72 THROUGH RUSSIA OX A MUSTANG. 



conditions of bridges, whether safe or unsafe, large or 

 small, wood, stone, or iron. The Nicolai Oograshinsky 

 bridge consisted of planks that had once been spiked 

 to a set of rafts, but which were now mostly loose. 

 By dint of many cuts of the whip, and the assumption 

 of a truly portentous attitude by his rider, Texas suf- 

 fered himself to be urged a fourth of the way across, 

 though starting with spasmodic fear at every step. 

 Here, a viler spot than any brought him to a halt ; and 

 when, prancing about under the goad of additional 

 threats and coaxings, water squashed up between the 

 loose planks and smote him under the belly, he gave 

 way to an impulse of terror, and, whirling round, bolted 

 for terra fir ma. 



Then ensued a comical battle between his fear of 

 the bridge and his love of society. The other horses 

 crossed and drew away in the distance. Texas 

 neighed at them to come back, emphasizing the sum- 

 mons by vigorously pawing the ground ; and at length, 

 finding that no attention was paid to him, ventured 

 across the bridge, and, demanding the rein, overtook 

 them at a gallop. 



The Moskwa is a sluggish, meandering stream, and 

 like all Russian rivers, save the Neva, several times 

 larger in the spring and early summer than from June 

 to winter. Wood, hay, and all manner of country pro- 

 duce is towed along it in big barges to Moscow. The 

 government attempts, in a desultory way, to improve 

 its navigation by digging canals across its innumer- 

 able horse-shoe bends, levying tolls on the barges 

 to pay for the outlay. It is one of the minor streams 

 of Russia, a tributary of the Oka, and is the cradle of 



