^32 • ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



with the old and intelligent look of love. Her ear 

 moved ; her nostril quivered gently as she strove 

 to neigh. The effort was in vain. Her love was 

 greater than her strength. She moved her head a 

 little, as if she would he nearer me, looked once 

 more with her clear eyes into my face, breathed 

 a long breath, straightened her shapely limbs, and 

 died. And there, holding the head of my dead 

 mare in my lap, while the great warm tears fell 

 one after another down my cheeks, I sat until the 

 sun went down, the shadows darkened in the car, 

 and night drew her mantle, colored like my grief, 

 over the world." 



