Black Beauty

for twenty minutes, and I will tell you what sort of groom he has had,’
said the crooked little ostler. So they gave him a horse, but after twenty
minutes he had to give up. ‘I’m sorry, I have no idea what kind of a groom he
had.’

16

THE FIRE
     
    Oh, one terrible dark night I suddenly awoke
    And the stable was full of the dreaded smoke
    I started to choke and perspire
    My arse had caught fire
    When we got outside it was amazing
    For the whole stable was blazing
    I was lucky, I nearly died
    Many were trapped who ended up fried
    They ended as a hamburger on a plate
    Oh, dearie me, what a terrible fate
     
    Later in the evening, a
traveller’s horse was brought in by the second ostler, and whilst he was
cleaning him, a young Wan with a pipe in his mouth lounged into the stable.
    ‘I say, Towler,’ said the
ostler, ‘just run up the ladder into the loft and put some hay down into this
horse’s rack, will you? Only lay down your pipe first.’
    ‘All right,’ said the
other, and went up through the trap door; I heard him step across the floor
overhead and Put down the hay. James came in to look at us the last thing, and
then shut the door behind him.
    I cannot say how long I
slept, nor what time in the night it was, but I woke up very uncomfortable,
though 1 hardly knew why. I got up. The air seemed all thick and choking. I
heard Ginger coughing and choking; I could see nothing, but the stable was very
full of smoke.
    I heard a soft rushing sort
of noise; I discovered it was coming out of me. And then I heard a low
crackling and snapping. I did not know what it was, but a horse doesn't! know
everything. A horse does not know that Leonidas and his Spartans held the pass
at Thermopylae against the Persian hordes.
    At last I heard steps, and
the ostler burst into the stable; it went all over the floor. He began to untie
the horses and tried to lead them out, but he seemed in such a hurry, and so
frightened himself, that he was in constant need of fresh air. The first horse
would not go with him; he tried the second and third; they too would not stir. He
came to me and tried to drag me out by force of course, that was no use. He
tried us all by turns and then left the stable shouting, ‘All right, burn you
bastards, burn!’
    No doubt we were very
foolish, but danger seemed to be all round, and there was nobody we knew to
trust in, and all was strange and uncertain. The fresh air that had come in
through the open door made it easier to breathe, but the rushing sound overhead
grew louder, and as I looked upward, through the bars of my empty rack, I saw a
red light flickering on the wall. Then I heard a cry of ‘Fire!’ outside; it
wasn’t outside — it was in here! The old ostler quietly and quickly came in; he
got one horse out,, and went to another, but the flames were playing round the
trap door, and the roaring overhead was dreadful.
    The next thing I heard was
James’s voice, quiet and cheery, as it always was.
    ‘Come, Beauty, on with your
bridle, my boy, we’ll soon be out of this smother.’
    It was on in no time; then
he took the scarf off his neck, and tied it lightly over my eyes. The fool — I
immediately walked into the wall. He led me out of the stable, crashing into
everything. Safe in the yard, he slipped the scarf off my eyes, and shouted,
‘Here, somebody! Take this horse while I go back for the other.’
    A tall, broad man stepped
forward and took me, and James darted back into the stable. I set up a shrill
whinny as I saw him go. ‘Ah, shut up,’ said the tall, broad man.
    On the other side of the
yard, windows were thrown up, and people were shouting all sorts of things:
‘Land ahoy!’
    ‘God save the Queen.’ A lot
of good that did. Then came a cry:
    ‘James Howard! James
Howard! Are you there?’
    Well, he wasn’t. I heard
the crash of something falling in the stable, and the next moment I gave a loud
joyful neigh. ‘Shut up!’ said the tall, broad man. Then I saw James coming
through the smoke leading Ginger. He was coughing violently and wasn’t able to
speak.
    ‘My brave lad!’ said the
master, laying his hand on his shoulder. ‘Are you hurt?’
    James shook his head, for
he could not speak.
    ‘Aye,’ said the big man who
held me, ‘he is a brave lad, and no mistake.’
    I pulled myself free of the
big man. I didn’t like him; I bit his nose off. He put it in a handkerchief and took away.
    ‘ ’Tis the fire engine! The
fire engine!’ shouted two or