wn
amongst the leaves and branches in dazzling streams, while the pleasant
whirr and hum of insects was mingled with the gentle _crop, crop, crop_
of Black Boy's teeth as he feasted on the succulent growth around, all
tended to produce drowsiness, and in a short time he found himself
nodding.

Then he roused himself very angrily, telling himself that he must watch;
and he swept the plain with his eyes. But, directly after, as he
thought that he must hurry on, as it was a case of life and death, he
was obliged to own that the more haste he exercised the less speed there
would be, for his horse could not do the journey without food and rest.

That word rest seemed to have a strange effect upon him, and he repeated
it two or three times over, his hand dropping wearily at his side as he
did so, and his eyes half closing while he listened to the pleasant hum
of the insects all around.

Then he started into wakefulness again, determined to watch and wait
until a better time for sleep; but as he came to this determination, the
sound of the insects, the soft cropping and munching noise made by Black
Boy, and the pleasant breath of the morning as it came through the
trees, were too sweet to be resisted, and before poor Bart could realise
the fact that he was ready to doze, he was fast asleep with his head
upon his breast.

The sun grew higher and hotter, and Black Boy, who did not seem to
require sleep, cropped away at the grass till he had finished all that
was good within his reach, after which he made a dessert of green leaves
and twigs, and then, having eaten as much as he possibly could, he stood
at the end of his tether, with his head hanging down as if thinking
about the past night's storm or some other object of interest, ending by
propping his legs out a little farther, and, imitating his master, going
off fast asleep.

Then the sun grew higher still, and reached the highest point before
beginning to descend, and then down, down, down, all through the hot
afternoon, till its light began to grow softer and more mellow, and the
shadows cast by the tree-trunks went out in a different direction to
that which they had taken when Bart dropped asleep.

All at once he awoke in a fright, for something hard was thumping and
pawing at his chest, and on looking up, there was Black Boy right over
him, scraping and pawing at him as if impatient to go on.

"Why, I must have been asleep," cried Bart, catching at the horse's
h