TANDEM DRIVING 125 



got into the cart the leader, a powerful, rather 

 nasty-tempered, but very useful animal, shied 

 at a loaded camel and bolted. Unluckily the 

 wheeler was fresh, and joined in the game. I 

 took a pull, but found that I was powerless, and, 

 moreover, I recognised that, being weakened 

 by fever, I might easily exhaust my strength 

 and roll off my seat. The road was clear and 

 rather sandy, so I devoted my attention to 

 keeping the team straight. All was going 

 well if rather fast, and I felt I should soon get 

 a pull at my rebellious team, when I recollected 

 that a short distance ahead was an Irish bridge 

 across a nullah. An Irish brido^e is so called 

 because it goes under instead of over the water, 

 and is a favourite frontier method of preserving 

 roads which are liable to sudden floods. The 

 dry watercourse is bricked where the road- 

 crosses it, w^hich preserves the road and gives 

 a sound bottom in times of flood. The descents 

 are, however, often steep, and generally, as you 

 approach these bridges the brickwork stands 

 above the road by four or five inches. Know- 

 ing the tendency of country-breds in general 

 and my black in particular to shy, I pictured 

 to myself a sudden swerve, the wheeler's legs 

 caught in the trace, and a general smash up. 

 I tried a pull, but found they were still full of 

 go. Then the best thing to do was to keep 



