300 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



him no assistance in his struggles. Never shall I 

 forget how the poor brute looked at me. If ever 

 dumb animal spoke with unutterable eloquence, that 

 horse called to me in his agony ; he turned to me as 

 to some one from whom he had a right to expect 

 assistance. "Is there no help for him?" I cried 

 to the other men. " None," was the reply ; " the 

 ice is dangerous all round." I rushed back to the 

 camp where my rifle lay, and back to the place where 

 the poor beast still struggled with his fate. As 

 I raised the rifle he looked so imploringly that 

 my hand trembled; another moment and the ball 

 crashed through his head. With one look, never 

 to be forgotten, poor Blackie went down under the 

 cold ice.' ^ 



The semi-wild horses of Europe, Asia, and America 

 are supposed to be capable of almost anything ; but 

 the following is not bad for the British cavalryman 

 and his steed : 



' It is often said the British cavalry soldier and 

 his horse alike are unable to endure fatigue or travel 

 long distances ; but the following is an instance of 

 what was done in our late disastrous and inglorious 

 war in the Transvaal. Starting at midnight on a 

 Friday night, with a hundred hussars, General Sir 

 E. Wood made a reconnaissance. They crossed the 

 Buffalo River by swimming, and by sunrise had 



* Butler's Great Lmie Land, 



