AN EQUINE STUMBLE. 27 



staa'D'erino; back, Simon at e'reat risk still 

 holding on, then with a heavy lurch she lost 

 her footing ; Simon barely let go in time to 

 save himself, and the poor old slave went 

 crashing througli the scrub, in bounds like 

 those of a big pebble thrown down hill. I 

 never expected to see anything resembling 

 that horse again, and yet when it lodged 

 against some fallen timber between the pine 

 trees, and we had crept carefully down to 

 where it was lying, the poor beast was not 

 only still alive, but the only apparent injury 

 it had received was a broken shoulder. Of 

 course death would have lieen no worse, but 

 it seemed incredible that such a fall should 

 have left so many bones intact ; and as if to 

 make the thing more wonderful, though all 

 the stronger things in the saddle-bags were 

 broken, a bottle of native whisky had escaped 

 contact with everything in the descent, and 

 was still unbroken. 



