THE GENERAL'S LESSON.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 299, 16 December 1914, Page 4

THE GENERAL'S LESSON.

A Cossack feat of horsemanship told by an official from Lemberg is related by the Petrograd correspondent of the Morning Post. An Austrian General, finding his men unduly'terrorised by legends current of Cossack prowess, decided to teach them that the Cossack was only an ordinary soldier, and ordered them to take one alive at all costs. This, after some time, was done, and the Cossack was brought abound before the General. The General read his men a lecture from horseback, ami explained that he would prove that a Cossack was nothing in particular. He ordered the prisoner to be released from his bonds, and bade him kiss the cross round his neck. Finding that the Cossack readily understood signs, he explained that he would give him a sword, and he mustshow what he could do with it. The Austrian soldiers crowded round,, delimited with the fun. The Cossack, whirling the sword around, and with a wild cry which is a part of the language used by all horse-loving peoples of the world in all ages, and has a curious effect upon the equine species, suddenly leaped behind the General. He forced the horse to charge into the crowd of soldiers, who were unable to shoot for fear of killing their own chief, and made a ready way before him. The Cossack headed for home, and the Austrian outposts, surprised by the curious apparition, sent a few wild shots after the pair without effect, and the General went into captivity fully persuaded that "there was, .after all, "something diabolical" about these Cossacks. His men were even more deeply convinced than their General, and the fame of the Cossack has still further spread.