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His stirrup-leather gave way just as he got up to the mound where Roy and I were standing, and he was obliged to get off his horse and settle it. I am sure by his face he was swearing to himself at being delayed. His fall had evidently broken some strap and he was fumbling in his pocket for a knife to mend it.
But the great objection to this sort of stirrup-leather is, that it cannot with safety be used with the spring-bar; for when off the bar it remains attached to the saddle, and acts as a scourge to the horse. I once saw a frightful instance of this. The lady’s stirrup-iron should be in all respects the same as a man’s, and, to make assurance doubly sure, it should open at the side with a spring.
He paid no heed to my refusal, but clung to my stirrup-leather and dragged himself after me for nearly half a mile, begging in the most abject terms. I am glad to be able to say that I kept the coin. But Sandile was a brave man; he died the death of a soldier in the Gaika Rebellion of 1878. He was killed in a skirmish in the Pirie Forest, near King William's Town.
"Do you ride short or long, capting?" inquired Tom, handling the stirrup-leather. David wore a puzzled look. "I ride as long as I can stick on;" and he trotted out of the stable-yard. As Tom had predicted, he caught the party just as they went off the turn-pike on to the grass. His heart beat with joy; he cantered in among them.
Lay hold of my stirrup-leather and be lashed to it, and show me straight as the crow flies to where the weapons are hidden. If you do, I will leave you your life. If you do not " "If I do not?" "You will be shot." Bernadou was silent; his eyes glanced through the mass of soldiers to the little cottage under the trees opposite.
However, hither he must come now, as everybody argued, even though the fate of England hung on his stirrup-leather. Because he had even sent again, with his very best intentions, fashionable things for Frida, and the hottest messages; so that, if they did not mean him to be quite beside himself, everything must be smoking for his wedding at the Candlemas.
"Do you worship her, I say?" threatening me with the stirrup-leather. "Son, son," put in my father. "Silence, old man!" and they hit him on the mouth. "Do you worship her?" "I do not." Then they beat the soles of my feet, till my father in anguish cried, "Oh, I cannot bear this " but had to bear it.
God forbid that an unworthy churl should escape merited censure by hanging on to the stirrup-leather of the sublime caballero. His was a very noble, a very unselfish fantasy, fit for nothing except to raise the envy of baser mortals. But there is more than one aspect to the charm of that exalted and dangerous figure. He, too, had his frailties.
It seemed hopeless, but I had forgotten the old Zulu's extraordinary running powers. Without a single word he sprang from the saddle and began to hoist me into it. 'What wilt thou do? I asked. 'Run, he answered, seizing my stirrup-leather. Then off we went again, almost as fast as before; and oh, the relief it was to me to get that change of horses!
I may as well see the run, added he; so hooking the piebald on to an old stone gate-post that stood in the ragged fence, and lengthening a stirrup-leather, he vaulted into the saddle, and began lengthening the other as he went.
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