It was a strange business.
"I was through a thicket or two today," I said carelessly.

"Maybe I hit a branch in just the right way to drive it in.

If we were galloping he would not have noticed it.

These little things happen oddly sometimes." Then the man began to tell me some other little mishaps to horses that could not be explained, bustling about the while.

And before long I left the stables and went to my own quarters, with the thorn yet in my hand.