Some hobbled old nag, having
slipped the headstall, would advance with kangaroo-leaps towards a
neighbour against whom it had a private grudge. Their heads would touch
for a moment; then came a snort and a whinny, a furious kick, and,
lastly, a second horse loose and dashing about with head and tail
viciously cocked. This was the signal for a general breaking of halters
and heel-ropes; after which, a "stampede" scoured the plain, galloping,
rearing, kicking, biting, snorting, pawing, and screaming, with the
dogs barking sympathetically, and the horse-keepers shouting in hot
pursuit.
It was a strange sight to see by moonlight the forms of these "demon
steeds" exaggerated by the shades; and, on more than one occasion, we
had all to start up precipitately from our beds, and yield them to a
couple of combatants who were determined to fight out their quarrel a
l'outrance, wherever the battle-field might be.
The dogs at Al-Madinah are not less pugnacious than the horses.[FN#29]
They are stronger and braver than those that haunt the streets at
Cairo; like the Egyptians, they have amongst themselves a system of
police regulations, which brings down all the posse comitatus upon the
unhappy straggler who ventures into a strange quarter of the town. They
certainly met in Al-Barr upon common
[p.302] ground, to decide the differences which must arise in so
artificial a state of canine society.
