Page 371 - les-miserables

what to do with him. I bought him. I harnessed him to a
carriage. That is what he wanted, sir; he is as gentle as a girl;
he goes like the wind. Ah! indeed he must not be mounted.
It does not suit his ideas to be a saddle-horse. Every one has
his ambition. ‘Draw? Yes. Carry? No.’ We must suppose that
is what he said to himself.’
‘And he will accomplish the trip?’
‘Your twenty leagues all at a full trot, and in less than
eight hours. But here are the conditions.’
‘State them.’
‘In the first place, you will give him half an hour’s breath-
ing spell midway of the road; he will eat; and some one must
be by while he is eating to prevent the stable boy of the inn
from stealing his oats; for I have noticed that in inns the
oats are more often drunk by the stable men than eaten by
the horses.’
‘Some one will be by.’
‘In the second place—is the cabriolet for Monsieur le
Maire?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does Monsieur le Maire know how to drive?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, Monsieur le Maire will travel alone and without
baggage, in order not to overload the horse?’
‘Agreed.’
‘But as Monsieur le Maire will have no one with him, he
will be obliged to take the trouble himself of seeing that the
oats are not stolen.’
‘That is understood.’

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