The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



curling and inhalation. Here he comes to 

 quite definite conclusions, and you can almost 

 tell, by the way he heads off, whether he has 

 decided that it is a colt or a mare. If the latter, 

 he will pause less over the droppings and head 

 off quicker. If they are quite fresh, he won't 

 go far before giving a neigh, because he knows 

 that his voice will probably carry to where 

 the mare is. He will try two or three times, 

 and will divide his attention between sniffing 

 the track and listening for an answer. The 

 scent is becoming stronger, he is going at a 

 good pace, and is scanning the horizon and 

 slopes most carefully. He is getting impatient, 

 so up goes the call again, and then again ; and 

 almost certainly in a little time the far off 

 answer will come. 



Just look at Disciple's excitement ! He 

 rears and throws his forelegs out. He shouts, 

 with that double-bass roar at the end. Every 

 nerve is quivering. He arches his neck and 

 plunges forward. No sniffing of tracks now. 

 He is aU eyes and ears ; every nerve ahght ; 

 every muscle braced. Doesn't he look 

 splendid, and everything that a horse ought 

 to be ! 



Still nothing is seen. The answering neigh 

 had come from far down the mists of the vaUey, 

 and only the crests of the rolling foreground 

 are visible. Another faint neigh comes, and 

 Disciple is up in the air again with a roar. 



118 



