Untitled - Beeldbibliotheek

122 CARAVAN DAYSfor him ifonly we would consent to a triflingdelay.You are to picture then these beautiful feetwith seventy-two inches of the best iron distributedamong them, free from the slightestblemish. You are to picture Herbert's frame ofmind when he found Sam on the Monday morningwith one shoe missing and one hoof badly broken.It is impossible to guess how he had contrived toget it off there is always an element of mysteryabout Sam's nocturnal doings but there it was.And more than that, the shoe had disappeared.The horses were alone in a small and painfullybare field.Herbert in moments ofsevere exasperationisand he nowgiven to picturesque language,declared that in his opinion Sam, having wrenchedit off, had wandered about with the shoe in hismouth till he found a suitable hiding-place. Idon't believe that there was more than a singlerabbit-hole in that field. But the shoe was foundin that rabbit-hole at the end of three-quartersof an hour of diligent search. We had to patchit on as best we could to keep goingreached a blacksmith some three miles down theroad.till weBut Sam's feet have never again been quitewhat they were at Peterculter.