ENCOMIUMS ON THE ARAB TAKEN AT RANDOM 137 



Stray. Now, it so happened that, when the grass 

 began to spring, the horses, working bullocks, 

 and cows, at Kingsford, where I used to be stock- 

 keeping in the forties, used to wander — there were 

 no paddocks — and it was my duty to go out in the 

 morning and bring them home, sometimes a distance 

 of three or four or more miles. There was always 

 a tendency in cattle and horses under these circum- 

 stances to edge off from a man on foot, and so surely 

 as any of the other horses, or any of the cows or 

 bullocks, did this, my old stock-horse, half Arab, as 

 I have said, was as prompt as a cattle-dog to rush 

 out and bring them back by a nip. I often used to 

 wonder how he acquired the habit. This was, of 

 course, when he ' wasn't on ' himself for a gallop. 

 Occasionally some of those uncanny creatures which 

 entered the Gadarene swine possessed him, and at 

 such times he was the ringleader. That was when 

 the ' old Adam ' came out ; but he would not 

 ordinarily allow any of the others to lead or to 

 depart from the right path. 



In Dr. Liddon's 'Tour in Egypt and Palestine in 

 1886,' a description is given of a Bedouin Sheikh, a 

 worthy descendant of Sir Walter Scott's Saladin. 

 When he stuck his spear into the ground, his horse 

 stood and watched him like a dog. When he 

 returned after his rounds, his horse lay down and gave 

 a low whinny, then the Sheikh lay down by his side, 

 making a pillow of the horse, and they both slept, 

 apparently, for half an hour. The Sheikh again 



