WILD HORSES. 79 



Most likely, after he had escaped he had 

 been frightened by a panther, and had put 

 some ten or fifteen miles between himself and 

 his great terror, perhaps up a stream. It is 

 singular, but very true, what a difference 

 there is in this respect between a horse and 

 a mule : the first may have had a panther 

 spring at him and miss him, or, as often hap- 

 pens when the panther springs from the 

 ground, driven his heels so hard at the wild 

 beast that he gets a good start, and never 

 stops until nearly exhausted, and often in 

 that state falls a prey to some other wild 

 beast ; but the mule, on the contrary, often 

 pays dearly for his stupidity near the spot 

 where he is first alarmed ; he rushes away 

 with great speed for two or three hundred 

 yards, and then turns round, snorting and 

 glaring wildly about him. The panther in 

 the meantime creeps through the bushes, and 

 often succeeds in getting another spring at 

 the poor beast. 



Another way of hunting Cimarron cattle 

 and horses is by quietly following their trail, 

 getting acquainted with their haunts, espe- 

 cially their watering-places and sleeping- 

 rings that they form in the forest, and then 

 shooting them down. It at first sight ap- 



