The Pacing; Mustang- 



erner this thought may not seem startling or 

 original, but in the West, where an unbroken 

 horse is worth $5, and where an ordinary saddle- 

 horse is worth $15 or £20, the idea of a wild 

 mustang being desirable property does not oc- 

 cur to the average cowboy, for mustangs are 

 hard to catch, and when caught are merely wild 

 animal prisoners, perfectly useless and untama- 

 ble to the last. Not a few of the cattle-owners 

 make a point of shooting all mustangs at sight, 

 for they are not only useless cumberers of the 

 feeding-grounds, but commonly lead away do- 

 mestic horses, which soon take to the wild life 

 and are thenceforth lost. 



Wild Jo Calone knew a ' bronk right down to 

 subsoil.' "I never seen a white that wasn't 

 soft, nor a chestnut that wasn't nervous, nor a 

 bay that wasn't good if broke right, nor a 

 black that wasn't hard as nails, an' full of the 

 old Harry. All a black bronk wants is claws 

 to be wus'n Daniel's hull outfit of lions." 



Since then a mustang is worthless vermin, "-^sl^i^"" 

 and a black mustang ten times worse than worth- ^ "- l [ ~%^\^ fj^T(t%\ 

 less, Jo's pard "didn"t see no sense in Jo's ^ %$%jLj<tt/ 

 wantin' to corral the yearling," as he now 7^%f '-cs^ '-^Z \ 



231 



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