98 WHIP AND SPUR. 



must mainly be used to carry Ike and the sad- 

 dle-bags, or to mount a friend when a friend 

 favored me. 



In a second search, in which most of the offi- 

 cers of the regiment took a lively interest, there 

 was found, in Frank Moore's Battalion of the 

 Second Illinois Cavalry, a tall, gaunt, lean, hag- 

 gard, thoroughbred-looking beast, which had been 

 captured from Merryweather's men in Western 

 Tennessee. He was not a handsome horse, nor 

 was he to the ordinary eye in any respect 

 promising; but a trial showed that he had that 

 peculiar whalebone character, and wiry, nervous 

 action, which come only with blood, and without 

 which no horse is really fit for the saddle. The 

 chances were very much against him. He did 

 not possess the first element of beauty, save in 

 a clean-cut head, a prominent eye, a quick ear, 

 a thin neck, sloping shoulders, high withers, and 

 the brilliant activity that no abuse had been 

 able to conquer. He was held in abeyance un- 

 til a careful examination of the two thousand 

 horses at the post showed that, even as he 



