Horse and Man. 355 



he aWays displayed a singular gentleness towards 

 me. He never attempted to upset me, though ho 

 promptly threw — to my great delight, I must con- 

 fess — anyone else who ventured to mount him. 

 Probably the secret of his conduct was that he hated 

 the whip. Of this individual, if not of the species, 

 the celebrated description held true : — " The horse 

 is a docile animal, but if you flog him he will not do 

 so." After he had been mine a few days, I rode on 

 him one morning to witness a cattle-marking on 

 a neighbouring estate. I found thirty or forty 

 gauchos on the ground engaged in catching and 

 branding the cattle. It was rough, di:ingerous 

 work, but apparently not rough enough to satisfy 

 the men, so after branding an animal and releasirrg 

 him from their lassos, several of the mounted 

 gauchos would, purely for sport, endeavour to 

 knock it down as it rushed away, by charging 

 furiously on to it. As I sat there enjoying the fun, 

 my horse stood very quietly under me, also eagerly 

 watching the sport. At length a bull was released, 

 and, smarting from the fiery torture, lowered his 

 horns and rushed away towards the open plain. 

 Three horsemen in succession shot out from the 

 crowd, and charged the bull at full speed ; one by 

 one, by suddenly swerving his body round, he 

 avoided them, and was escaping scot-free. At this 

 moment my horse — possibly interpreting a casual 

 touch of my hand on his neck, or some movement 

 of my body, as a wish to join in the sport — suddenly 

 sprang forward and charged on the flying bull like 

 a thunderbolt, striking him full in the middle of his 

 body, and hurling him with a tremendous shock to 



A a 



