CHAPTEH IX. 



THE TWO CHARGERS : " LE DIABLE ROUGE " AND 

 " DESERT-BORN." 



" The war-liorse, masterlesg, is on the earth, 

 And that last gasp has burst his bloody girth ; 

 And near, yet quivering with what life remain'd, 

 The heel that urged him and the hand that rein'd." 



Lara. 



My hobby. — On the treatment of horses. — A description of " Desert- 

 Born," a Nedjed Arab. — The friends. — " The soldier's battle " 

 and its results. — " Khomsee " horses. — Bou Maza. — My second 

 charger. — " Le Diable Eouge " finds his master. 



Every man has his hobby, if he will only own to 

 it, and it generally proves either to be for one (or 

 more) of the fair sex, his horse, his dog, his gun, 

 or his dinner; and although I must plead guilty 

 of having a weakness for all in their way, yet my 

 love of horses is innate; and the fact of my having 

 often owed life and liberty to the noble animal 

 that carried me through many a hard-fought 



