FOUNDER OF HIS RACE 25 



to confess, with a droop of her spirited tail, that his 

 father, True Briton had, in his youth, served a British 

 officer. 



So graphic were some of these war-tales that the young 

 horse quivered, and almost imagined he heard the crack 

 of muskets and smelt the smoke of battle ! He dreamed 

 longingly of a time when he, too, might serve his coun- 

 try under the saddle of some brave soldier, and his nos- 

 trils grew wide and his eyes fiery at the hope which 

 was so long afterwards to be realized. 



Had she been a woman, and men had seen the work- 

 ings of her mind as she instructed her son, Gipsey might 

 have been called a witch and as such been burned. With 

 pointing ears and ember-like eyes she neighed softly to 

 him of the Desert ; she seemed to hear its call ; to see its 

 trackless wastes, and afar, at its limits, she told him 

 groves of olive and date, and pools of clear, cool water 

 lay. 



One day, with that far-off look in her eyes, she said to 

 him, prophetically : 



''When other horses, now famous, are forgotten, my 

 son, your memory will live on, your influence will still 

 be felt. Men will still love you and you will be praised 

 and revered by all who have knowledge of excellence in 

 horse-flesh. A state will be noted for its horses, and 

 Allah has chosen you to be the first of this line." 



She told him to be ever brave, gentle, and loving; 

 obedient to his master, Man; not to falter, not to turn 

 back never mind the cost. 



She told him how to anticipate a command, that he 

 might obey, instantly, and he afterwards became so pro- 

 ficient in this sense that when he came to be trained to 

 harness he -obeyed Silas Whitman's every gesture, as if 

 instinctivelv, often before the words themselves came. 



