194 The King of the Thundering Herd 



many enemies among the herd. Too many 

 had felt his sharp horns in days gone by 

 not to hate him now. 



So they paid off old grudges and the old 

 King's days were one continual fight in 

 which he was always worsted. He was not 

 sorry, therefore, when the gray pack which 

 always attends to cases like his ran him into 

 a pocket in a coulee and gradually wore 

 him out. For days he stood with his back 

 to the walls, fighting his last fight, and 

 then they pulled him down and began their 

 feast even before life had fully left him. 

 Such was the horrible end of the old King 

 according to the cruel law of nature, which 

 decrees that the strong shall rule until they 

 become weak and then they shall be the 

 prey of vultures, or of jackals. Even the 

 dead Arabian steed is no better crow-bait 

 than the homely plough-horse. 



