"That'll be splendid, Hugh, if I can only do it; but how can I teach
him? I remember reading a book once about a man who lived in Mexico,
and he had trained his horse just that way; and I remember that
whenever he had left his horse and was on foot, and his enemies got
after him, he'd whistle, and the horse would come dashing up, and
he'd jump into the saddle and ride away. You see, his was the fastest
horse in all that country, and they never could catch him."
"Well, now," said Hugh, "there's no reason why you shouldn't teach
yours to do just that same thing, and yours is just about the fastest
one in all this country; so you might be just like the fellow you
read about in the book. Now, after a while, when the horse is feeding
quite a little way from you, you whistle to him, and then pull on
his rope and make him come up to you and give him a lump of sugar.
Don't give him only one, and then let him wander off and pick grass
again, and the next time he gets pretty well toward the end of his
rope, whistle to him again, and draw in on the rope and bring him up
close to you and give him another lump of sugar. Do that half a dozen
times, not too close together, and the first thing you know you'll
see him start toward you just as soon as you whistle. Mind you always
whistle to him the same way. Are you a pretty good whistler? Can you
whistle loud?"
"No, I can't whistle very loud," said Jack. "I can whistle a little,
but I can't whistle real shrill."
"Well, hold on now; what will we do for a whistle? Seems to me your
uncle's got a dog whistle somewhere in the house, that he always used
with old Dan, that bird dog that he hunted with. I think I saw that
whistle this winter in the cigar box on top of the book shelves. Hold
on a minute."
Hugh went into the house and a few minutes later came out again with
the dog whistle and gave it to Jack. "Now," he said, "if you're going
to teach the horse to mind that whistle, you'll have to get your
uncle to give it to you, and carry it with you all the time. If he
gets to learn one sound he'll mind that and no other. Try him now,
before I start off."
Pawnee was busy eating grass, nearly at the full length of the rope,
when Jack gave a long shrill blast on his whistle, and, at the
unusual sound, the horse raised his head and looked about. Jack began
to gather in the rope, and Pawnee, following it, walked up to him and
stuck out his nose. Jack offered him a piece of the sugar, at which
he at first sniffed rather suspiciously, and then ate and seemed to
enjoy. He reached out his nose for more, but Jack threw down the rope
and turned away, and presently the horse walked back and began to eat
the grass again.
"That's all right," said Hugh, "you'll see that before night he'll
come quick when you blow that whistle. Well, so long; I must be
going;" and Hugh walked away to the corral to get his horse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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