228 ADVENTL'RKS IX THE WILDERNESS. 



dangers of a hundred bloody battles, only to die 

 torn by fierce agonies, wlien so near a peaceful 

 home ? 



But little time was given me to mourn. My 

 life was soon to be in peril, and I must summon up 

 the utmost power of eye and limb to escape the 

 violence of my frenzied mare. Did you ever see a 

 mad horse when his madness is on him ? Take 

 your stand with me in that car, and you shall see 

 what suffering a dumb creature can endure before 

 it dies. In no malady does a horse suffer more 

 than in phrenitis, or inflammation of tlie brain. 

 Possibly in severe cases of colic, probably in rabies 

 in its fiercest form, the pain is equally intense 

 These three are the most agonizing of all the dis- 

 eases to which the noblest of animals is exposed. 

 Had my pistols been with me, I should then and 

 there, with whatever strength Heaven granted, have 

 taken my companion's life, that she might be 

 spared the suffering which was so soon to rack and 

 wring her sensitive frame. A horse laboring under 

 an attack of phrenitis is as violent as a horse can 

 be. He is not ferocious as is one in a fit of rabies. 

 He may kill his master, but he does it without 

 design. There is in him no desire of mischief for 

 its own sake, no cruel cunning, no stratagem and 

 malice. A rabid horse is conscious in every act 

 and motion. He recognizes the man he destroys. 

 There is in him an insane desire to hill. Not so 



