i8 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



Allah will protect us." Moliammed-Ben-Mokhtar 

 then dashed forward, fired off his piece, and got clear 

 of the melee ; but being hotlj pursued, he travelled 

 all that day and the following night until he reached 

 Leghrouat, where he could rely upon being in safety. 

 Shortly after he received intelligence that his wife 

 had been rescued by some friends he had in the 

 Tell. Mohammed-Ben-Mohhtar was still alive, and 

 the two children he carried are spoken of as two 

 of the best horsemen of the tribe. 



' And why should I look for evidence to establish 

 these facts ? All the old officers of the Oran division 

 can state how, in 1837, a general, attaching the 

 greatest importance to the receipt of intelligence 

 from Tlemcen, gave his own charger to an Arab to 

 go and procure the news. The latter set out from 

 Chateau Neuf at four o'clock in the morning, and 

 returned the same hour on the following day, having 

 travelled seventy leagues over ground very different 

 from the comparatively level desert.' ^ 



Abd-el-Kader, when questioned about the en- 

 durance of Arab horses, replied as follows to General 

 Daumas : 



' You ask me how many days an Arab horse can 

 march without rest, and without suffering too severely. 

 Know, then, that a horse, sound in every limb, that 

 eats as much barley as his stomach can contain, can 



' DaumaSj The Uorscs of the Sahara. 



