ENGLISH YS. IRISH EIDIKG. 45 



In contemplating the eaptnro of the band there were 

 two courses to pursue. One was strategy in utilizing the 

 horse's nature to our purpose, and the other dexterity 

 with the lasso. We chose the former, for the latter — ■ 

 besides being tedious in capturing at best only one at a 

 time — had been tried over and over again, and always 

 proved a failure, for the reason that the pursuing horse 

 carried ballast while the wild horse went ^Hight mount- 

 ed," and thus their pursuer was always distanced. Tak- 

 ing these circumstances into consideration, we resolved 

 to resort to strategy, and named that day two weeks for 

 the accomplishment of the enterprise. The following 

 Tuesday, arriving on the ground with all materials nec- 

 essarv, we set to work in hard earnest with crowbars, 

 sledges, axes and coils of rope. Our only companions 

 consisted of a friend of the genus liomo, a well-trained 

 lassoing horse and a Newfoundland dog, than which 

 none more faithful could be found. We had not seen 

 the band again till the day named for the capture, but 

 we knew the direction in which it was every night. 

 Night was the time to kec}) informed of its location and 

 movements. The hearino* of the horse, no matter where 

 he may be, is very acute, especially so w^hen isolated from 

 civilization and thrown more upon his own resources to 

 watch and listen for himself. Gruided by this rule we 

 combined our reason with the horse's instincts, and pick- 

 eting him some fifty yards off from our bivouac under a 

 bush, where no sound confused his hearing and by the 

 li2;ht of the moon we could watch his motions, the work 

 of the capture commenced. 



We sunk live oak posts eight feet apart in a circle 

 enclosing a quarter of an acre of ground, and tied them 

 firmly together with four tiers of rope, making each rope 

 fast around each post, so that they should not give way 

 all round in case of a break at one point in receiving the 

 charge of the horses when they found themselves shut 



