[Picture: Book cover] [Picture: “Buffalo Bill took me on Soldier Boy to Thunder-Bird’s Camp”] A Horse’s Tale BY Mark Twain ILLUSTRATED BY LUCIUS HITCHCOCK [Picture: Decorative graphic] LONDON AND NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS .. MCMVII * * * * * Copyright, 1906, by Harper & Brothers. * * * * * _All rights reserved_ Published October, 1907. _Printed in United States of America_. * * * * * Contents CHAP. PAGE I. SOLDIER BOY—PRIVATELY TO HIMSELF 1 II. LETTER FROM ROUEN—TO GENERAL ALISON 12 III. GENERAL ALISON TO HIS MOTHER 19 IV. CATHY TO HER AUNT MERCEDES 25 V. GENERAL ALISON TO MERCEDES 33 VI. SOLDIER BOY AND THE MEXICAN PLUG 56 VII. SOLDIER BOY AND SHEKELS 82 VIII. THE SCOUT-START. BB AND LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 88 ALISON IX. SOLDIER BOY AND SHEKELS AGAIN 90 X. GENERAL ALISON AND DORCAS 100 XI. SEVERAL MONTHS LATER. ANTONIO AND THORNDIKE 116 XII. MONGREL AND THE OTHER HORSE 129 XIII. GENERAL ALISON TO HIS MOTHER 133 XIV. SOLDIER BOY—TO HIMSELF 145 XV. GENERAL ALISON TO MRS. DRAKE, THE COLONEL’S WIFE 149 Illustrations “Buffalo Bill took me on Soldier Boy to _Frontispiece_ Thunder-Bird’s Camp” “Look at that file of cats in your chair” p. 48 “Every morning they go clattering down into the 66 plain” “There was nothing to do but stand by” 92 “His strength failed and he fell at her feet” 150 Acknowledgements Although I have had several opportunities to see a bull-fight, I have never seen one; but I needed a bull-fight in this book, and a trustworthy one will be found in it. I got it out of John Hay’s _Castilian Days_, reducing and condensing it to fit the requirements of this small story. Mr. Hay and I were friends from early times, and if he were still with us he would not rebuke me for the liberty I have taken.