ith the swaggering limp of an old
campaigner, as the troop-horse's head came nuzzling into my breast, and
I gave him biscuits, while Vixen, who is a most conceited little dog,
told him fibs about the scores of horses that she and I kept.

"I'm coming to the parade to-morrow in my dog-cart," she said. "Where
will you be?"

"On the left hand of the second squadron. I set the time for all my
troop, little lady," he said politely. "Now I must go back to Dick. My
tail's all muddy, and he'll have two hours' hard work dressing me for
parade."

The big parade of all the thirty thousand men was held that afternoon,
and Vixen and I had a good place close to the Viceroy and the Amir of
Afghanistan, with high, big black hat of astrakhan wool and the great
diamond star in the center. The first part of the review was all
sunshine, and the regiments went by in wave upon wave of legs all moving
together, and guns all in a line, till our eyes grew dizzy. Then the
cavalry came up, to the beautiful cavalry canter of "Bonnie Dundee," and
Vixen cocked her ear where she sat on the dog-cart. The second squadron
of the Lancers shot by, and there was the troop-horse, with his tail
like spun silk, his head pulled into his breast, one ear forward and one
back, setting the time for all his squadron, his legs going as smoothly
as waltz music. Then the big guns came by, and I saw Two Tails and two
other elephants harnessed in line to a forty-pounder siege gun, while
twenty yoke of oxen walked behind. The seventh pair had a new yoke, and
they looked rather stiff and tired. Last came the screw guns, and Billy
the mule carried himself as though he commanded all the troops, and his
harness was oiled and polished till it winked. I gave a cheer all by
myself for Billy the mule, but he never looked right or left.

The rain began to fall again, and for a while it was too misty to see
what the troops were doing. They had made a big half circle across the
plain, and were spreading out into a line. That line grew and grew and
grew till it was three-quarters of a mile long from wing to wing--one
solid wall of men, horses, and guns. Then it came on straight toward the
Viceroy and the Amir, and as it got nearer the ground began to shake,
like the deck of a steamer when the engines are going fast.

Unless you have been there you cannot imagine what a frightening effect
this steady come-down of troops has on the spectators, even when they
know it is only a rev