As soon as they are seized with that inexplicable dread which forces
them to fly, they appear to regain in a moment all the powers of their
youth; with head and tail erect, and eyes glaring with fear, they rush
madly on in a straight line; the earth trembles under their feet;
nothing can stop them--trees, abysses, lakes, rivers, or mountains--they
go over all, until nature can support it no more, and the earth is
strewed with their bodies.
Even the otherwise imperturbable horse of our savant would sometimes
have an estampede after his own fashion; lazy and self-willed,
preferring a slow walk to any other kind of motion, this animal showed
in all his actions that he knew how to take care of number one, always
selecting his quarters where the water was cool and the grass tender.
But he had a very bad quality for a prairie travelling nag, which was
continually placing his master in some awkward dilemma. One day that we
had stopped to refresh ourselves near a spring, we removed the bridles
from our horses, to allow them to graze a few minutes, but the savant's
cursed beast took precisely that opportunity of giving us a sample of
his estampede. Our English friend had a way, quite peculiar to himself,
of crowding upon his horse all his scientific and culinary instruments.
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