I went back to look for my own horse after that,
beginning to feel very much amused at the whole thing; but, alas! my
steed was gone. The young scoundrels had stolen him, to revenge
themselves on me, I suppose, for disturbing them; and to relieve me
from all doubt in the matter they left two bits of rag, one white and
the other red, attached to the branch I had fastened the bridle to.
For some time I wandered about the wood, and even shouted aloud in the
wild hope that the young fiends were not going to carry things so far
as to leave me without a horse in that solitary place. Nothing could
I see or hear of them, however, and as it was getting late and I
wasbecoming desperately hungry and thirsty, I resolved to go in search
of some habitation.
On emerging from the forest I found the adjacent plain covered with
cattle quietly grazing. Any attempt to pass through the herd would
have been almost certain death, as these more than half-wild beasts
will always take revenge on their master man when they catch him
dismounted in the open. As they were coming up from the direction of
the river, and were slowly grazing past the wood, I resolved to wait
for them to pass on before leaving my concealment. I sat down and tried
to be patient, but the brutes were in no hurry, and went on skirting
the wood at a snail's pace. It was about six o'clock before the last
stragglers had left, and then I ventured out from my hiding-place,
hungry as a wolf and afraid of being overtaken by night before finding
any human habitation.
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