"Ain"t in a very pretty temper, Monkey ain"t," muttered Old Mat, as the little jockey pulled aside and slipped off. "Now Make-Way-There"ll take it up."
The brown horse came thundering by, steady and strong, his little jockey collected as himself, lying out over her horse"s neck.
"The fences don"t trouble her much," said Silver, his voice calm and heart beating.
"See, she"s that strong," wheezed Old Mat confidentially. "You wouldn"t think it, but there"s eight stun o" that gal good. It"s her bone"s so big."
The brown horse had swept past them, going wide of the fences for the second time round.
Make-Way-There, who had been dancing on his toes away on the left as he waited for his cue, chimed in as Four-Pound-the-Second came up alongside him.
He settled down to his stride at once and took the lead.
The brown horse, entirely undisturbed by this new rival, held on his mighty way.
The two horses swung round the curve, on the outside of the fences, Four-Pound-the-Second on the inside berth and close to the quarters of his leader.
The horses dropped into a dip, but for some reason the echo of their hoofs came reverberating back to the watchers in ever-growing roar. When they emerged from the hollow and raced up the opposite slope they were still together.
Then they made for home.
Old Mat had edged up alongside Silver.
"When he lays down to it, belly all along the ground!" he whispered, in the ecstasy of a connoisseur enjoying a masterpiece.
"Whew!--can"t he streak!" cried Albert.
Then a silence fell upon the watchers like a cloud. Their hearts were full, their spirits fluttering against the bars of their prison-house.
The horses dropped into a dip again, and only the heads and shoulders of the riders were seen surging forward, borne on the crest of a roaring avalanche of sound.
As they came up the last hill with shooting feet and knees that buffeted the air, they were locked together, the little riders lying over the necks of their horses and watching each other jealously.
In the silence there was something terrifying about the tumult of those swift, oncoming feet. The earth shook and trembled. Even Billy Bluff was awed and quivering.
Jim Silver never took his eyes off that little figure with the fluttering white shirt riding the crest of the oncoming storm and growing on him with such overwhelming speed. He dwelt with fascinated eyes upon the give-and-take of her little hands, the set of her shoulders, the swift turn of her head, as she watched the boy at her side. His will was firm, his heart high. She seemed to him so fair, so slight, and yet so consummately masterful, as to be something more than flesh and blood.
A rare voice penetrated to his ears through the tumult.
"That"s a little bit o" better."
"Ain"t it a cracker?"
"Hold that dog!"
As they came along the flat, the two horses seemed neck and neck.
The dark lad was riding a finish in approved style. Then the girl stirred with her hands, and the great brown forged ahead.
As the horses came past the watchers, Make-Way-There tailed off suddenly.
Four-Pound-the-Second thundered by like a brown torrent, the stroke of his hoofs making a mighty music.
"Gallops like a railway train," said a voice at Silver"s side.
It was Joses.
The young man, lifted above himself, did not resent the other"s presence at his side, did not wonder at it. Indeed, it seemed to him quite natural. The wonder of Infinite Power made manifest in flesh rapt the beholders out of themselves. They stood bare-headed in the presence of the abiding miracle, made one by it.
"Can she hold him?" thought Silver as the horse shot past them.
And either he expressed his thoughts unconsciously in words, or as not seldom happens in moments of excitement, Old Mat read his unuttered thoughts.
"She can hold him in a snaffle," he said. "She"s the only one as can!"
And in fact the young horse was coming back to his rider. She was swinging to steady him. At the top of the rise she turned him, dismounted, and loosed his girths. Then she led him down the slope back to the group, an alert, fair figure, touched to glory by the gallop, the great horse blowing uproariously at her side, tossing his head and flinging the foam on to his chest and neck, looking like a huge, drenched dog wet from the sea.
"Pull at ye?" asked the old man.
"He caught hold a bit as we came up the slope," answered Boy.
Jim Silver had dismounted and laid a hand on the horse"s shining neck.
"Great," he said.
The faint colour was in the girl"s cheeks, and she was breathing deep as she peeped up at him with happy eyes.
"He"s not clumsy for a big horse, is he?" she said. "Rug him up, Albert, and lead him home. He"s. .h.i.t himself, I see--that off-fore fetlock.
Better put a boracic bandage on when you get him in."
She put on her long coat and mounted Silvertail.
"Yes, don"t stand about," said her father; "or you"ll have Mar on to me."
The three moved off the hill.
Stanley had already gone on with Make-Way-There, and Albert followed with the young horse still snorting and blowing.
Billy Bluff patrolled between his mistress and his friend, doing his best to keep the two parties together.
Monkey Brand was left alone.
"Took it "ard!" muttered Old Mat, jerking his head.
"He"ll be all right," said Boy, glancing back. "Give him time to get his second wind."
The little jockey went back to pick up a plate Make-Way-There had dropped.