On the second day of my experience of the Galu country I came upon a
bunch of as magnificent horses as it has ever been my lot to see.
They were dark bays with blazed faces and perfect surcingles of
white about their barrels. Their forelegs were white to the knees.
In height they stood almost sixteen hands, the mares being a trifle
smaller than the stallions, of which there were three or four in
this band of a hundred, which comprised many colts and half-grown
horses. Their markings were almost identical, indicating a purity
of strain that might have persisted since long ages ago. If I had
coveted one of the little ponies of the Kro-lu country, imagine
my state of mind when I came upon these magnificent creatures! No
sooner had I espied them than I determined to possess one of them;
nor did it take me long to select a beautiful young stallion--a
four-year-old, I guessed him.
The horses were grazing close to the edge of the forest in which
Nobs and I were concealed, while the ground between us and them
was dotted with clumps of flowering brush which offered perfect
concealment. The stallion of my choice grazed with a filly and two
yearlings a little apart from the balance of the herd and nearest
to the forest and to me. At my whispered "Charge!" Nobs flattened
himself to the ground, and I knew that he would not again move until
I called him, unless danger threatened me from the rear.
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