The one would nudge the other to remind him that the
boy was within hearing, and the words choked themselves before
they got any farther. When they talked to him nicely he had
always a good answer, some-
times a smart one, ready, and that helped much to make them
change their minds about him.
One day Jack gave him a curry-comb and a brush to try his
hand upon old Diamond's coat. He used them so deftly, so gently,
and yet so thoroughly, as far as he could reach, that the man
could not help admiring him.
"You must make haste and, grow" he said. "It won't do to
have a horse's belly clean and his back dirty, you know."
"Give me a leg," said Diamond, and in a moment he was on
the old horse's back with the comb and brush. He sat on his
withers, and reaching forward as he ate his hay, he curried and
he brushed, first at one side of his neck, and then at the
other. When that was done he asked for a dressing-comb, and
combed his mane thoroughly. Then he pushed himself on to his
back, and did his shoulders as far down as he could reach. Then
he sat on his croup, and did his back and sides; then he turned
around like a monkey, and attacked his hind-quarters, and combed
his tail. This last was not so easy to manage, for he had to
lift it up, and every now and then old Diamond would whisk it
out of his hands, and once he sent the comb flying out of the
stable door, to the great amusement of the men.
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