The Horse Tamer (12 page)

They learned the next day how right Hank was. According to the papers, Finn Caspersen had purchased Panic from Lord Oliver and was returning to the United States with him. He would exhibit him nightly at the largest arena in New York, Niblo’s Garden.

“Now we’ll see,” Bill Dailey said.

“I wonder,” his brother commented. “I wonder.”

Three weeks later Finn Caspersen arrived in New York with Panic. Bill did not go to the pier to witness Finn’s homecoming. Instead he bided his time and read about the thousands who were on hand to welcome the “Boss Horse-Tamer of the World.” It seemed that Finn didn’t want anyone to see Panic before his
opening at Niblo’s Garden. He had the notorious horse transported from ship to stable in a closed red wagon with his name printed in large letters on the side. However, Finn had no objection to displaying the gifts he’d received from his British admirers, including the Queen. They were carried in an open carriage for all New York to see.

Bill let another day go by before going to the Garden stables. He had no trouble finding Finn. He had only to look for the largest crowd. Finn was in the center, his stovepipe hat higher than all the others, his eyes reckless as ever, his voice singing self-praise as he told the group of his successful trip.

“… and Panic is seventeen hands of solid bone and muscle,” he boomed. “Never in your life will you see a horse like him, gentlemen. Come tonight and see our first show.” His eyes found Bill Dailey and disclosed neither shock nor surprise. “Now I have some work to do, gentlemen,” he said, dismissing the group with a friendly wave of his big hand.

When they were alone Bill Dailey said, “I see you’re still sellin’ the Secret.” There were boxes of the taming medicine piled high against the wall.

“Yep. Doing pretty well, too.” Finn grinned good-naturedly and put a hand on Bill’s shoulder. “Let’s stop beating each other over the head, shall we, Bill? You lead your life, and I’ll lead mine.”

Bill Dailey shrugged off Finn’s hand.

“Still touchy,” the big man said, scowling. “Still the pocket-sized Atlas, holding the world on your shoulders.”

“I just don’t want to be friends.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Finn said. “We won’t be.”

“I suppose you’ve got a big iron muzzle for Panic to wear tonight?”

“Sure. How’d you guess?”

“You tried to get me to do that back in Pittsburgh. Remember?”

“I’d forgotten.”

“An’ a wild zebra. Did you get one of those too, Finn?”

“No, just Panic and some pretty ugly horses.”

“How long did you tie Panic down before you gave your royal exhibition?”

For the first time Finn’s temper flared, but he soon regained control of himself and grinned broadly. “I keep forgetting I owe what I am to you,” he said.

It was Bill’s turn to be enraged. “I never taught you
that,
” he said furiously.

“But you told me how to weaken a horse,” Finn pointed out. “Panic was a tough one, all right, as mean as they come. It took us ten full nights to break him and even then he was fairly roaring. We ended up leading him behind a dog cart to London and back, forty-one miles each way!”

“Who’s
we?
”

“Mr. Dancer and me. He stayed in England.” He paused to study Bill Dailey’s face carefully. “I don’t suppose you’ve changed your mind and would like to work with me. I’ve got it good, Bill, real good.”

“You’re having trouble, aren’t you? You can’t keep horses under control by fear alone. Have you found that out?”

Finn nodded.

Bill went on relentlessly. “You
had
to buy Panic,
didn’t you, knowing that Lord Oliver would discover his horse was no better than before once Panic regained his strength?”

“I wanted him anyway,” Finn said defiantly. “Wait’ll you see the crowd that comes to see him tonight. He’s seventeen hands of solid gold!”

“I’ll bet he is,” Bill answered, turning to look at the closed stall behind them. “Have you an’ your stable manager got him tied down now? How long has it been this time, Finn?”

Not waiting for an answer, Bill walked quickly toward the stall door. He was halfway there when Finn caught him by the shoulder and whirled him around.

“Get out of here,” Finn said, “and get out fast!”

Bill clenched his fists, then opened them again. Fighting wasn’t going to do any good, either for him or Panic or all the other horses Finn would work over if he wasn’t stopped. There was only one place to expose Finn, and that was in the Garden ring. Bill was prepared to take that step during the evening performance. He had it all figured out.

