Smithers said so, any way, and I had to tumble up lively when he gave the word.

I didn't mind doin' tricks or showin' off Sancho, for father trained him, and he always did well with me.

But they wanted me to drink gin to keep me small, and I wouldn't, 'cause father didn't like that kind of thing.

I used to ride tip-top, and that just suited me till I got a fall and hurt my back; but I had to go on all the same, though I ached dreadful, and used to tumble off, I was so dizzy and weak." "What a brute that man must have been! Why didn't 'Melia put a stop to it ?" asked Mrs.Moss, indignantly.
"She died, ma'am, and then there was no one left but Sanch; so I run away." Then Ben fell to patting his dog again, to hide the tears he could not keep from coming at the thought of the kind friend he had lost.
"What did you mean to do ?" "Find father; but I couldn't, for he wasn't at the ridin' school, and they told me he had gone out West to buy mustangs for a man who wanted a lot.

So then I was in a fix, for I couldn't go to father, didn't know jest where he was, and I wouldn't sneak back to Smithers to be abused.
Tried to make 'em take me at the ridin' school, but they didn't want a boy, and I travelled along and tried to get work.