Achmed Abdullah

Name: The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45
Author: Achmed Abdullah

The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

Summary

“The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45”, published in 1903, is a work by Achmed Abdullah. It explores elements such as mare, Tom and gallop.

Quotes from The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (Achmed Abdullah)

Achmed Abdullah, The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

“ Faint from the distance, the direction of Verdun, boomed a steady, dramatic roar, the big guns slashing into the war game. A splotch of whirling white shell stabbed the opaque black of the heavens. And on he rode, at a short gallop, as, the hills coiling higher, the ground became broken with splintering, treacherous stones. He could not see them. He felt them. Sensed them. He was bred to the free range, the open.
As he drew nearer the supposed lines of the French, the thought came to him that the French outposts might not like his uniform, that they might shoot on sight. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Achmed Abdullah, The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

“ Up a hill, bent over the mare's neck, pulling her up almost bodily, forcing her to climb like a cat! Taking a fallen tree at a long, lean jump! Swerving to escape the shock of a battery that came suddenly looking out of the dark! Slipping down the gravel bank of a broad stream, spurring the animal to breast the swirling water, till his hands were raw with the pulling of the reins, his knees numbed with the gripping of the saddle. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Achmed Abdullah, The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

“ A saddle! A silly, light, postage stamp saddle!
And he dismounted, he loosened the girth, he chucked the saddle into a clump of bushes.
He patted the horse's glistening, sweat-studded neck.
"Now we'll do some real riding!" he said, and he vaulted up, his legs dangling like an Indian's, his flesh thrilling to the touch of the horse's flesh. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Achmed Abdullah, The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

“ They saw you coming on, the French outpost, just as if you were the whole bloomin' Teuton army lusting for blood and boodle. They saw your Prussian uniform, very naturally thought you one of the Gott Mit Uns, and one of them fired ... No!" as Tom began gingerly feeling his arms and legs. "He didn't hit you. Hit your mare, though, square in the chest, and you did a remarkable and not altogether graceful somersault. Fell on your jolly old head."
"I guess so. It throbs terribly." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Achmed Abdullah, The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

“ The horse panted, breathed heavily, staccato. But something of the man's unconquerable spirit seemed to flow into the animal consciousness. It was tired. Tired to dropping. Its muscles pained. Its lungs, tortured, extended, then suddenly contracted, quivered as the motion of the legs pumped the air through.
But the mare stretched her magnificent, long body. She was a thoroughbred—like the man who rode her.
Again a burst of sound, to the north this time, thundering to a portentous, smashing, roaring climax, and just for a moment Tom felt something clutch at his heart with clay-cold fingers. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Achmed Abdullah, The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

“ And Sheridan twenty miles away."
"Twenty miles away," murmured Tom. "But, by Ginger, we'll make it. Git up there!"
As he rode on he met with no more German outposts or marching columns, since the skeleton divisions that were making the feint attack from Thionville had deployed to the north while the Metz divisions that were expected to smite the French lines in front of Verdun with a sudden, massed, unexpected blow, were still far in the rear. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Achmed Abdullah, The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (1903)

“ Then, suddenly remembering, he went on in a tense, anxious voice:
"About the German plans—the attack from Metz ..."
"Everything's as right as rain, old chap. Bertha and I got here in plenty of time. I had a talk with the French commander after I convinced him that we were not particularly bold Prussian spies—by the way, you and I are both due for the War Cross—and the General did a lot of rapid figuring and switching and ordering. My word, the Prussians will get the merry dooce when they get within reach of the guns. All right," as Tom was about to speak again, "I am off. ”

Achmed Abdullah

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Quotes from The Man on Horseback — Chapter 45 (Achmed Abdullah)

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