Bill Dailey went from the Garden to the Barnum and Bailey Circus quarters outside the city and found the man he wanted.

“You’ll do it for me then?” the circus man asked anxiously. “You said you’d be back if you decided to do it.”

Bill nodded. “But it has to be done my way.”

“Any way you say, Professor, just as long as you do it. You know how much it means to me.”

“It’s just not in my line, that’s all,” Bill said.

“Yeah, that’s what you said back in Reading. But listen, Professor, you’re just helping me out. You like to help people with their animals, don’t you? I heard you say so myself.”

“I was talkin’ about horses.”

“This shouldn’t be much different.”

“I don’t know. You said yourself it’s never been successful before.”

“That’s why when you tame him for me I’ll have the best act in the business. Mr. Barnum said he’d take it. He promised he would.”

“I can’t promise you I’ll tame him. I’ll do my best, that’s all.”

“From what I saw of your exhibition in Reading that’s enough for me. Anyone who could tame Tar Heel …”

“It’s not the same thing,” Bill interrupted. “Have you bought him yet?”

“No, I was waiting for your answer. He’s no good to me unless he’s tamed.”

“You’ll have to take your chances then.”

“Seven hundred dollars’ worth of chances,” the man agreed thoughtfully. “That’s what he’ll cost me. But he’s cheap at the price if I can use him in the act. I couldn’t buy him from the Park Zoo for five times that if he hadn’t killed his caretaker an’ crippled another. Think of him doing a thing like that, Professor.”

“I am thinkin’ of it,” Bill answered.

“ ’Course he wouldn’t be a draw if he didn’t have such a bad reputation,” the man went on. “He’s a man-eater an’ everybody in New York knows it. You get him so I can drive him and I’ll have the biggest act in the business.”

“You’ll stop the show with him, all right,” Bill admitted.

“So let’s go, Professor. Where you goin’ to tame him … at your place?”

“No, I don’t want that kind of show in there. I’m no circus man.”

“That’s what you said before. Where will it be then?”

“We’ll take him from the zoo directly to the Garden,” Bill answered.

“The
Garden
?” the man repeated, puzzled. “But that’s where Finn Caspersen’s puttin’ on his act.”

“I know,” Bill said quietly. “It’s goin’ to be quite a show tonight … a double feature … an’ no one knows it, not even Finn.”

Niblo’s Garden was a huge circular building with a center ring and seats for several thousand spectators. That evening every seat was occupied, with an estimated crowd of a thousand more waiting outside.

Finn Caspersen stood alone in the center of the ring. He was dressed in his finest clothes—a pale gray suit, striped waistcoat and a gray silk topper—and as he held up a white-gloved hand in his best professional manner it was evident to the crowd that he wasn’t going to do any horse taming immediately.

When his vast audience had quieted he said in a booming voice that would have been the envy of any carnival man, “GENtlemen and HORsemen! Welcome to the new home of Panic, the most notorious horse in all Europe! It was the Queen of England herself who proclaimed him untameable and yet you will shortly see him come to me at call. Yes, you will see this and much more. But first let me tell you how his taming came about.”

Solemnly Finn Caspersen removed his topper, and his unruly blond hair shone in the flickering light of the gas lamps.

“I have been among horses since I was twelve years old, and at first had a great many accidents,” he continued. “My every limb has been broken except for this arm.” He raised his right arm, waving his hat in the air. “But because I was young when these accidents happened the bones naturally healed quickly. To prevent such things from occurring again, however, I spent years devising the world’s best system of horse management. Now I can make any horse conscious of my power … make him gentle and even affectionate. Now I know a horse’s every thought and can break him of whatever bad habits he may have.

“When I was exhibiting so successfully here the London papers all wrote, ‘It is all very well for you to call yourself Boss Horse-Tamer of the World, but try taming our Panic!’ Of course I insisted upon demonstrating my power over this horse. Lord Oliver, his owner, replied that Panic was so vicious that he could not be brought to me and that I must go to him.
And that I did
, traveling all the way to England, my friends!

