Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/131

Rh again he seems—but only seems—to have succeeded in his attempt. Now, surely, he has him—Ali is slipping over his donkey's haunches. No! he is up again, and well forward in his saddle. Stop! he is too much forward. Hassan, by that clever twist, has got him on his donkey's withers. He is off! He is down. No! he is on! He is up again! And now it is Hassan himself who is in difficulties. Thus swings the balance of Fortune, this way and that, and in the meantime the behaviour of the donkeys is the most exquisitely funny part of the whole proceedings. Side by side they stand while this battle is raging on their backs, motionless, absolutely impassive, and with an air of intense thoughtfulness on their expressive countenances.

On a sudden, and without the slightest previous warning, one of them lowers his pensive head and throws his heels wildly into the air. The kick of a donkey is in itself not a very common phenomenon; but this is H