touch thrilled his whole being.

"Look, Roddy," she said pointing to the plain.

XI.

HORSEMAN AND AMAZON.

What they both saw was this. A band of some twenty men, members of
Morgan's corps, stood in groups on the extreme edge of the plain. At a
given signal a horseman issued in a canter from their midst. The animal
was almost pure white, with small, well-proportioned head, small clean
hoofs, long haunches, abundant mane and sweeping tail. Every limb was
instinct with speed, while the pricked ear, rolling eye and thin pink
nostril denoted intelligence and fire. The rider was arrayed in the full
uniform of a rifleman--grass-green coat and trousers, trimmed with black
fur, through which ran a golden tape; crimson sash with white powder
horn attached; a black turban-shaped hat of medium height, flanked over
the left temple with a black aigrette of short dark feathers, which was
held by a circular clasp of bright yellow metal. The rider trotted
around leisurely in a long eclipse until the snow was sufficiently
beaten for his purpose. He then indulged in a variety of extraordinary
feats, each of which seemed to be demanded of him by one or the other of
his companions. Among these the following may be worth enumerating. He
launched his horse at full speed, when suddenly loosening his feet from
the stirrups and his hand from the bridle, he sprang upwards and threw
himself with both legs now on the left, then on the right of the saddle.
He leaned far forward on the horse's neck so that the two heads were
exactly parallel, and next fell back into the saddle facing the crupper
and holding on to nothing. He stopped his horse suddenly and made him
stand almost perpendicular on his hind legs. Then, without the
assistance of bridle, stirrup, or pommel, he secured his position and
made the animal plunge wildly forward as if he were clearing a high
hurdle, while he no more swerved from his seat than if he had been
pinioned to it. Setting his horse again at his topmost bent, he took his
pistol, threw it into the air, caught it on the fly, and finally hurled
it with all his might in front of him. Then slipping one foot from the
stirrup, he bent his body over to the ground, seized the weapon as he
passed, recovered his position and replaced the pistol in its place,
before reaching the end of his round.

The friends of the rider were not more intent in their observation than
were the two spectators on the slope of the Citadel.