"Cather, Willa - O Pioneers!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cather Willa Sibert)

Lou looked back and winked at Carl. "What
would you do, Emil, if you was out on the
prairie by yourself and seen him coming?"

Emil stared. "Maybe I could hide in a
badger-hole," he suggested doubtfully.

"But suppose there wasn't any badger-hole,"
Lou persisted. "Would you run?"

"No, I'd be too scared to run," Emil ad-
mitted mournfully, twisting his fingers. "I
guess I'd sit right down on the ground and say
my prayers."

The big boys laughed, and Oscar brandished
his whip over the broad backs of the horses.

"He wouldn't hurt you, Emil," said Carl
persuasively. "He came to doctor our mare
when she ate green corn and swelled up most as
big as the water-tank. He petted her just like
you do your cats. I couldn't understand much
he said, for he don't talk any English, but he
kept patting her and groaning as if he had the
pain himself, and saying, 'There now, sister,
that's easier, that's better!'"

Lou and Oscar laughed, and Emil giggled
delightedly and looked up at his sister.

"I don't think he knows anything at all
about doctoring," said Oscar scornfully. "They
say when horses have distemper he takes the
medicine himself, and then prays over the
horses."

Alexandra spoke up. "That's what the
Crows said, but he cured their horses, all the
same. Some days his mind is cloudy, like. But
if you can get him on a clear day, you can learn
a great deal from him. He understands ani-
mals. Didn't I see him take the horn off the
Berquist's cow when she had torn it loose and
went crazy? She was tearing all over the place,
knocking herself against things. And at last
she ran out on the roof of the old dugout and
her legs went through and there she stuck, bel-
lowing. Ivar came running with his white bag,
and the moment he got to her she was quiet and