Off to the Wilds | Page 7

Legs, for there was
something in the cob's face that he liked, and the little horse had let him
stroke its velvet nose.
"Poor old Dick has taken a fancy to him," he said to himself; "and the
other will do just as well for me."

"Let Dick choose first," he said aloud.
"Very well," said Mr Rogers. "Now then, Dick, which is it to be?
though you can't be wrong, my boy, for there is not a pin to choose
between them, and they are brothers."
"Should you mind if I chose first, Jack?" asked Dick.
"Not a bit," said Jack, stoutly, though his feeling of disappointment was
keen, for he felt now that he would dearly love to have the
white-legged cob.
You may guess then his delight when Dick declared for the
black-legged one.
As soon as he heard the decision Jack had his arm over the
white-legged cob's neck and had given it a hug, the horse looking at
him with its great soft eyes, and uttering a low snort.
"Up with you then, my boys, and have a canter."
"Without a saddle, father?" said Dick, nervously.
Jack was already up.
"Have it saddled if you like, my boy," said Mr Rogers, kindly.
But Dick flushed, gave a spring from the ground, and was on the little
cob's back.
They were both skilled riders, but Dick's illness made him timorous at
times. He, however, fought hard to master his weakness; and when Jack
cried, "Come on, Dick; let's race to the big tree and back," he stuck his
knees into the cob's plump sides and away they went, with the wind
rushing by their ears, and the cobs keeping neck and neck, rounding the
big tree about a mile away on the plain, and then making the dusty
earth rise in clouds as they tore back, and were checked with a touch of
the bridle by the home field.

"Why, Dick, my boy, I would not wish to see a better seat on a horse,"
cried Mr Rogers, patting the cobs in turn. "Jack, you set up your back
like a jockey. Sit more upright, my boy."
"All right, father; I'll try," said Jack, throwing himself right forward so
as to hug his cob's neck. "But I say, father, isn't he lovely? I felt all the
time as if I was a bit of him, or we were all one."
"You looked like it, my boy," said Mr Rogers, smiling in his son's
animated face. "I wish Dick had your confidence, and you a little more
of his style."
"All right, father, we'll try and exchange a bit a-piece," laughed Jack.
"But I can't half believe it, father, that these are to be our own horses."
"You may believe it, then," said his father. "And now get them to the
stable."
"Oh, I say, Dick, what beauties!" cried Jack. "What shall you call
yours?"
"I don't know yet," replied his brother. "He's very fast. `Swift' wouldn't
be a bad name; and we might call yours `Sure.'"
"Hum! I don't think much of those names. Hold up!" he continued,
examining the hoofs of his brother's nag. "I say, Dick, what fine thick
shoes he has got."
"That's a good suggestion," said Dick, laughing, and looking brighter
than he had seemed for weeks. "Let's call him `Shoes,' and his brother
with the white legs `Stockings.'"
"Shoes and Stockings!" cried Jack; "but those are such stupid names. I
don't know though but what they'll do."
The question was not discussed, for the lads busied themselves in
bedding down their own horses; and for the rest of that, day the stable
seemed to be the most important part of the house.

CHAPTER THREE.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY.
"What is it ye're doing?" said Dinny, a day or two before that proposed
for the start.
Coffee and Chicory looked up from their task, grinned, and then went
on sharpening the points of a couple of assegais upon a heavy block of
stone, which they had evidently brought from a distance. Their faces
glistened with perspiration; their knees were covered with dust; and
they were in a wonderful state of excitement. Resuming their work on
the instant, they tried to bring the weapons to a keen point.
"Kill lion," said Coffee, laconically; and he worked away as if the lion
were round the corner waiting to be killed.
"Then ye may just as well lave off, ye dirty little naygars; for it's my
belafe that you're not going at all."
Dinny went off into the house leaving the two boys apparently
paralysed. They dropped the assegais, stared at each other, and then lay
down and howled in the misery of their disappointment.
But this did not last many seconds; for Coffee sprang up and kicked