312 HORSE AND MAN. 



one of the many narratives that have been sent to 

 me, the writer in this case being the soldier himself. 

 As, however, he was unused to composition, he was 

 needlessly diffuse and encumbered with moral reflec- 

 tions, as is the way with inexperienced writers. I have 

 therefore condensed his account and narrated it in 

 the third instead of the first person. I may mention 

 that the writer gives the names of the lieutenant- 

 colonel in command, his major, his captain, and his 

 adjutant, as references if they should be required. 



He enlisted as a mere lad in a dragoon regiment, 

 and after some three years of service found that 

 his horse was not spirited enough for him. There 

 happened to be in the same stable a very splendid 

 horse, which was unfortunately so ferocious that the 

 men were afraid of it as an irreclaimable savage and 

 hated it. 



The soldier had noticed that his comrades were 

 apt to avenge themselves on the horse when they 

 could do so with safety, and thought that a different 

 treatment might improve its temper. So he asked 

 the troop sergeant-major to let him have a trial, and, 

 if he succeeded, to exchange the horse for his own. 



The sergeant-major very properly remonstrated 

 with him, saying that the horse had injured several 

 men severely, and that his life would be endangered 

 if he meddled with it. He also added the curiously 



