34 THE CAPTURED STEED. 



The three Americans, and nearly fifty Pawnees, fol- 

 lowed close in their rear ; but none of them as yet was 

 near enough to hurl the lasso successfully. 



I must here confess my want of skill as a horseman, 

 and acknowledge that I formed one of the stragglers; 

 though I was mounted on an excellent mare, whose back 

 supported an Indian saddle, large and comfortable as an 

 arm-chair, and utterly precluding all danger of a fall. 

 My feet were safely harboured in enormous Mexican 

 stirrups, like those worn by the Turkish cavalry. I was 

 thus able to meet unshaken the most terrible collision. 



Amongst the horses of the manade, I had singled out 

 a magnificent steed, black as a raven's wings, and I pressed 

 upon him closely, in company with two young Pawnees, 

 who had been appointed to wait upon me by their chief. 

 In climbing the defile, this horse stumbled and fell. 

 Immediately the two Redskins leaped from their chargers, 

 and seized him by the mane and nostrils. 



He struggled furiously, beating the earth with his 

 fore-feet, and with hind-feet striking out violently ; but, 

 spite of his efforts, my two companions passed a lasso 

 around his neck, and secured him by a rope which 

 fastened his right fore-foot to his left hind-foot. 



While the other Indian hunters and the three Ameri- 

 cans pursued the remainder of the manade, I returned to 

 the camp with our noble prize, and with his captors, who 

 had attached another cord to the lasso, and who, by extend- 

 ing the two ropes, kept the horse at a sufficient distance 

 to prevent any injury from his furious movements. As 

 soon as he advanced on the one side, he was drawn back 

 on the other ; and before he arrived at the camp he was, 

 not completely tamed perhaps, but certainly conquered. 



