I sensed the rising excitement in the two boys, and I wondered what they might know that I did not.
“What’s going to happen?” I asked them. “What goes on?”
“We don’t know,” Amos declared. “But by God something will. That horse out there will do anything Mr. Deuteronomy says, and Deuteronomy’s been talking to him the whole day long and part of yesterday.”
Outside, I saw that Deuteronomy had led Pegasus to a point opposite that which Sir Joshua had claimed as his own.
“Who moved things around?” I asked.
“Oh, that was Deuteronomy, whilst you was in the big house. Didn’t take but a minute.”
“Oh, my God, will you just look at that,” the nameless lad marveled. “Lord Lamford’s actually going to try to mount Pegasus. Look, he’s moving the stepladder up close.”
“I wondered what that was for,” said I, “yet I never really gave it much thought.”
“He’s tried it once or twice before.”
“But never with a stepladder.”
Lord Lamford had pushed it so close to Pegasus that its top rung (or step) pressed into the horse’s ribs.
“Oh, Pegasus don’t like that at all.”
“Foolish thing to do. Lamford’s going to be sorry. Just you wait.”
“You see,” said Amos to me, “Pegasus won’t let anyone ride him but Deuteronomy-not even Mr. Bennett when he was alive.”
“And he liked Mr. Bennett.”
“Just imagine how he’s going to feel about it when someone as big and fat as Lamford tries to crawl up on top of him.”
“Well, quiet down, you two,” said I to my informants, “because it certainly looks as if he’s going to allow him to remain up on top of him this time.”
And indeed it did. Lord Lamford had inserted his boots into the dangling stirrups. He now shifted his great weight in the saddle and called out something to Mr. Deuteronomy.
It is rather difficult to describe the appearance of the nobleman upon that horse, for he certainly did not appear noble upon it. The way that he overflowed the small racing saddle made him look quite like a huge bear perched tentatively upon a small pony. Yet, still, the horse held his ground, his four hooves planted solidly beneath him.
Deuteronomy came over, no doubt in response to Lord Lamford’s call. An order was given. Deuteronomy collected the stepladder and backed away quite some distance. And then, as I was wondering why he had gone so far, the answer came in a series of powerful leaps-four in all. On the second of them, Lord Lamford lost his hold upon the stirrups. The third unseated him and landed him flat upon his back. The fourth leap seemed to be executed simply for the grand sport of it. For his part, Lord Lamford found no pleasure whatever in his grotesque position. He struggled to right himself and regain his feet. Shouting for help, he demanded a hand up.
All this we heard easily from our place at the window. Yet I hoped for the sake of the stable boys that they could not be heard by Lord Lamford, for they were laughing quite rudely at the plight of their master. Another shout was added to the cacophony in and outside the stable. Having tossed the stepladder aside, Mr. Deuteronomy came forward, calling the horse by name, attempting (I assumed) to calm him. Pegasus seemed quite calm. He studied Deuteronomy as he backed off a bit. Then did Deuteronomy shout the horse’s name for a second time and a third, and clapped his hands together, just as Pegasus cantered forward, as if still at play. As he reached the flailing form of Lord Lamford, the horse reared and, a moment later, brought his front hooves crashing down upon Lamford.
A howl of pain was heard. The boys, who had at last stopped laughing, ran to the door and then outside. Yet, for the time being, I kept my place at the window and saw the entire exercise repeated: Pegasus ran back a bit, then cantered forward to rise once again and come down most brutally with his hooves upon the body. Lamford no longer moved. If there were cries for help, I heard them not. I went to the door just in time to hear the horse’s hooves beat down once again upon him. And then, a fourth time-the most frightening of all, for I was that much nearer and could see the damage wreaked by Pegasus upon that disgusting man. Oh, he was dead right enough. His broken limbs were thrown about in astonishing angles. Joints were added. Worst of all was the head, which had been quite flattened, and the worst of the worst was the face-a hideous pulp of flesh, brain, and blood.
“That may be quite the oddest story I have ever heard,” said Sir John with a sigh. “Forgive me for asking-and I mean it as no sign of doubt-but did it all happen just as you said?”
“It did, sir, just as I told it to you.”
“And Deuteronomy Plummer simply jumped into Pegasus’s saddle and rode away?”
“Well, not quite so casually as all that, perhaps. He asked me to return the wagon and the team to the stable-Burnaby’s in Market Street-and to Sir Joshua Reynolds he gave assurances that he was simply taking the horse away to shoot him. It seemed to satisfy Sir Joshua, though he was so eager to get away that I believe he would have been satisfied by whatever he was told.”
“I must speak to him about this,” said Sir John. “Oh, and the stable boys-you said he’d made certain promises to them.”
“Well, implied certain things, anyway. Just before he mounted up, he took them aside and seemed to be giving them instructions of some sort. I believe they have a meeting arranged.”
“But you didn’t hear where it was to be, or when?”
“No sir, I did not.”
He let forth another deep sigh. “You know, Jeremy, I put no credence in tales of the great understanding of some animals.”
“Of horses, for example?”
“Right to the point, yes. If Pegasus had perhaps been a dog, a trained wolf, something of that sort, I do believe I might be able to accept the facts that you have given me. I might be able to take them as you do.”
“And how do you believe I take them?”
“Gullibly, in a word. You seem to accept it that Deuteronomy instructed Pegasus to kill Lord Lamford, and is therefore responsible for his death.”
“Well, I have already quoted to you what I heard from Deuteronomy in Newmarket: that Pegasus is the smartest horse he ever knew. That was his claim, and so he proved in winning the King’s Plate in Newmarket.”
“Oh? Did he?” said Sir John in his argumentative fashion. “I thought what he proved was that he was the fastest horse on the track that day.”
“But sir, I saw Deuteronomy barking out orders to him, and Pegasus followed those orders in a manner most exact.”
“Do you think he was the only jockey that day barking out orders-as you put it? ‘Faster, faster!’ They must all have said that one time or another.”
“No doubt, but-”
“And did you not hear from both Mr. Bennett and this very morning from the stable boys that Pegasus never allowed any other but Deuteronomy climb upon his back?”
“Yes, but still, if you had only seen the two of them- Deuteronomy and Pegasus-in the stable together, you would have sworn that they were planning something.” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized my faux pas.
“Unfortunately,” he responded coolly, “I was denied that on two counts. First of all, I was not there. Secondly, even if I had been there, I could not have seen any such thing for reasons you know only too well. But further, Jeremy, even if I had been there and been able to watch the human and the equine conspirators at work, I would nevertheless have denied them responsibility for what followed. Why? Simply because a man cannot communicate to a horse in the manner you have described-not with any reasonable expectation that his instructions would be followed. Because it is not reasonable, simply that-and nothing more. Do you not understand that?”