mincing steps of an athlete towards his horse, and landed standing uip
on his hind quarters, whereupon he settled down quietly into his saddle.

Others began to gyrate over and under their horses in a dizzy way. Some
had taken their saddles off and now sat on their horses' bellies, while
the big dog-like animals lay on their backs, with their feet in the air.
It was circus business, or what they call "short and long horse"
work--some not understandable phrase. Every one does it. While I am not
unaccustomed to looking at cavalry, I am being perpetually surprised by
the lengths to which our cavalry is carrying thus Cossack drill. It is
beginning to be nothing short of marvellous.

In the old days this thing was not known. Between building mud or log
forts, working on the bull-train, marching or fighting, a man and a gun
made a soldier; but it takes an education along with this now before he
can qualify.

[Illustration: 24 A TAME HORSE]

The regular work at Adobe went on during the day--guard mount, orders,
inspection, and routine.

At the club I was asked, "Going out this afternoon with us?"

"Yes, he is going; his horse will be up at 4.30; he wants to see this
cavalry," answered my friend the Captain for me.

"Yes; it's fine moonlight. The Colonel is going to do an attack on
Cossack posts out in the hills," said the adjutant.

So at five o'clock we again sallied out in the dust, the men in the
ranks next me silhouetting one after the other more dimly until they
disappeared in the enveloping cloud. They were cheerful, laughing and
wondering one to another if Captain Garrard, the enemy, would get in on
their pickets. He was regarded in the ranks as a sharp fellow, one to be
well looked after.

At the line of hills where the Colonel stopped, the various troops were
told off in their positions, while the long cool shadows of evening
stole over the land, and the pale moon began to grow bolder over on the
left flank.

I sat on a hill with a sergeant who knew history and horses. He
remembered "Pansy," which had served sixteen years in the troop--and a
first-rate old horse then; but a damned inspector with no soul came
browsing around one day and condemned that old horse. Government got a
measly ten dollars--or something like that. This ran along for a time;
when one day they were trooping up some lonely valley, and, behold,
there stood "Pansy," as thin as a snake, tied by a wickieup. He greeted
the troop with joyfu