'Oh, mon Dieu!' said his comrade,
'dat is a very striking lesson in English. On land, look out means,
open de window and see what you will see. On board canal boat it
means, haul your head in, and don't look at nothin'.'
"Well, the worst hoist that I ever had was from a very high-actioned
mare, the down foot slipped, and t'other was too high to be back in
time for her to recover, and over both of us went kerlash in the mud.
I was skeered more about her than myself, lest she should git the skin
of her knee cut, for to a knowing one's eye that's an awful blemish.
It's a long story to tell how such a blemish warn't the hoss's fault,
for I'd rather praise than apologize for a critter any time. And there
is one thing few-people knows. Let the cut come which way it will, the
animal is never so safe afterwards. Nature's bandage, the skin, is
severed, and that leg is the weakest.
"Well, as I was a sayin', Doctor, there is the knee action and the
foot action, and then there is a third thing. The leg must be just
thar."
"Where?" said the doctor.
"Thar," said I, "there is only one place for that, and that is 'thar,'
well forward at the shoulder-point, and not where it most commonly is,
too much under the body--for if it's too far back he stumbles, or too
forward he can't 'pick chips quick stick.' Doctor, I am a borin' of
you, but the fact is, when I get a goin' 'talkin' hoss,' I never know
where to stop.
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