Brutus, Cow Pony 



the exhausted animal came to a stand, then sank 

 to the ground with a gasping moan. A crowd of 

 officers^and soldiers^stood over them, anxiously 

 waiting for Livingston to speak. Brutus tried to 

 raise his head. Was it all for nothing.^ Wouldn't 

 he speak? Perhaps he was dead! It seemed 

 interminably long before he saw Livingston move 

 and heard a faint whisper come from his parched 

 lips. 



*'Quick! Troop A, due North, Boers in force." 

 Brutus closed his eyes. Ah! That felt good. 

 They were sponging out his blistered mouth with 

 cold water, and a big sergeant with a small cross 

 on his breast was rubbing his aching legs with a 

 strong smelling liniment and muttering between 

 breaths, "Plucky little devil," and "Httle thorough- 

 bred." Then he heard the clear notes of the bugle 

 sounding "boots and saddles" all over the camp, 

 and a few minutes later the trample of many horses 

 the dull rumble of the gun carriages and the rattle 

 of accoutrements as two regiments of horse and a 

 light battery galloped out into the night, choking 

 the camp with dust. It took them eight hours to 

 reach Troop A, and they got there only just in 

 time to prevent the Boers from rushing the half 

 of the troop left alive. 



Two nights after the reinforcements had gone. 

 Troop A straggled wearily into camp, forty men 

 145 



