Free The Horse Tamer by Walter Farley Page A

Chicago.
    “Are you listening to me?” Finn asked.
    “I’m listenin’ to you.”
    “Then what about it? Nothing we sell will hurt anyone one bit and it might help some. If you’re dead set against doing it during the show, we can sell the stuff on the street
after
your performance.”
    Bill turned to Finn. “How’d you like me to tame a wild zebra for our show too, Finn? That’s what a circus man visiting Reading wanted me to do for his act with Barnum and Bailey. He said there’s nothing in the world so hard to break and train.”
    “A zebra? A
wild
zebra? You serious, Bill? Do you really think you could do it?” Finn rose to his feet excitedly. “They say there’s one at the New York Zoo that was captured in North Africa. Now you’re talking, Bill! A zebra trained to drive would really pull in a crowd! We’ll go to New York and set up a big arena. Along with a wild zebra we’ll get the biggest horse we can find! Not only big but strong and ugly—the uglier the better—like that gray horse today. You can teach him torear and kick and bite on signal. Next we’ll get an iron muzzle for him.”
    “A muzzle?” Bill asked curiously. “What’s that for?”
    “For him to wear, of course,” Finn answered. “I want him to be as celebrated for his viciousness as you will be for taming him.”
    “And I’m to tame him over and over again?” Bill asked.
    “That’s right—at every performance. It’ll be the most exciting exhibition in New York. Later on we’ll travel to other big cities. Maybe even go to Europe! Think of that, Bill!”
    “I am thinking of it,” Bill Dailey answered. “It would be a circus, all right.”
    For the first time Finn became suspicious. “Are you
really
being serious?” he asked.
    “Sure,” Bill said steadily, meeting the other’s searching gaze. “About as serious as I am in training a wild zebra to be driven.” He paused for only a second, his eyes as cold as his voice. “We’re through, Finn. Get out and stay away from me.”
    The big man said nothing for several minutes. He might have been strong enough to pick up Bill Dailey with one hand and drop him to the floor, but he didn’t try. Instead he recalled the day they had met when he had been whipping his gray colt. The same look was now in Bill Dailey’s eyes and there was latent power in the slight figure that lay quietly beneath the blanket. Finn Caspersen decided, as he had then, that it would be better not to tangle with this man.
    “Sure I’ll go, if that’s the way you want it,” he said finally. “Maybe it’s best for both of us, as I said someweeks ago. But I’m not going back to peddling merchandise, Bill. You gave me an idea today, a good one.”
    Finn rose to his full height, towering over the cot. “Remember how you told the folks that you wanted them to learn what you know and then go out on their own, teaching others? Well, that’s what I’m going to do, Bill. Who knows your methods better than I do?” He grinned. “Of course, I’ll add my own stuff. I’ll play it big, bigger than you ever dreamed! I’ll be the most famous horse-tamer in the world
and the richest!
”
    Bill Dailey looked at him with contempt. “You have no sense of responsibility, Finn, an’ that’s what my methods require as much as skill. You’re a fraud and you’ll take advantage of a horse and his owner to achieve your dishonest goals.” He got out of bed and stood unsteadily on his feet. “If I hear of you exploiting people and hurting horses, I’ll come after you. Mark my words, I’ll track you down an’ expose you for what you are!”
    Finn Caspersen shifted his ponderous weight from one foot to the other. Why should a slight man like this put him on the defensive? Furious with himself, he turned away abruptly. “Don’t get so excited, Little Atlas,” he said with attempted humor. “You’re going to get your stomach all upset again. And remember, while I’m gone no more blueberry pie!”
    He