CHAPTER X
A TROOP OF WILD HORSES
It seemed so lonely to Martin when the vultures had gone up out ofsight in the sky, so silent and solitary on that immense level plain,that he could not help wishing them back for the sake of company.They were an amusing people when they were walking round him,conversing together, and trying without coming too near to discoverwhether he was dead or only sleeping.
All that day it was just as lonely, for though he went on as far ashe could before night, he was still on that great level plain of dryyellow grass which appeared to have no end, and the blue hillslooked no nearer than when he had started in the morning. He washungry and thirsty that evening, and very cold too when he nestleddown on the ground with nothing to cover him but the little heap ofdry grass he had gathered for his bed.
It was better next day, for after walking two or three hours he cameto the end of that yellow plain to higher ground, where the earthwas sandy and barren, with a few scattered bushes growing on it--dark,prickly bushes like butcher's broom. When he got to the highest partof this barren ground he saw a green valley beyond, stretching awayas far as he could see on either hand. But it was nice to see agreen place again, and going down into the valley he managed to findsome sweet roots to stay his hunger and thirst; then, after a rest,he went on again, and when he got to the top of the high groundbeyond the valley, he saw another valley before him, just like theone he had left behind. Again he rested in that green place, andthen slowly went up the high land beyond, where it was barren andsandy with the dark stiff prickly bushes growing here and there, andwhen he got to the top he looked down, and behold! there was yetanother green valley stretching away to the right and left as far ashe could see.
Would they never end--these high barren ridges and the long greenvalleys between!
When he toiled slowly up out of this last green resting-place it wasgrowing late in the day, and he was very tired. Then he came to thetop of another ridge like the others, only higher and more barren,and when he could see the country beyond, lo! another valley,greener and broader than those he had left behind, and a riverflowing in it, looking like a band of silver lying along the greenearth--a river too broad for him to cross, stretching away north andsouth as far as he could see. How then should he ever be able to getto the hills, still far, far away beyond that water?
Martin stared at the scene before him for some time; then, feelingvery tired and weak, he sat down on the sandy ground beside a scantydark bush. Tears came to his eyes: he felt them running down hischeeks; and all at once he remembered how long before when hiswandering began, he had dropped a tear, and a small dusty beetle hadrefreshed himself by drinking it. He bent down and let a tear drop,and watched it as it sank into the ground, but no small beetle cameout to drink it, and he felt more lonely and miserable than ever. Hebegan to think of all the queer creatures and people he had met inthe desert, and to wish for them. Some of them had not been verykind to him, but he did not remember that now, it was so sad to bequite alone in the world without even a small beetle to visit him. Heremembered the beautiful people of the Mirage and the black peopleof the sky; and the ostrich, and old Jacob, and the savages, and theserpent, and the black weasel in the forest. He stood up and staredall round to see if anything was coming, but he could see nothingand hear nothing.
By-and-by, in that deep silence, there was a sound; it seemed tocome from a great distance, it was so faint. Then it grew louder andnearer; and far away he saw a little cloud of dust, and then, eventhrough the dust, dark forms coming swiftly towards him. The soundhe heard was like a long halloo, a cry like the cry of a man, butwild and shrill, like a bird's cry; and whenever that cry was uttered,it was followed by a strange confused noise as of the neighing ofmany horses. They were, in truth, horses that were coming swiftlytowards him--a herd of sixty or seventy wild horses. He could seeand hear them only too plainly now, looking very terrible in theirstrength and speed, and the flowing black manes that covered themlike a black cloud, as they came thundering on, intending perhaps tosweep over him and trample him to death with their iron-hard hoofs.
All at once, when they were within fifty yards of Martin, the long,shrill, wild cry went up again, and the horses swerved to one side,and went sweeping round him in a wide circle. Then, as they gallopedby, he caught sight of the strangest-looking being he had ever seen,a man, on the back of one of the horses; naked and hairy, he lookedlike a baboon as he crouched, doubled up, gripping the shoulders andneck of the horse with his knees, clinging with his hands to the mane,and craning his neck like a flying bird. It was this strange riderwho had uttered the long piercing man-and-bird-like cries; and nowchanging his voice to a whinnying sound the horses came to a stop,and gathering together in a crowd they stood tossing their manes andstaring at Martin with their wild, startled eyes.
