280 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



down whenever the general prepared to get upon his 

 back. Every expedient was tried, without success, 

 to cure him of the trick, and the laugh was so much 

 against the general's corpulency that he found it 

 convenient to dispose of his horse to a young officer 

 quitting the settlement for a distant station up the 

 country. Upwards of two years had subsequently 

 elapsed when, in execution of his official duties, 

 General Pater left Madras to inspect one of the 

 frontier cantonments. He travelled, as is the custom 

 in India, in his palankeen. The morning after his 

 arrival at the station the troops were drawn out, and. 

 as he had brought no horses, it was proper to provide 

 for his being suitably mounted, though it was not 

 very easy to find a charger equal to his weight. At 

 length an officer resigned to him a powerful horse 

 for the occasion, which was brought out, duly capari- 

 soned, in front of the line. The general came forth 

 from his tent, and proceeded to mount; but the 

 instant the horse saw him advance he flung himself 

 flat upon the sand, and neither blows nor entreaties 

 could induce him to rise. It was the general's old 

 charger, who from the moment of quitting his service 

 had never once practised the artifice until this second 

 meeting. The general, who was an exceedingly 

 good-humoured man, joined heartily in the universal 

 shout that ran through the whole line on witnessing 

 this ludicrous affair.' * 



1 Penny Magazine, vol. ix. 



