RACE-MEMORIES OE PERIL 65 



often as they go. Again one watches tame 

 horses watering at a trough, always alert, on 

 guard. If one of them makes a sudden move- 

 ment the rest will at once shy backward. Some 

 horse are so nervous that they have to be 

 watered singly. Always a horse drinks while 

 he can hold his breath, lifts his nostrils to 

 breathe deep and fill his lungs, then takes a 

 second drink, perhaps a third, and turns away 

 abruptly. There is no lingering at the water- 

 side. At the bank of lake or river no range 

 horse goes deeper then he need, or offers to take 

 a bath. 



Here are race-memories of mortal peril from 

 a daily watering in face of instant danger and 

 of sudden death. I have seen so many horses 

 piteously drowned in moss or mudholes that I 

 understand why they tread cautiously as they 

 approach wet ground. The bush beside the 

 water is apt to be full of snakes who come down 

 as horses do, to drink in the gloaming, and are 

 not easily seen. The bush beside the water 

 is the lurking place of every beast of prey, and 

 everybody knows how horses go stark mad at 

 the smell of bear. What chance had the 

 ponies, strung out on a bush trail, against grey 

 timber wolves ? What thoroughbred fighting 

 horse would ever have a chance against the 



