93 THE BKIPLE BITS. 



equine slave in inspiring him with obedience and ability 

 to do his master's work and will. This Mexican savage 

 in human form, beat and clubbed the little burro first on 

 one side of his croup till he almost fell over ; then he 

 beat him on the other side to straighten him up again, 

 every blow of the club weakening him the more till at 

 last he fell down, and, being at the mercy of the savage, 

 was clubbed on the head and neck, which he vainly tried 

 to keep out of the way. 



At this point, when patience ceased to control us, and 

 our native blood was at fever heat, and murder seemed a 

 virtue to restraint, in saving this poor little helpless ani- 

 mal from such terrible cruelty and abuse, we drew our 

 sword and charged on the burrero with hostile demon- 

 strations, suf)plemented by language more effective than 

 elegant, and holding the glittering steel over his head, 

 impatiently demanded instant obedience before the im- 

 pending execution of our threats were lavished on his 

 miserable pate. Finding himself now in the donkey's 

 place, he tremblingly obeyed our order to unload the 

 animal and let him rise. We made him distribute part 

 of the cargo among the other burros, and reloading the 

 victim he was let go, when he ran in among the other 

 burros in the train and lagged behind no more. To see 

 that he did not, for revenge, repeat the abuse, we rode 

 after the train for a mile or two till the savasre cooled 

 down. It is a curious coincidence that one resolute 

 American could beat fifteen of these cowards, while one 

 of them would face a mad bull that would drive twenty 

 Americans out of the arena. 



In traveling in Mexico one sees many opportunities 

 for practical outbursts of justifiable homicide. If our 

 very worthy and public spirited citizen, Mr. Henry Bergh, 

 should visit Mexico and the homes of the Aztecs, he would 

 repent of ever having punished a man m his native State 

 for abuse of a horse, and would wish that he had reserved 



