Untitled

Evening Star, Issue 14963, 24 August 1912, Page 3

A COSSACK DESPATCH-RIDER, An officer of Cossacks, during the RussoJapanese War, offered to carry a despatch which 10 horsemen had already failed to get through. The general remarked bitterly that the effort was useless. " The others have failed," the officer insisted, " because they travelled on horseback. I shall go under my horse." "Under your horse!" The general was astonished; but this is a prudent way of riding, very popular with Circassians when they wish to surprise anyone. The offer was finally accepted. He received the Communion, said his prayers, bade goodbye to his men, and started off in the middle of the night, strapped face downwards underneath his horse, which he guided by means of the bridle through the lorelegs. The Japanese whistled to what they thought was a Tiderless horse. But. the animal, egged on by blows from the officer's heels, accomplished the journey of 25 to 35 miles in safety. Stranger still, the officer accomplished the return journey on the following night.