cattle and horses, and to the rear of this all
dismounted. Stephen led Pat into a spacious stable,
and, with the assistance of the others, unsaddled
and unbridled him, watered and fed him generously,
then left him for the night.

Instantly Pat began to inquire into his condition
and surroundings. He was stiff and sore and
a little nervous from the events of the past few
days, and he found the stable, spacious though it
was, depressing after his protracted life in the
open. Yet there were many offsetting comforts.
He had received a generous supply of grain and
all the water he could drink. Then there was another
comfort, though he awoke to this only after
sinking to rest. His stall was thickly bedded with
straw, which was comfort indeed, and though he
had become accustomed to the pricking of the
desert sand, he nestled into the straw with a sigh
of satisfaction. To his right and left other horses
stirred restlessly, and from outside came an occasional
nicker, presumably from some unroofed
inclosure. All these sounds kept him awake for
a time, and it was approaching day before he felt
himself sinking off into easy slumber.

He was awakened by the coming of a stranger
into his stall. It was broad daylight, and he
hastily gained his feet, mystified for an instant'
that he should be sleeping in broad day, and not a
little troubled by his strange surroundings. The
new-comer was a fat youth with a round aod smiling
face, who, as he raked down the bedding,
talked in a pleasing drawl.

[[257]]

p256 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p257w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p258

v?