Is that square ?" Barry nodded absently.

His slender fingers were patting the velvet nose of the stallion and he was talking to it in an affectionate undertone--meaningless words, perhaps, such as a mother uses to soothe a child.

When Strann set his foot in the stirrup and gathered up the reins the black horse cringed and shuddered; it was not a pleasant thing to see; it was like a dog crouching under the suspended whip.

It was worse than that; it was almost the horror of a man who shivers at the touch of an unclean animal.

There was not a sound from the crowd; and every grin was wiped out.