One of them asked:
"Have much trouble, Greenhorn?"
"Not a bit," I answered.
"How"d you like to try to milk one of those cows?" another enquired.
"I can milk any one of them," I replied. "I have milked most of them. I"ve been drinking all the milk I could hold all the while I was out with them."
"That"s the silliest lie I ever heard," they chorused. "Why, if you tried to handle any one of those cows she"d gore you to death. You couldn"t get near enough to the udder of any one of them to get your hand on her teats.
Invent a lie we can swallow, or quit bragging. You can"t fool us."
I kept my temper, scaled the enclosure of the cow-pen, being careful not to make any sudden movement, strolled to the nearest cow, stroked her nose, pulled her ears, walked down her flank, patting her as I went and handled her udder.
"What have you to say now?" I called to the gaping yokels.
"Try that on another," they shouted back.
I did the like with two more.
They were dumb.
"Hand me a crock," I called, "and I"ll get a quart or so of milk, if the calves have left any."
When, one handed me a small _olla_ I milked it more than half-full from a dozen cows. I exhibited the milk, offered it to them, and, on their laughingly replying that they were no milk-sops, they preferred wine, I drank most of it. Then I went to the nearest calf, gentled it, picked it up, lifted it onto my back, its legs sticking out in front of me across my shoulders, and paced back and forth along the inside of the fence, the mother following me, licking the calf and lowing, but mild and with no show of anger, let alone any threat of attack on me.
Before I put the calf down the superintendent came along.
"What"s all this?" he queried.
"Felix here," he was answered, "is a sort of wizard. He can gentle these cows, he can milk them, and he has been showing off how one will let him carry her calf and yet not get excited."
"Can you do as well with bulls, too?" the _Villicus_ enquired.
"I think so," I replied. I had put down the calf and climbed out of the cow-pen.
"Come along!" the _Villicus_ commanded.
We trooped off to a pen where there was a fine breeding-bull all alone.
"Get inside, lad!" said the _Villicus_; "that is, if you dare. But be sure you are ready to vault out again, and entirely able to clear the pen."
I climbed into the pen and stood. The bull gazed at me, but made no threatening movement and his demeanor was placid. I walked up to him, a pace at a time, patted his nose, pulled his ears, walked round him, stroking him, took hold of the ring in his nose and led him over toward the awestruck gapers:
When I climbed out of the pen one man said:
"Try him on old Scrofa."
We trooped off to the hog-pens and there was a six or eight-year-old sow with a young litter. She was a huge beast, as ugly a sow as ever I saw. I got into her pen, miring half to my knees in its filth, but keeping my feet. She made no move to attack me, but grunted enquiringly. I picked up one of her pigs, it hardly squealed and she grunted scarcely more than she had already. I dangled the piglet before her, and she only smelt it and kept on grunting, with no sign of wrath.
"Come out, Felix," the _Villicus_ drawled, "you are sow-proof. But how do you do it?"
"I don"t know," I replied, "but I have always been able to gentle fierce animals of any kind. No animal ever attacks me."
Thereupon he tried me with three rams famous for b.u.t.ting, two he-goats of even worse reputation and half a score of watch-dogs. I came unscathed from close companionship with the goats and rams, and the dogs behaved as if they had been my pets from their puppyhood.
"Can you do as well with horses?" the _Villicus_ enquired.
"I believe so," I replied; "give me a chance."
"I shall," he a.s.serted. "I"ll round up all our colts fit for breaking and try you on them. I"ll get in most of the boys to watch the fun. It"ll take about ten days to get ready. Meanwhile you can take out another bunch of heifers with new calves. It seems to suit you and the calves and the heifers."
When I returned from my third outing, hard and fit and happy, the _Villicus_ asked me how soon I would be ready for colt-breaking.
"Tomorrow," I said.
The next day was made a sort of festival, with all the horse-herders at the villa paddocks.
First of all four experienced horse-wranglers roped a filly, threw her, bitted and bridled her while one sat on her head, let her get on her feet, hobbled her, held her so while two more saddled her and then held her while one mounted her. When they let her go she reared, bucked, dashed about, bucked again and again, and continued till exhaustion forced her to quiet down and obey her rider, who had kept his seat from the first.
"What do you think of that, Felix?" the _Villicus_ asked me.
"As good horse-wrangling as can be seen anywhere," I replied. "Up to standard and even above normal. But I can do better."
"Bold words," said the _Villicus_; "we"ll give you a chance to prove them."
Another filly was roped, bitted, bridled, and saddled, and her captors invited me to mount.
"Pooh!" said I. "Let some one else ride her. I don"t need all those preliminaries. I can walk right out into that bunch of colts, catch any young stallion you point out, hold him by the nose, gentle him without any rope or thong on him, mount him by vaulting onto his back, and ride him about unbitted, unbridled, bareback, and as I please, without his rearing or backing or kicking."
"Son," said the _Villicus_, "you are either a lunatic or a demiG.o.d. Go in and try what you boast you can do. Show us."
"Point out your stallion," I suggested.
He indicated a beautiful bay with a white face. He let me approach him at my first attempt, let me take him by the nose, let me lead him close to my dumbfounded audience, let me mount him. I rode him about, turning him to right or left as the _Villicus_ ordered, at my suggestion. When I got off I lifted each of his hoofs in succession, crawled under his belly, crawled between his fore-legs, and then between his hind-legs, while the onlookers held their breath; finally I stood behind him, slapped his rump and pulled his tail.
"Is he broken?" I queried.
"Apparently he is gentle as a lamb to you," the _Villicus_ admitted, "but how about the rest of us?"
"Bring in a saddle and bridle," I suggested, "and I"ll bit him and hold him while two of you saddle him and until one of you mounts him. He should be no more dangerous than a roped filly."
They did as I suggested and I then rode him about until he appeared used to the saddle and bit and already, at once, bridle-wise. Then one of the wranglers rode him.
I gentled colt after colt all that day till sunset, with a very brief pause for food and rest. Also I kept it up next day until mid-afternoon, when the last colt had been tamed.
Then, as we stood breathing, one of the horse-wranglers suggested: