It was as if he had said: 'I must go,
even through this dreadful fire, if master leads the way.'
"There was a Fourth of July celebration in the next parish, and Parson
Lorrimer was invited to deliver the oration. He rode over on horseback,
took the saddle from Peter's back, and turned him loose in a pasture
where other of the guests' horses were grazing. A platform was erected
on the green, with seats for the band, the invited guests, and the
speaker of the day; while the people gathered from both parishes were
standing about in groups waiting for the exercises to commence. Flags
were flying, bells ringing, and a field-piece, that had seen service in
the War of the Revolution, at intervals belched out a salute in honor of
the day. The band was playing a lively tune, when suddenly there was a
stir and a dividing to the right and left of the crowd gathered about
the stand, and through the lane thus formed came the minister's white
horse.
"He trotted leisurely up, stopped before the platform, and made a bow,
then began to dance, keeping time to the music, and going round and
round in a space quickly cleared for him by the lookers-on. I don't know
whether it was a waltz the band was playing, or if horses were taught to
waltz so long ago; but whatever kind of dance it was,--gallopade,
quickstep, or cotillion,--Peter, in his horse-fashion, danced it well.
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