and not mean to. Don't you know there isn't a nigger on the plantation who would dare saddle Sultan? He might have killed you."
"Yes, I know they are all afraid of him. I didn't want to saddle him myself, but I—I had to, Uncle."
"You had to. What foolishness is this?"
"You see Uncle, Margaret she—the Kentucky Babe, she"
"Margaret, Kentucky Babe, what has that got to do with you and the stallion?"
"Why I hate to tell you but you will know soon enough. Peggy got one of her headstrong streaks and soon after the hunt left the Manor she came down in her riding habit. She said she was going after the hounds.
"I just laughed and told her there was no hunter left in the stable and she said she would take Kentucky Babe."
"What, take my brood mare, Kentucky Babe? Why she foaled within the month. It would kill her to run."
"I told Peggy so. I did everything that I could to stop her, Uncle, but I didn't really think she would do it. So when she cantered down the turnpike, some one had to go after her and see that she didn't get into trouble with the mare. You know the Babe is very high like. There was no mount left but the stallion, so I took him."
"I see," said the Colonel, grinning broadly. Then the serious look came back to his face.
"But where is Margaret? Did you leave her behind?"
"You know the high five rail fence between Eaton Manor and the Mallery plantation?"
"What," roared the Colonel, a great light breaking through his consciousness. "You don't mean to tell me that Margaret tried to jump that fence?"
"I tried to stop her, Uncle. I really did with all my might."
"Well, young man, you might as well tell me. Are they both dead?"
"No," replied Halsey. "Margaret is all right, but I guess the mare is done for."
"Well, by the great jumping horned spoon! What will you young folks do next? Lead the way, boy. We must hurry."
It was a rather sorrowful and disturbed hunting party that cantered back across the fields to the scene of the disaster. Halsey led the way on the stallion who now behaved like a steady-going old hunter.
They found Peggy and the mare lying on the ground just where they had fallen in a sorry heap. The girl had her arms about the neck of the beautiful horse, and she was sobbing as though her heart would break.
Her uncle was all sympathy and sprang from his saddle like a boy.
"Margaret, my dear child, are you hurt?"
The girl lifted her tear stained face and looked at him tragically.
"No Uncle," she sobbed, "I am not hurt very badly. Just a sprained ankle and a few scratches on the hands and face. But I have killed Kentucky Babe. She is dead. I know she is and you thought so much of her."
"Well," said the Colonel with much relief in his voice, "I did worship that mare. She was the best brood mare in Kentucky, but I think more of my niece than any horse. If you have escaped with your life we will not say too much about the mare. But let it be a lesson to you, Peggy. We must all be amenable to discipline in this world. We all have to restrain ourselves. I know you are sorry." And he kissed her affectionately on the cheek and straightened her disheveled hair.
"I never can forget this day," sobbed the girl. "I never will disobey you again, Uncle."
In the meantime Charley had been examining the mare.
"Yes, she is dead, Colonel," he reported. "She isn't staked and she hasn't broken any bones. It was just a blood vessel that she has ruptured, but it finished her all right."
"Come, Margaret, you get up behind me," said the Colonel, "and we will go home."
So they helped the girl up behind her uncle and all made their way back to Eaton Manor, the hounds following in the rear.
When they dismounted at Eaton Manor, Colonel Eaton invited his friends to come into the stable. This was after they had helped Peggy into the house.
"I have a little ceremony to perform," he explained, "and I want you all to witness it. It is rather important, sah."
When Sultan and the rest of the hunters had been stabled, the Colonel summoned all to meet in the long barn floor.
"Rastus," called the Colonel, "I want you to bring out Kentucky Babe's colt. Halsey, you must stay too," he said to his nephew who had started for the house. "I want you especially."
"Yes, Cunnel, ah will try an bring out dat colt, but he suah hain't halter broke much yet. He is full of de debble. He is suah a chip ob de ole block. He has got as much debble in him as ole Sultan hisself. But ah will fetch him out."
Presently lively sounds came from the adjoining stable.
"Heah, you. Hain't you done learned whoa. Look out da, you step on your uncle Rastus."
Soon the old negro reappeared with a prancing, bucking, four-weeks old colt on a halter. As they came into the presence of the Colonel the colt capered about the negro in great spirits.
"He hain't done halter broke very good, Cunnel," explained the old negro. "He's got too much spirits. Ah hain't tame him down yet. Whoa, you."
It was certainly a very ridiculous little horse to make so much disturbance. His appearance was almost grotesque, although he was so fiery. Like all small colts his head was about twice too large for his body and his legs seemingly twice too long as well. His joints were so large that they looked deformed, while his ridiculous little brush of a tail gave an additional ludicrous touch. But to one who knew horses, he was a wonderful colt.
Finally he was brought to a stand by the side of the old negro and the Colonel stepped forward and in his low pleasant voice said:
"My friends, I want to take you all into my confidence to-day. We have seen strange sights to-day. Things never seen on Eaton Manor before, sah, and I never expect to see them again. There is one among us, sah, who has acquitted himself like a true Kentuckian, and I am proud of him, sah." He was looking full at his nephew as he delivered this utterance and the blushing boy retired behind one of the planters.
"Push the young scapegrace out where I can see him," cried the Colonel in his most jovial voice. "I repeat I am proud of him, sah. He has acquitted himself like a Southern gentleman. A true Kentuckian has three virtues, sah. He has more than three, but these are paramount, sah. He isn't afraid of the devil, sah; he can ride a good horse into purgatory, if it is necessary; and he always protects women. This young man has fulfilled all of these three conditions to-day, sah, and I am proud of him. Now as a little expression of my pride I am going to present him with the best little colt in Kentucky, sprung out of the best brood mare in the Blue Grass country and by old Sultan himself. Here, Rastus, give me that halter," and he placed the end of the rope in his nephew's hand.
"Oh, Uncle, Uncle," was all the happy boy could say. A great lump filled his throat, but his face beamed with joy that all could see.
He had always loved horses, and at this moment all the warmth of his boyish impulsive heart went out to the homely little horse. He knelt down beside him and put his arm over his neck and brought the homely head close to his face. He kissed the now docile colt on his cheek and fondled his scraggly mane, and hugged him again and again.
"Oh you dear little horse. You are all mine. You are to be my pal. O what a pal of mine you will be. Why Uncle," the boy cried looking up at the Colonel with a radiant smile, "that is his name. Palo'mine."
The name was an accident, but it stuck. Not only that but this name in time became the brightest star in the constellation of Kentucky running horses.
But that was not all. Palo'mine was for four years the trusted mount of a famous trooper who never spared either himself or his beloved horse in his country's service. But his glory did not end even there. For when the flag was in great danger, and a brave army was threatened with annihilation, Palo'mine carried the general to the rescue, as only a Kentucky thoroughbred could. So you see there are strange adventures and bright laurels ahead of the homely little colt.