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I had two horses with me, and Tim Matlock; so I made up my mind at once, got a light one-horse sleigh up in the village, rigged it with all my bear-skins, good store of whiskey, eatables, and so forth, saddled the gray with my best Somerset, holsters and surcingle attached, and made one of the party on the instant.
This was a well-stretched, dried horse-hide, with a lasso attached at one end to the head or fore-part of the hide and the other end to the gaucho's horse, as a rule to the surcingle.
He was passing a thicket that skirted the road, when a cautious "Hist!" inaudible to his companions, arrested his attention. He immediately pulled up his horse, and, dismounting, unstrapped the surcingle of his saddle. On perceiving this, Rita stopped to enquire the cause of the delay, but the gipsy requested her to proceed. "My horse's girths are loose, Señora," said he in explanation.
He would get on his hands and knees, place a surcingle around his body under his arms for his rider to hold on by, and then proceed to buck. It would seem impossible for a man to stick to him under such circumstances, and no one had been found yet who could do so.
Then, with Jackeroo on one side of the river, and the Maluka and Mac on the other, swags, saddles, packbags, and camp baggage went over one by one; and it was well past mid-day before all was finished. Then my turn came. A surcingle one of the long thick straps that keep all firm on a pack-horse was buckled through the pulley, and the Maluka crossed first, just to test its safety.
And observe, that it is power which I advocate, and not force; “’Tis well to have the giant’s strength, but tyrannous to use it like a giant.” A side-saddle should have no right-hand pummel. The leaping horn. Surcingle. Stirrup-leather. Stirrup-iron. Girthing. To avoid riding on the buckles of the girths.
The saddle used by the African chasseurs consists of a plain wooden tree, with a pad upon the top, but without skirts, and is somewhat similar to our own military saddle, but lower in the pommel and cantle. The girth and surcingle are of leather, with an ordinary woolen saddle-blanket. Their bridle has a single head-stall, with the Spanish bit buckled to it.
Suddenly one of the last, who had been for some time in a quiescent state and rational, was seized by one of these paroxysms, which were always accompanied by dreadful contortions and sudden twitchings of the body, and, speaking for the spirit, said that 'Old S had bound him with a surcingle, and he had left E , one of the male instruments.
These, however, she quickly caught up and fastened over the back and their metallic clicking ceased to annoy him. The buckling was a little strenuous. Hitherto a surcingle had served to hold the blanket upon his back, but this contraption had TWO surcingles and a stiff leather strap to boot, which Peggy's strong hands pulled tighter than any straps had ever before been pulled around him.
This presses across the thighs just above the knees, and affords great additional security, and a surcingle is strapped over the seat of the saddle as a further assistance to the girths. There is also another plan adopted with a really bad brute namely, a crutch of wood or iron fastened to a martingale below, with two rings above, through which the reins are led.
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