28 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



Poor little Simon sat dowD by his horse 

 and cried, and though when we had got the 

 poor beast a little lower down into a small 

 basin where, in long lush grass, it could lie 

 within reach of water, he seemed to hope and 

 believe it would recover, he was too incon- 

 solable even to drink vodka. 



As the horse could by no means follow 

 us, nor indeed ever recover, Frank and I 

 wanted to shoot it and put it out of its 

 misery. Of this the Svans would not hear, 

 so very unwillingly we had to leave it where 

 it lay, and with heavy hearts and loads not 

 the lighter for our loss, we finished the day's 

 tramp in moody silence. Bears' tracks were 

 all round us, and if her fall did not kill the 

 chestnut I confidently expected the bears 

 would. 



As we subsequently discovered, I was 

 wrong ; for four days the old horse was still 

 alive, and thousjh the shoulder was unmis- 



