The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-03

<<N EAR 'sirs. friends and hunting
 companionsl" the Baron von
 A Munchhausen always began. rubbing his hands according to custom. Then he took a long draught from the old-fashioned glass that was filled with his favorite drink genuine. not too old Rauenthaler wine, gazed thoaghtfully into the greenish yellow fluid, sighed, smiled and began
 "One evening" said he, q was riding home after long days chase. when my horse stopped suddenly in front of a stream and I discovered to my chagrn that the bridge had been swept away. Without considering gave my horse the spurs and in an instant we were in the air. At that moment it struck me that the animal was too tired to make such a leap without a better start. tWe had run down 30 hares during the day.) At once I turned his head and we alighted again at the spot we had just left.
 well thenl I patted the horses neck. rode back a short distance and again we jumped. When we were half way across I saw that We had underestimated the breadth of the stream. I spurred my Alix again and he gave himself an extra jerk and darted forward, but still he failed to land. We both alighted in deep mud. into which we sank until only the horses neck was clear
 Quick action was needed. gentlemen! gripped my brave horse with all the power of my thighs, grasped my hair
 
 mighty effort succeeded in hauling myself and my horse out. merely mention this to show that 1 was strong in my younger days.
 ''I had rather curious experience once with this same horse Alix. In the Rus sian service I led a troop of hussars. We were ordered to make a reconnoitering advance, and accidentally met the whole Turkish army face to face. I immedi- ately spread my handful of men in a straight front across the plain and or dered the charge. The cloud of dust that arose was so huge that the Turks im- agined that the whole Russian army was before them. They turned back to get behind their fortified town, and we cut them up terribly.
 50 hot were we after them that We not only drove them into the town through one gate, but actually cut of the town again through the opposite gate something that truly exceeded our wild est hopes.
 My horse was so wonderfully fast that l was far ahead of my men. After I had killed the last enemy I could reach, and had closed the town gate behind the flee ing army, rode back. Imagine my , amazement when I failed to find a single one of my hussars in the town! \ q turned my horses head to the foun- tain in the market place to let him drink The beast drank and drank without stop- ping. I waited patiently for it to quench that uitheard-of thirst, and turned again to look for my men.
 What did I see? The whole after-part of the poor animal was missing, and all the water t drank simply ran out again without refreshing the faithful brute. While was wondering my groom came galloping up and explained that as crowded through the first portal on top of the Turks the gate had been dropped with a rush and had cut my horse clean in two Despite this, its swiftness was such that even with only two legs it kept pace with the fleeing Turks.
 q galloped back to the portal and our very skilful regimental saddler stitched both halves togethe so we'll that the keenest eye could hardly notice the in jury.
 Tt was nothing at all for me to ride 30 or 40 miles on this horse in one after noon and to course a few hares on the way Once we pursued hare that crossed highway just as a coach with two beautiful women came along. My horse leaped so gracefully at that mo- ment that we went into window and out of the other (both being fortunately open) and I had barely time to remove my hat and beg the ladies pardon.
 .'Alix and I travelled in Russia that win ter. One day l rode hour after hour over an endless waste of snow. Neither vil- lage, road, tavern or tree was visible, al- though forests and many villages were marked on the map. Toward evening I tied A3kx to a sharp protuberanee in the snow and lay down to sleep a short dis tance away. The north wind had ceased and a south wind had begun to make the night quite mild, so I slept very well.
 ''When I awoke I found myself in the middle of village. There was not a trace of my horse; but suddenly I heard a neighing high in the ar. What do you suppose? Up there hung Alix, tied to the top of the church steeple.
 'Of course I understood at once what had happened The whole village had been covered with snow when I got there at night, and when 1t melted be- fore the south wind of course l sank down with it. but my horse could not. "I drew my pistol, shot the reins in two and Alix slid down and ran to me over 1oyed The tavern keeper told me that such a snowfall is not at all extraordi- nary for that part of Russia, but occurs several times during every winter.
 II had greyhound, by the way, that .wAa almost as swift as Alix. zephyrette