Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/169

 it was a start. After that each day the groom came and they took a short ride.

Just a month after Freckles had been brought to the hospital he was able to go alone with Dapples, and they had a fine long ride in the country.

Freckles was all eagerness to be back with the circus, but Mr. Williams would not hear of it. He said the boy needed rest after such a shake-up as that. So he arranged to board both horse and rider at a small hotel on the outskirts of Cedar Bend, where they were to remain until the circus went into winter quarters in about a month.

So Freckles and Dapples spent a very happy month, taking long excursions into the country. But the boy was not content to be whally idle, so he taught Sir Wilton several new tricks with which to surprise Mr. Williams. The circus people had been so good to him that he wanted to repay them in some way.