At last Dr. Cobb uttered a sharp exclamation.
"Bring my case, which you will find under the seat in my carriage, Grody," he directed.
Grody hastened to obey.
"Have you found out what the matter is, doctor?" Frank anxiously asked.
"I believe so, but I am not sure yet."
Jack and Harry came near, eager to learn what had been done to lame the horse.
The doctor opened his case, and took out some tweezers.
"Do you see this hair here?" he asked, having brushed the fetlock aside and taken the end of a hair in his fingers.
The boys saw it, but wondered what that hair could have to do with the lameness of the horse.
"It is not the right color," declared the doctor. "You see it is white, instead of being the color of the other hairs here."
Despite himself Frank felt his anger rising. How could the color of a hair make the horse lame? Did the man take him for a fool because he was a boy?
The three boys exchanged glances, and Harry made a threatening gesture at the back of the doctor"s head.
"I see the hair is white, sir," said Frank, his voice cold and hard; "but I scarcely think a white hair could make my horse go lame. I know I am a boy, but I do not like to be taken for a fool."
The doctor looked up and saw the indignation expressed on the faces of the three lads. Then he chuckled in a singular way and said:
"Wait till I get through, young man. I do not take you for a fool ordinarily, but you can easily make a fool of yourself over this matter."
He had taken the short white hair, which was very coa.r.s.e, in his fingers, having separated it from the others.
"Notice the peculiar place where this hair seems to grow," he directed.
"It is not a part of the fetlock, but the fetlock hid it from view. I am going to pull this hair out, but first I want you to notice that there is another hair, it seems, on the other side of the ankle, and it is just like this. See it?"
The boys saw it.
"In a moment you won"t see it," declared the doctor, as he adjusted the tweezers, getting a careful grip on the end of the hair. "Here it comes."
Then he quickly drew it out and Nemo started a bit, but was quieted by Grody.
"Young man," said the doctor, "look at this. This hair appeared to be about an inch in length, but now it is three inches long. It is not broken off, and yet it has no root. I will guarantee there is not another hair on this horse like it! I will guarantee it did not grow on this horse! I will guarantee it was what made this horse lame! And I do not want my fee if this horse shows any lameness two hours from now!"
The boys were astonished, as their faces indicated.
"But, doctor, I do not understand!" cried Frank. "You must explain. How could a hair----"
"I will explain. It"s an old trick, but one seldom tried. This hair came from the tail of a white horse. It was threaded into a long, keen needle. The fellow who got at your horse yesterday was an expert. With one jab of that needle he pa.s.sed the hair through the flesh just back of this cord. It went in at one side, and came out on the other. After that, while he was pretending to look at the horse"s feet, he clipped off the ends, and the hair was left in there. It could remain a day or so without doing any particular injury, but it was bound to make the horse lame as soon as he used that leg much. If it had been left there permanently it might have ruined the horse. That is all, young man."
"Why was a white hair chosen, doctor?"
"The fellow felt sure it would not be noticed, and yet he could quickly locate it by its color when the time came for him to cure your horse of its lameness."
Once more the boys looked at each other, and this time it was plain they realized there were some things they did not know.
"Doctor," said Frank, promptly, "I wish to beg your pardon. I believe I said something rather hastily, but now I wish to say that you know your business thoroughly."
The doctor smiled, and closed his case.
"I have been in the business all my life," he said, "but I expect to continue to learn something new about it as long as I live. I will say that I doubt if I should have seen what was the matter with your horse if you had not told me of the fellow you believed had lamed him and how the horse kicked up a racket when the man was in the stall. That set me to looking for tricks, and I found the hair."
Frank offered to pay the doctor, but he refused to take it then, saying:
"Here"s my card, young man. If your horse is all right this afternoon you may send me five dollars. You may need me again some time."
Then he strode out of the stable, flung the case under the seat, scrambled into his carriage, caught up the reins, and away he went in a hurry.
"Well, may I be farred and tethered--I mean tarred and feathered!" cried Harry Rattleton. "I never saw anything like that before."
"Nor I," confessed Jack Diamond. "It"s astonishing! I have learned something to-day that I never knew before. I never would have dreamed that a hair could lame a horse in that way!"
"You want to look out for Nemo now," said Harry, "and not let that chap get at him again."
"I mean to," a.s.serted Frank. "I have sent for my colored boy, Toots, to come on and keep watch here when Grody is unable to do so. Till he gets here, Grody, I want you to watch Nemo like a hawk. I hardly think the whelp will try another trick, but there is no telling. I gave him a bad thumping."
"But not half what he deserved!" cried Diamond.
CHAPTER VI.
PRINCE AND THE EAVESDROPPER.
Nemo"s lameness seemed to vanish as if by magic, and Frank was well satisfied. Grody took the utmost care of Nemo till Toots arrived.
The colored boy was delighted to come on to New Haven, and, as he was a lover of horses, his new occupation suited him very well. When Frank could not find time to take the horse out for his daily exercise Toots did it.
One evening a party of students gathered in Diamond"s room. He had invited them there to show them his new bulldog.
Diamond had a fad, and it was dogs. His dog had caused trouble between Diamond and Merriwell early in their college career by taking a strip out of Frank"s trousers. That dog had received mortal injuries in a fight, and now Diamond had another dog.
"Isn"t he a beauty!" cried Jack, as he displayed the ugly-looking brute. "Look at that head and those jaws! He comes from a line of gladiators."
"What do you call him, Diamond?" asked Ben Halliday.
"Prince."
"Put not thy trust in princes," croaked Dismal Jones.