io6 



nettled. Considerably shaken, we 

 proceeded at a walk to follow the 

 pack-train, perhaps half a mile away, 

 when we came to a natural ditch, 

 a crack in the earth about four feet 

 wide and six or seven feet deep. 

 Katy was a little ahead. She jumped 

 across it, but Kentuck, my treasure, 

 tried to step across, and so down she 

 plunged into the opening while I went 

 tumbling, fortunately, on to the op- 

 posite bank, it proved, as there was 

 no room for two in the crevice. 



The mare was up in an instant, I 

 took more time; the ride was be- 

 coming unpleasurably full of inci- 

 dent. The problem now presented 

 was how to get her out of that crack ! 

 The walls of it were absolutely 

 straight. Picking up the bridle with 

 a forked stick, I led her several 

 hundred yards and then sat down. 

 Why try to get her up? Why try 

 to do anything but lie in the lap 

 of my sorrows? Meanwhile Sally's 

 signal of distress was bringing 

 Nimrod. 



He soon extracted Kentuck from 

 the fissure and the symptoms of 

 her behaviour from me. 



