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Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/51

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three legs. Little Dapples himself had no mind to be stamped to death by the snorting, wild-eyed animal, so he ran like a jack-rabbit, doubling and twisting, and always keeping his mother between himself and his tormentor. So it happened that they came almost up to the farm buildings, the black stallion biting and striking at the mare in his vain endeavors to get at the colt, and the faithful mare warding him off. Mr. Pederson saw them coming, and went after the fury with a pitchfork and drove him away. So it happened that for the second time a dappled colt was taken into the house and the hearts of the Pederson family.

But this colt was much smaller than the other one had been. Sir Wilton had come to the island farm as a yearling, while little Dapples was only six months old. He was given a place to sleep in the open shed, and he often trotted into the best rooms in the house, much like a large dog. The children fed him with care and brushed