8 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



-^lien I have made long and rapid marches, at the 

 head of twelve or fifteen hundred horsemen, horses^, 

 however lean, if early broken in to fatigue, never 

 fell out of the ranks, "whilst those that were fat, or 

 mounted too late, have always fallen to the rear. 

 My conviction on this head is based on such a long 

 experience, that lately, finding myself at Masseur 

 (Cairo) in the necessity of purchasing some horses, I 

 refused point-blank all that were presented to me 

 that had been broken in at a comparatively advanced 

 age. 



' " How has thy horse been reared ? " was always 

 my first question. 



' " My lord," an inhabitant of the city would repl}^, 

 " this gray stone of the river has been brought up by 

 me like one of my own children, always well fed, well 

 tended to, and spared as much as possible, for I did 

 not begin to ride him till he was full four years old. 

 See how fat he is, how sound in all his limbs." 



' " Well, keej) him, my friend ; he is thy pride and 

 that of thy family. It would be a shame to my gray 

 beard to deprive thee of him." 



' " And thou," I would then ask of an Arab, whom 

 I recognised as a child of the desert, so embrowned 

 was he by the sun — " how has thy horse been reared? " 



' " My lord," he would answer, " betimes I formed 

 his back to the saddle and his mouth to the bridle. 

 With him I have reached a distant, very distant 

 point. He has passed many a day without food. 



