WONDERS OF THE WILD

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1025, 14 January 1911, Page 6

WONDERS OF THE WILD

THE STALLION OF THE SNOW-LINE, NGATI, THE WILD HORSE. (B* Will Lmvsox.) (All Eights Reserved.) One of tho party of horsemen who wero out on tho mountain slopesMn search of the Ngati-paroe, the wild horses, came upon the mob with startling suddenness as he urged his horse round the treacherous face of a steep spur. But the wind was in the man's favour, and fortunately his stolen mount made no sound to betray his presence. So he was able to gain tho shelter of some stunted trees that leaned against a shoulder of rock, upon which the man clambered to watch Ngati, the great piebald stallion, and his following of scrubby, hardy mares and young stallions.

They were in a hollow between tho mountain slope and a smaller parallel upheaving of rocks. The almost level floor of the hollow was carpeted with a short, bitter native grass and tussock; upon which the mob were feeding, the black and whito stallion away from tho rest, and tossing his small, well-shaped head uneasily as though he sensed danger. Two young stalljons, between whom some difference existed, caused a disturbance by suddenly rearing on their hind legs, and, with cai-s laid back and lips tightened, striking viciously at one another with fore-feet.-' Both missed their aims, and one, dropping to all-fours, lunged swiftly to get-his teeth into the other's crest just forward of the wither. Like a' flash tho attacked one wheeled, and lashed out with his heels. Tho hard, unshod hoofs thudded on tlie well-ribbed, rough-coated barrel, and a harsh squealing roar, voiced the outraged feelings of the recipient of these attentions. At this point tho fight ended, for Ngati, the leader, .his uneasiness justified, raised his head and snorted loudly. Instantly the mob of twenty lifted heads and ran together, and stood for some seconds in a group, each snuffing tho wind, and snorting, but watching always their great leader, ready to follow when he should see fit to 'lead. There was danger in the' wind, Ngati smelt it in his delicate nostrils, whoso keen scent was even keener than his wild mountain siro's had been, for Ngati's dam was a runaway half-blood mare, and from her he inherited all her knowledge and hate of man and his irksome tasks. The wind still blew towards the man who crouched behind the trees on the shoulder of rock, so lt.was not ho who was tainting the clean wind. Straight up-wind tho bold stallion looked. Then he swung half-about, and at a free, loose-limbed gallop that lacked the tenseness of urgent speed he led his mob up the low hill and away, still ascending by spurs and ridges towards that place of demarcation of hgat and cold, of tho mountain's chill ifnd tho valley's warmth. Ngati, tho Wild Horse, taking no risks, headed straight for tho snow-line, where the poor grass gives place to the yellow mountain lily and the gentian. From behind his rock the rider came, gathered his reins and rode off. "It's no use trying till the winter," he told his comrades, whose taint on the wind had scared the horses. And so the men waited till the winter. In. the winter, Ngati and his people found subsistence hard to.find. The snowline moved down, ever down, the sides of tho terrible mountains, and the- winds were cruel and cutting. Even the rough shaggy coats of the wild horses were not enough to .keep them warm. They were forced .to crouch in deep gullies during snowstorms. Tho drifts of snow mounting higher and higher made warm quarters enough, and tho horses would have been comfortable but for the lack of food. Yet they were hardy beasts and able to livo on little. So the winter dragged along. Then one sunny day Ngati trotted away, and, as if by prearnfnßepient, the. whole, mob followed gladly. He had decided to risk the lesser danger "of man as against the graver danger of starvation. So down to the hushed and grassed lower slopes be led his tribe, and for this the men who rodo tame horses had been watching. They were planning a great raid on the mob 3 of wild horses 011 all the mountain slopes; for a railway was being built, and there were goods'of all sorts to be packed over bush roads that were quagmires, and where good horses were lost every day. The wild horses would be cheap, and their loss, when foundered by heavy loads and bad roads, would not amount to much. But first the men desired to capture Ngati, for he was a stallion of courage and size and power beyond all ■ the wild horses thoy had seen. • ' ■

In the bush of the lower slopes the men had built .a. yard of green, saplings 'that could not be distinguished in the distance from tho growing trees. This yard was not largo, yet it narrowed at ono side to a raco in which only one horse might pass at a time. And the high T7.alls.of this race and opened out at the end away from tho yard.' One fence stretched away, through the bush to tho right, tho other to the. left, for half a milo from end to end. Towards this fcnc» and yard they managed to drive Ngati and his mob. ■ Nearly mad from tho nerve-torture caused by their keen sense of danger, the horses raced through the bush, looking for a. chance to turn and escape to their beloved heights. But there was always a line cf strong green saplings to keep them on their downward way. Ngati, in the' forepart, was filled with a strong suspicion of those saplings —a suspicion that snoke of his mother's blood. Once he charged recklessly at them, but their toughness refused to yield, and then in Sgati's heart there was a great pain that was not cowardice. Faster than ever ho raced to *the point where tho narrowing wings led to the narrow race. He saw tho tall fences coming nearer, like living things of terror, but there was freedom beyond—it seemed to Ngati. Straight into the raco lie galloped, mano flying, heels flying,- and long tail streaming. Through, the raco and into tho yard beyond, all the mob clattering at his heels, so confident were they in their great leader. Ngati, instead of finding, beyond the race, the freedom that was his life, found only those tall, terrible saplings woven so strongly together. And in his extremity tho horse went mad. Wtih a scream he charged tho obstruction where it seemed most open. Into the air ho sprang, striking it with his knees and chest, and bchin'd him thundered his people. The fence strained at the terrible impact, strained and cracked and broko in ugly splinters that toro ajid slashed the stallion's flanks. Through the opening streamed the followers, each leaping high to avoid touching tho horrid bars. Through tho bush and ay/ay up tho mountain in scattered order tho wild horses flow. Sometimes a group would meet an excited rider, who cracked a wild whip in their faces. But they were mad. for home, and broko thundering past. Once Ngati charged, roaring and open-mouthed, at a stubborn stockman. High up near tho snow-lino ■they met and re-formed during that day and night. Tho wild glare had not gone from the leader's eye. The rebel in him was a ragiug beast now, and he took his half-shattered band by all tho lonely'wavs that he knew, so that never again should they sco a man, or smell his taint upon tho wind.

Other mobs under . less fiery , loaders were captured from time to time, tho stallions killed for. their hides and ho.ofs, and the mares and youngsters roughly broken for the cruel service of the- packtracks, 'in which service they all most bitterly toiled and died. But Ngati and his people were never approached again, try as the riders might. . And then, one terrible winter, in a snowstorm, Ngati led his Doople into a gully ivitli 'Cliffs on three sides, thero to await the passing of the storm. And the snow drifted anil shut them in, as it had often done before. But this time it did not melt for days—and weeks, many weeks. In the second week a merciful avalanche filled the gorge from cliff to cliff.' So perished Ngati, the Stallion of the Snow-Lino, and all his people.