BREAKING IN " HENRY." 177 



themselves, having merely knotted up the reins, and by 

 swimming from tree to tree, and resting to recover breath, 

 we at last reached the bank five or six hundred yards lower 

 down than where we started from, the horses getting over 

 before we did. 



F told us that he had been asleep in the tent, and was 



lying on a feather-bed lent him by the wife of the owner of 

 the cabin on account of his broken collar-bone when being 

 woke by the awful rain, he had put out his hand to feel if any 

 water had come in, and had found that there were about two 

 inches in the tent. He at once jumped up and called the men, 

 who were sleeping in the waggon, and they had hitched up 

 and moved to high ground, losing a number of things which 

 were not noticed in the dark, and which were of course washed 

 away by the stream, which was now four feet deep where our 

 tent had stood. 



The water subsided as rapidly as it had risen, the creek being 

 in its normal condition on the second day after our return, and 

 even on the morning after the flood it had become low enough 

 for us to ride over and water " Henry ; " but we left him on 

 the other side till the stream had quite subsided, as he refused 

 to enter it. We very soon made him much quieter, by feeding 

 him with corn and standing by him while he ate it, and he 

 would now let us groom him, if we did not do anything suddenly. 

 From the first he did not mind a gun being fired, and a 

 fortnight made him like an old horse. It took seven of us to 

 lunge him, and sometimes we were all on the ground together, 

 and would be dragged several yards. I rode him first, putting 

 on breeches and boots for the occasion, but beyond running 



N 



