Black Beauty

it was Harry. He cleaned us and fed us. He was
very still, and neither whisded nor sang, but did some Russian dancing. At noon
he came again, and gave us our food and water. This time Dolly came with him.
She was crying, and I could gather that Jeremiah Barker was dangerously ill and
broke. The doctor said it was a bad case; so did his bank manager.
    So two days passed away,
but he didn’t, and there was great trouble indoors. We only saw Harry, and
sometimes Dolly. I think she came for company, for Polly was always with
Jeremiah, and he had to be kept very quiet. So they rendered him unconscious
with a mallet.
    On the third day, whilst
Harry was in the stable, there was a tap on the door — why anybody wanted to
put a tap on a door is strange — and Governor Grant came in. ‘I want to know
how your father is.’
    ‘He’s unconscious,’ said
Harry, ‘they call it bronchitis.’
    ‘That’s bad, very bad!’ said
Grant, shaking his head; it fell off.
    ‘Yes,’ said Harry, ‘and the
doctor said that father had a better chance than most men, because he didn’t
drink.’ The Governor looked puzzled.
    ‘If there’s any rule that
good men should get over these things, I am sure he will, my boy.’
    Early next morning he was
there again.
    ‘Well?’ said he.
    ‘Father is better,’ said
Harry. ‘Mother hopes he will get over it.’
    ‘Thank God!’ said the
Governor, ‘and now you must keep him warm, and that brings me to the horses;
you see, Jack will be all the better for the rest of a week or two in a warm
stable, and you can easily take him a turn up and down the street to stretch
his legs; but this young one, if he does not get work, he will soon be all up
end, and when he does go out, there’ll be an accident.’
    ‘I have kept him short of
corn,’ said Harry, ‘but he’s so full of spirit, it’s coming out the back.’
    ‘Just so,’ said Grant. ‘Now
look here, will you tell your mother that I will come for him every day till
something is arranged, and whatever he earns I’ll bring your mother half of it,
and that will help with the horses’ feed. Your father is in a good club, I
know, but that won’t keep the horses, and they’ll be eating their heads off all
this time.’ And without waiting for Harry’s thanks, he was gone.
    For a week or more he came
for Hotspur, and drove him at 150 miles per hour until he settled down, and
when Harry thanked him, or said anything about his kindness, he laughed it off,
saying it was all good luck for him. Polly got half the takings, but he kept
the bigger half; his horses were wanting a little rest, which they would not
otherwise have had.
    Jeremiah grew better,
steadily; first his feet got better, then his legs, and finally his body and
head. The doctor said that he must never go back to the cab work again if he
wished to be an old man. The children had many consultations together about
what father and mother would do, and how they could help to earn money. There
was bank robbery, but that was too dangerous; the bank manager would recognise
him and ask him to repay his overdraft.
    One afternoon, Hotspur was
brought in very wet and dirty. While Harry was sponging off the mud from
Hotspur, Dolly came in, looking very full of something. It was cottage pie.
    ‘Oh! Harry, there never was
anything so beautiful; Mrs Fowler says we are all to go and live near her.
There is a cottage now empty that will just suit us, with a garden, and a hen
house, and apple trees, and everything, and her coachman is going away in the
spring to be put down, and then she will want father in his place!’
    ‘That’s uncommon jolly,’
said Harry, in old English, ‘it will suit father. I’ll be a groom, a gardener
or a bank robber. We’ll need money.’
    It was quickly settled that
the cab and horses should be sold as soon as possible.
    This was heavy news for me,
for I was not young — I was 79. Grant said he would take Hotspur, and there
were men on the stand who would have bought me, but Jerry said No! The Governor
promised to find a place for me where I should be comfortable, possibly the
Ritz.
    The day came for going
away. Jerry had not been allowed to go out yet, and was chained to his bed just
in case. Polly and the children came to bid me good-bye. ‘I wish we could take
you with us,’ she said. Dolly was crying and kissed me, too, then they buggered
off, and I was led away to my new place.

46

JAKES AND THE LADY
     
    I was sold to a corn dealer and a