“Now let me tell you that Panic had not been out of his box for three years. A brick stable had been built for him, and he would have been shot except that he was the last of a race of splendid-blooded horses and his owner was anxious to preserve him if at all possible. I found that by his biting and kicking he had so injured himself that he could not be taken out of his box, so I had to wait ten days for his recovery before I could exhibit my system upon him in public.”

Finn Caspersen stopped to clear his throat and looked slowly around the huge arena. When he was convinced he held every single person’s attention he continued. “Part of the time Panic wore a big iron muzzle and collar which his owner could get on him only by letting a rope down through the roof of his stall, fastening it under his neck and raising him off his forefeet. I tell you, gentlemen, Panic was a horrible sight to behold when I saw him biting and kicking and seeking to destroy every living thing in the neighborhood of his stall!”

Again Finn Caspersen stopped to survey his audience and from far in the back someone yelled, “Tell us how you approached him then! What method did you use?”

Finn Caspersen smiled patiently, and then answered, “My own, of course. I have learned that horses have a reason for everything they do. I knew that if I approached Panic with a stick he would fight me as he had fought others who had come to whip him. In the box was a double door so that I could open the upper half and leave the bottom closed. I went quietly, and opened it noiselessly. Panic turned around, saw me, started back violently but did not attempt to ravage me as he had others. After a while he came slowly up to smell me and, in spite of Lord Oliver’s entreaties, I stood still and rubbed a bit of my Arabian Secret on his muzzle.”

Finn stopped for the full effect of his words to register upon his audience.

“Presently,” he went on, “when I saw that Panic was standing quietly, I began to fondle him. Lord
Oliver begged me to tie his head and I did so. You never saw such fighting when Panic found himself tied! Realizing that he would either kill himself or tear down the box, I released him at once and began all over again. After he allowed me to fondle him I took him into the straw-yard and proceeded as with any horse until at last he would let me take any liberty with him. Lord Oliver mounted him with impunity and rode him before the Queen and the Royal Family in great style, proving to her and to all England—yes, to all Europe—that I was everything claimed for me, the Boss Horse-Tamer of the World, and as celebrated for my taming as Panic had been for his viciousness!”

Finn put on his silk topper and raised his hands high in the air, prompting the thunderous cheers that followed.

When the applause ended Finn turned to the ring entrance. “Now, gentlemen,” he said, “I shall exhibit before you the most renowned horse in all Europe! Here, appearing for the very first time in America, is the one and only Panic!”

A great chestnut horse wearing an iron muzzle was led into the ring. Finn took him from his stable manager and proudly exhibited him for all to see.

To the eyes of the experienced horsemen in the crowd there was no doubt that this golden horse was of the finest blood and capable of great sensitivity and courage as well as prolonged resistance when excited. His head was well proportioned; he was wide and full between the eyes and long of nasal bone. His eyelids were thin and the distance from eyes to ears was noticeably short. His ears, of course, indicated his fine
blood. They were exceedingly fine and pointed, and were set close together.

“I have not treated him since leaving England,” Finn Caspersen told his huge audience, “but despite that you will see him give me his foot like a gentleman.”

Finn touched the horse’s right foreleg and Panic raised it quickly. Finn walked about the ring and Panic followed him like a dog, stopping when Finn pointed a finger at him. Then the man would say something and Panic would lie down immediately, waiting for another command before jumping to his feet. Next Finn got a drum and beat it vigorously, the horse showing neither fear nor alarm. Much the same thing happened when Finn opened and closed a large umbrella before Panic’s eyes and then held it over his head.

The crowd cheered wildly, for this was truly an impressive exhibition of docility for a horse who had had the worst reputation in all Europe.

Finn Caspersen turned Panic over to his stable manager and then said to his audience, “Now I shall exhibit another horse sent to me for taming. I shall subject him to the same method of treatment that I used upon Panic. You will then see with your very own eyes how such a feat was accomplished.” He removed his fine gray coat and silk topper, putting them to one side. He poured some Arabian Secret on his hands, rubbing it in slowly and then, dramatically, turning toward the ring entrance. Now he waited for his stable manager to bring the next horse into the ring, the ugly brown one they had prepared for tonight’s performance.