Chapter 2
Not far after I galloped far from the town had I met a new human. I stopped to look at him, then he slowly walked over to me. I snorted loudly and half-reared, but the man only backed away a little. I looked at him for a moment, and seeing that he had no ropes to capture me with in his hands, nickered softly.
"Whatcha doing there, boy?" he said. "You look half-starved." he approached me carefully, and before I knew it he was patting my neck and clicking to me.
I felt that the man was not a predator, but I was still on the alert.
"If you want a nice place to stay 'till your owners come a lookin' fer you, you're welcome to stay at my farm," he said. The man spoke to me like he would to his own kind. His voice was rough and clear, but kind. Slowly he mounted my back, and seeing that I was submitting, threw his leg over, took hold of my rope, and nudged my flank with his foot. I willingly trotted off, though I was too weak to go much further. I knew this man was good, unlike the harsh and brute beasts back at the stables.
We traveled three miles down the snowy terrain. It wasn't easy. There was a slippery hill to climb, and then after that an old bridge over a frozen lake. It
must have been an old bridge, for every step I took it creaked and groaned, as if it would collapse at any minute. A mile from the bridge was a little farm which was our destination. It was completely surrounded by a brick wall with a wooden gate. Inside was a medium-sized farmhouse with two chimneys, and beside it a chicken coop. An exceptionally large barn was a little ways off from the house; that was where the man dismounted my worn back. Then he lead me into it.
The barn was a lively place. Stalls of horses lined the sides, chewing timothy hay and nickering welcomes to me. At the end of the barn was a hayloft, where a mother cat watched her kittens as they played in the hay.
The man put me in one of the stalls, where I was fed and watered.