When we arrived at the wharf, I removed the saddle, and placing a
strong rope round his neck, had it attached to the windlass, not to
drag him on board, but to make him feel if he refused to advance that
he was powerless to resist, an indispensable precaution in breaking
horses. Once and once only he attempted escape; he reared and threw
himself, but finding the strain irresistible, he yielded and went on
board quietly. Jerry was as delighted to get rid of him as I was to
purchase him, and though I knew that seven pounds ten was as much as
he could ever realize out of him, I felt I ought to pay him for the
hay, and also that I could well afford to give him a little
conciliation present; so I gave him two barrels of flour in addition,
to enable him to make his peace with his wife, whom he had so grossly
insulted by asserting that his vow to heaven was to hug the shore
hereafter, and had no reference to her. If I ain't mistaken, Jerry
Boudrot, for so I have named the animal after him, will astonish the
folks to Slickville; for of all the horses on this continent, to my
mind, the real genuine Canadian is the best by all odds.
"Ah! my friend," said Jerry, addressing the horse, "you shall soon be
out of sight of land, like your master; but unlike him, I hope you
shall never be lost at sea."
CHAPTER XVIII.
HOLDING UP THE MIRROR.
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