THE HISTORY OF MY HORSE SALADIN. 
189 
On we dashed till the pine grove loomed up ahead ; on, and 
still on, till we were close up and the grove stood like a wall 
of trees before us. “ Thank Heaven,” said I, “we’ll stop now ! 
Hold, Yusef, hold !” “ Badra, Badra !” cried the frantic horse¬ 
man, dashing by and plunging in among the trees : “ Badra, 
forever !” Saladin plunged after him, flying around the trees 
and through the narrow passes in such a manner that, if I feared 
before that my neck would be broken, I felt an absolute certain¬ 
ty now that my brains would be knocked out and both my eyes 
run through by some projecting limb. In the horror of the 
thought, I yelled to Yusef for God’s sake to stop, that it was 
perfect folly to be running about in this way like a pair of mad¬ 
men ; but by this time he had scoured .out on the plain again, 
and was now engaged in going through the exercise of the 
Djereed with a party of country Arabs, scattering their horses 
hither and thither, and flourishing his stick at their heads 
every time he came within reach. They seemed to regard 
it as an excellent joke, and took it in very good part; but 
for me there was no joke about the business, and I resolved 
as soon as a chance occurred to discharge Yusef on the spot. 
Saladin, becoming now a little tamed by his frolic, slackened 
his pace, so that I got my feet back into the stirrups, and 
obtained some control over him There was a Syrian cafe 
and smoke-house not far off, and thither I directed my 
course. A dozen boys ran out from the grove, and seized 
him by the bridle, and at the same time Yusef coming up, 
both horses were resigned to their charge, and we dismount¬ 
ed. “Hallo, sir !” said I “come this way!” for to tell the 
truth I was exceedingly enraged and meant to discharge him 
on the spot. 
“Bless me! what’s become of your hat?” cried Yusef, 
greatly surprised; “I thought your excellency had put it in 
your pocket, to keep it from blowing away !” 
“ The devil you did ! Send after it, if you please ; it must 
be a mile back on that sand hill.” 
A boy was immediately dispatched in search of the hat. 
Meantime, while I was preparing words sufficiently strong to 
express my displeasure, Yusef declared that he had never 
