139 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



his little spear that hung behind his back (as if they 

 minded to act, not at a distance, but hand to hand), 

 and retired a little out of the way, till the rest of the 

 youth had performed as they had done. After which 

 all of them, in the same order as they began, marched 

 through the same way they had rode, but now a slow 

 pace, with their standards before them, as in triumph, 

 till they came to the place from which they had 

 set out, and after they they had prepared themselves 

 for another kind of exercise, came out again in a little 

 time. 



" Some of them, while their horses were running with 

 loose reins, rode up and down, shooting their arrows at 

 the marks before and behind, some one, others two, 

 and some three. 



" Others, while their horses were at their full speed, 

 would leap off three times, and (the horse still 

 running) mount again, and in the meantime be shoot- 

 ing their arrows, and never any of them miss his aim : 

 others, not sitting in their saddles, but standing up, 

 while the horse seemed to fly, would hit the mark 

 exactly : others, while their horses were at their fall 

 gallop, would thrice unbend their bows, and toss them 

 about their heads like a whip, and again bend them, 

 and shoot without ever missing the mark. Some of 

 the riders would throw themselves three times back- 

 wards off their horses, and would vault into the saddle 

 again, let the horse run as fast as he would, and in the 