In another moment the wild rider came bounding out from among them,and moving now erect, now on all fours, came sideling up to Martin,flinging his arms and legs about, wagging his head, grimacing anduttering whinnying and other curious noises. Never had Martin lookedupon so strange a man! He was long and lean so that you could havecounted his ribs, and he was stark naked, except for the hair of hishead and face, which half covered him. His skin was of a yellowishbrown colour, and the hair the colour of old dead grass; and it wascoarse and tangled, falling over his shoulders and back and coveringhis forehead like a thatch, his big brown nose standing out beneathit like a beak. The face was covered with the beard which wastangled too, and grew down to his waist, After staring at Martin forsome time with his big, yellow, goat-like eyes, he pranced up to himand began to sniff round him, then touched him with his nose on hisface, arms, and shoulders.
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"Who are you?" said Martin in astonishment.
For only answer the other squealed and whinnied, grimacing andkicking his legs up at the same time. Then the horses advanced tothem, and gathering round in a close crowd began touching Martin withtheir noses. He liked it--the softness of their sensitive skins,which were like velvet, and putting up his hands he began to stroketheir noses. Then one by one, after smelling him, and being touchedby his hand, they turned away, and going down into the valley weresoon scattered about, most of them grazing, some rolling, otherslying stretched out on the grass as if to sleep; while the youngfoals in the troop, leaving their dams, began playing about andchallenging one another to run a race.
Martin, following and watching them, almost wished that he too couldgo on four legs to join them in their games. He trusted those wildhorses, but he was still puzzled by that strange man, who had alsoleft him now and was going quietly round on all fours, smelling atthe grass. By-and-by he found something to his liking in a smallpatch of tender green clover, which he began nosing and tearing itup with his teeth, then turning his head round he stared back atMartin, his jaws working vigorously all the time, the stems andleaves of the clover he was eating sticking out from his mouth andhanging about his beard. All at once he jumped up, and flying backat Martin, snatched him up from the ground, carried him to theclover patch, and set him upon it, face down, on all fours; thenwhen Martin sat up he grasped him by the head and forced it downuntil his nose was on the grass so as to make him smell it and knowthat it was good. But smell it he would not, and finally the otherseized him roughly again and, opening his mouth, forced a bunch ofgrass into it.
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"It's grass, and I sha'n't eat it!" screamed Martin, crying withanger at being so treated, and spewing the green stuff out of hismouth.
Then the man released him, and, withdrawing a space of two or threeyards, sat down on his haunches, and, planting his bony elbows onhis knees, thrust his great brown fingers in his tangled hair, andstared at Martin with his big yellow goat's eyes for a long time.
Suddenly a wild excited look came into his eyes, and, leaping upwith a shrill cry, which caused all the horses to look round at him,he once more snatched Martin up, and holding him firmly gripped tohis ribby side by his arm, bounded off to where a
mare was standinggiving suck to her young foal. With a vigorous kick he sent the foalaway, and forced Martin to take his place, and, to make it easierfor him, pressed the teat into his mouth. Martin was not accustomedto feed in that way, and he not only refused to suck, but continuedto cry with indignation at such treatment, and to struggle with allhis little might to free himself. His striving was all in vain; andby-and-by the man, seeing that he would not suck, had a fresh idea,and, gripping Martin more firmly than ever, with one hand forced andheld his mouth open, and with the other drew a stream of milk into it.After choking and spluttering and crying more than ever for a while,Martin began to grow quiet, and to swallow the milk with somesatisfaction, for he was very hungry and thirsty, and it tasted verygood. By-and-by, when no more milk could be drawn from the teats, hewas taken to a second mare, from which the foal was kicked away withas little ceremony as the first one, and then he had as much moremilk as he wanted, and began to like being fed in this amusing way.
Of what happened after that Martin did not know much, except thatthe man seemed very happy after feeding him. He set Martin on theback of a horse, then jumped and danced round him, making funnychuckling noises, after which he rolled horse-like on the grass, hisarms and legs up in the air, and finally, pulling Martin down, hemade him roll too.
But the little fellow was too tired to keep his eyes any longer open,and when he next opened them it was morning, and he found himselflying wedged in between a mare and her young foal lying side by sideclose together. There too was the wild man, coiled up like asleeping dog, his head pillowed on the foal's neck, and the hair ofhis great shaggy beard thrown like a blanket over Martin.
He very soon grew accustomed to the new strange manner of life, andeven liked it. Those big, noble-looking wild horses, with theirshining coats, brown and bay and black and sorrel and chestnut, andtheir black manes and tails that swept the grass when they moved,were so friendly to him that he could not help loving them. As hewent about among them when they grazed, every horse he approachedwould raise his head and touch his face and arms with his nose."O you dear horse!" Martin would exclaim, rubbing the warm,velvet-soft, sensitive nose with his hand.
