130 LISKI 



tion, particularly among the soldiers, who, by their method of 

 whoah ! whoahing and petting, would not have done as much 

 in a month. Wanting now a rope to noose the horse's near 

 fore pastern (which I ought to have done in the first instance, 

 had I not been seized with the desire to show off), I turned as 

 I thought to my brave interpreter to explain what I desired ; 

 but found that he had vanished in, I suppose, the crowd of 

 officers who stood at a respectful distance from the scene 

 of operations. Left alone with the soldiers, for none of 

 the officers would lend me a hand, I could not help com- 

 paring them in my mind with English officers like General 

 Gatacre, General Wardrop, Colonel Benson, Surgeon- 

 General Taylor, Locke Elliot, "Ding" MacDougall, Jack 

 Hanwell and many other enthusiastic pupils of mine who 

 have been only too glad to give me help when I have been 

 breaking in bad horses. Having no one to assist me for at 

 that time I knew hardly a word of Russian, and the soldiers 

 spoke no language but their own I did the best I could to 

 help myself, and by lunch-time I had the horse quiet to 

 mount, dismount from, and handle. I was very tired, very 

 sore from a few kicks the horse had given me, and very sick 

 when the prudent Heppener came up to me and said that I 

 was greatly to blame for not having previously told him what 

 I wanted clone, and that he would have explained my pro- 

 gramme to the soldiers. Not having had practical experience 

 with horses, beyond bumping round in a riding school, and 

 going to parade on a sober crock, he evidently thought that 

 wild horses are machines which when wound up, go through 

 a uniform course of action. General Hahn did not wait to 

 the end ; because, when I connected the horse's head and tail 

 with a cord, so as to make him waltz and thereby take some 

 of the stuffing out of him, a few hairs got pulled by accident 

 out of the animal's tail, on seeing which occurrence the tender- 

 hearted General not being able to support such a gruesome 



