136 THE TROTTING-HORSE OF AMERICA. 



it passed into a proverb in the East, and some said amount- 

 ed to a species of insanity. His name was great among all 

 the teeming myriads of that ancient land ; and whenever 

 it was mentioned, either by Brahmin, Mussulman, or Euro- 

 pean, it was almost always coupled with that of his favorite 

 steed, the gray horse Lylee. 



Old Runjeet spent untold millions upon his stud; and 

 his horses were caparisoned in so sumptuous a manner that 

 it would have raised the envy of a Broadway belle. Bridles 

 and saddles inlaid with gold and studded with precious 

 stones ; necklaces of costly gems, fastened underneath with 

 onyx (believed to possess talismanic virtue) ; and hangings of 

 the richest stuff which goes to make the famous shawls of 

 Cashmere, were the trappings of the celebrated stallions. 

 But though more richly adorned than the steed of Caligula, 

 the horses of Runjeet Singh were kept for use as much as 

 show. The old monarch was a desperate rider, as well as 

 one of the greatest warriors that India has ever seen. He 

 computed, that, from first to last, Lylee had cost him no 

 less than three millions of dollars and the lives of twelve 

 thousand men. The horse, when he first became celebrated, 

 was the property of Yan Mohammed Khan, who ruled a 

 great tract of country, and had his capital at Peshawur. 

 The fame of Lylee soon spread through all the vast regions 

 watered by the Indus and its tributaries; and Runjeet 

 Singh, unable to obtain him by negotiation, went to war 

 for him. After a long contest, the arms of the Maharajah 

 prevailed ; and he made it a preliminary condition of peace 

 that Lylee should be delivered to him. 



Mohammed Khan had failed to defend the possession of 

 Lylee by the sword, and now sought to evade his delivery 

 by chicane. He at first pretended that the horse was dead, 

 and, when R-unjeet was not to be put off by that subterfuge, 

 sought to impose another horse on him instead of the real 

 Lylee. Before Runjeet Singh had obtained possession of 

 the horse, Yan Mohammed died, and his brother, Sooltan 



