Indeed, so dark was it, that Mouti was obliged to get out and lead the exhausted horses, one of which would now and again fall down, to be cruelly flogged before it rose.

Once, too, the cart very nearly upset; and on another occasion it was within an inch of rolling down a precipice.
This went on till two in the morning, when John found that it was impossible to force the wearied beasts a yard farther.

So, having luckily come to some water about fifteen miles out of Heidelberg, he halted, and after the horses had drunk, gave them as much forage as they could eat.

One lay down at once, and refused to touch anything--a sure sign of great exhaustion; a second ate lying down; but the other two filled themselves in a satisfactory way.

Then came a weary wait for the dawn.