Captain Maye Meid and the Quicksand.

 

(ANY romantic stories have been told by
travellers of the sagacity, attachment, and
instinct displayed by their favourite
steeds; but none, perhaps, has surpassed
one related by Captain Mayne Reid.

That adventurous traveller was journeying in
Mexico, on his way to Santa Ié: he had pushed
forward with a small party ahead of the caravan
by which they were accompanied, desirous to reach
the capital a few days in advance of the waggons. |
The route they took lay, for a hundred miles or so,
through a barren desert, without game and almost
without water. The buffalo had all disappeared,
and deer were equally scarce. They were obliged
to content themselves with the dried meat which
they had brought with them, now and then looking
wistfully after a stray antelope which bounded
away from them, keeping far out of range. On
the third day after leaving the caravan, the Captain