and we're not friends now.
You're a private, and I'm your riding-master."

"Yes, but one minute, Lom--"

"Sergeant Lomax, sir."

"Yes, Sergeant Lomax. I say, do let me have a saddle."

"What for, sir?"

"It's so much more comfortable."

"A soldier, sir, is a man who scorns comfort and takes things as they
come. You've got to learn to ride."

"Of course. Then where's the saddle?"

"When you can ride well without a saddle, you shall have one. Now: no
more talking. 'Tention! By your right--March!"

The horse started off without my influencing him in the slightest
degree, but before we had got ten yards, the sergeant's stern, "Halt!"
rang out again, and the horse stopped as suddenly as before, but I was
aware of it this time, and gripped him hard with my knees.

"Good. Well done. But you went too far forward. Take a good hold with
your knees. And that's not the way to hold your reins. Look here, one
rein--no, no, not the curb--the snaffle--that's it now--one rein outside
your little finger and one in, and the rest of the rein through your
hand, between your forefinger and thumb. Good. Now pick up the curb
rein off your horse's neck and let it rest lightly in your hand."

"What for?"

"Don't ask questions. Because it's right. Ready for use if the horse
pulls too much or bolts."

"Is he likely to pull too much or bolt?"

"Don't ask questions. No, he isn't. Soldiers generally ride on the
curb, but a horse like this don't want it. He has been ridden with
cavalry, too. Now then, once more at a walk--March!"

The horse started again, with his soft, warm back feeling terribly
slippery, but I sat quite stiffly upright, and he walked straight up the
paddock, and seemed as if he were going to leap the hedge, making me
wonder which side I should fall; but just as we were close up, the
sergeant's voice rang out,--

"Right wheel!"

The horse turned to the right instantly, and had gone a dozen yards when
the sergeant shouted again, "Right wheel!" and directly after,
"Forward!" with the result that we were now facing him, and went slowly
down the paddock, till the sergeant shouted, "Halt!" just as I was
beginning to feel a little more comfortable, and not as if I must slide
off right or left at any moment.

"Well, that's pretty fair, sir," cried Lomax, as the horse stopped
short. "Chest out more, back hollow. Keep your knees well in. Capital
horse for you to learn on. Knows all his work. We