He soon discovered that they were just as fond of play as he was,and that he too was to take part in their games. Having fed as longas they wanted that morning, they all at once began to gathertogether, coming at a gallop, neighing shrilly; then the wild man,catching Martin up, leaped upon the back of one of the horses, andaway went the whole troop at a furious pace to the great open dryplain, where Martin had met with them on the previous day. Now itwas very terrifying for him at first to be in the midst of thatflying crowd, as the animals went tearing over the plain, whichseemed to shake beneath their thundering hoofs, while their humanleader cheered them on with his shrill, repeated cries. But in alittle while he too caught the excitement, and, losing all his fear,was as wildly happy as the others, crying out at the top of hisvoice in imitation of the wild man.
After an hour's run they returned to the valley, and then Martin,without being compelled to do so, rolled about on the grass, andwent after the young foals when they came out to challenge oneanother to a game. He tried to do as they did, prancing and throwingup his heels and snorting, but when they ran from him they soon lefthim hopelessly behind. Meanwhile the wild man kept watch over him,feeding him with mare's milk, and inviting him from time to time tosmell and taste the tender grass. Best of all was, when they wentfor another run in the evening, and when Martin was no longer heldwith a tight grip against the man's side, but was taught or allowedto hold on, clinging with his legs to the man's body and claspinghim round the neck with his arms, his fingers tightly holding on tothe great shaggy beard.
Three days passed in this way, and if his time had been much longerwith the wild horses he would have become one of the troop, andwould perhaps have eaten grass too, and forgotten his human speech,or that he was a little boy born to a very different kind of life.But it was not to be, and in the end he was separated from the troopby accident.
At the end of the third day, when the sun was setting, and all thehorses were scattered about in the valley, quietly grazing,something disturbed them. It might have been a sight or sound ofsome feared object, or perhaps the wind had brought the smell oftheir enemies and hunters from a great distance to their nostrils.Suddenly they were all in a wild commotion, galloping from all sidestoward their leader, and he, picking Martin up, was quickly on ahorse, and off they went full speed, but not towards the plain wherethey were accustomed to go for their runs. Now they fled in theopposite direction down to the river: into it they went, into thatwide, deep, dangerous current, leaping from the bank, each horse, ashe fell into the water with a tremendous splash, disappearing fromsight; but in another moment the head and upper part of the neck wasseen to rise above the surface, until the whole lot were in, andappeared to Martin like a troop of horses' heads swimming withoutbodies over the river. He, clinging to the neck and beard of thewild man, had the upper half of his body out of the cold, rushingwater, and in this way they all got safely across and up theopposite bank. No sooner were they out, than, without even pausingto shake the water from their skins, they set off at full speedacross the valley towards the distant hills. Now on this side, at adistance of a mile or so from the river, there were vast reed-bedsstanding on low land, dried to a hard crust by the summer heat, andright into the reeds the horses rushed and struggled to force theirway through. The reeds were dead and dry, so tall that they rosehigh above the horses' heads, and growing so close together that itwas hard to struggle through them. Then when they were in the midstof this difficult place, the dry crust that covered the low groundbegan to yield to the heavy hoofs, and the horses, sinking to theirknees, were thrown down and plunged about in the most desperate way,and in the midst of this confusion Martin was struck and thrown fromhis place, falling amongst the reeds. Luckily he was not trampledupon, but he was left behind, and then what a dreadful situation washis, when the whole troop had at last succeeded in fighting theirway through, and had gone away leaving him in that dark, solitaryplace! He listened until the sound of heavy hoofs and the long criesof the man had died away in the distance; then the silence anddarkness terrified him, and he struggled to get out, but the reedsgrew so close together that before he had pushed a dozen yardsthrough them he sank down, unable to do more.
The air was hot and close and still down there on the ground, but byleaning his head back, and staring straight up he could see the palenight sky sprinkled with stars in the openings between the dryleaves and spikes of the reeds. Poor Martin could do nothing butgaze up at the little he could see of the sky in that close, blackplace, until his neck ached with the strain; but at last, to makehim hope, he heard a sound--the now familiar long shrill cry of thewild man. Then, as it came nearer, the sound of tramping hoofs andneighing of the horses was heard, and the cries and hoof-beats grewlouder and then fainter in turns, and sounded now on this side, nowon that, and he knew that they were looking for him. "I'm here, I'mhere," he cried; "oh, dear horses, come and take me away!" But theycould not hear him, and at last the sound of their neighing and thewild long cries died away altogether, and Martin was left alone inthat black silent place.