a sort of human suzerainty,
but he yielded as a cadet of a noble house yields to the discipline of a
commandant, with the spirit in him and as one who condescended.

There were certain traditions which these horses seemed to hold. The Bay
Eagle would never wear harness, nor would any of her blood, to the last
one. The Black Abbot would never carry a woman's saddle, nor would his
father nor his father's father. I have seen them fight like barbarian
kings, great, tawny, desperate savages, bursting the straps and buckles
as Samson burst the withes of the Philistines, fighting to kill,
fighting to tear in pieces and destroy, fighting as a man fights when
his standards are all down and he has lost a kingdom.

The earth was grey, with a few stars above it. The moon had gone over
the mountains to make it day in the mystic city of Zeus, and the sun was
still lagging along the other side of the world.

We thundered by the old weaver's little house squatting by the roadside,
shut up tight like a sleeping eye. Then we swung down into the sandy
strip of bottom leading to the bridge. The river was not a quarter of a
mile away.

I began to pull on the bridle-reins. El Mahdi held the bit clamped in
his teeth. I shifted a rein into each hand and tried to saw the bit
loose, but I could not do it. Then, lying down on the saddle, I wound
the slack of the reins around my wrists, caught out as far as I could,
braced myself against the horn, and jerked with all the strength of my
arms.

I jammed the tree of the saddle up on the horse's withers, but the bit
held in his jaws. I knew then that the horse was running away. The devil
seemed to be in him. He started in a fury, and he had run with a sort of
rocking that ought to have warned me. I twisted my head around to look
for Jud.

He had begun to pull up the Cardinal and had fallen a little behind, but
he understood at once, shook out his reins, and leaned over in his
saddle. The nose of the Cardinal came almost to my knee and hung there.
Jud caught at my bridle, but he could not reach it. I wedged my knees
against the leather pads of the saddle skirts, caught one side of the
bridle-rein with both hands, and tried to throw the horse into the
fence. I felt the leather of the rein stretch.

Then I knew that it was no use to try any further. Even if Jud could
reach my bridle, he would merely tear it off at the bit-rings, and not
stop the horse.

In a dozen seconds we would reach the st