The nearer the cavalcade drew to the softer grass of the Llano, the more wild horses they saw; and Paez, who had never yet used a lasso, was for making his maiden effort on one of these; till the cacique warned him that "horses can tell things to each other;" and that these scouts, if chased, would easily escape and caution the larger herds, thereby lengthening out the hunt by an extra week or more. But at length they saw enough of the animals to satisfy the most wary of caciques; they could only be counted by the herd; it seemed as though all the horses in America had been turned out to grass on this particular spot. From the matter-of-fact way in which the three troopers went to work, the chief saw at once that they had little to learn from his tribe; but he bade Paez, in fatherly fashion, to keep close to him and "watch how he did it." The young officer's riding was perfect; but, after his first one or two efforts with the lasso, he was tempted to forswear horse-catching. The thing would not go right; either he ran his noose too small, or too large, or it fell short, or missed wildly; or, worse still, got in the way of the other hunters, so that they gave him a wide berth. However, he persevered, and towards the close of the first day, actually succeeded in dropping the noose over the head of a fine black stallion; and in imagination he saw himself bestriding him proudly, to the envy of all his mess. But the beautiful creature, finding the thong about him, gave a leap that seemed to tear his captor's saddle from under him; then another, that almost pulled the ridden horse off his feet; then sped across the plain as though he moved on wings. Ramon Paez was certainly as strong as most young men of one-and-twenty who lead active outdoor lives, and he had distinguished himself in every variety of English sport from boxing to ferreting; but he could no more stop or haul in this wild horse, than he could have lassoed the Flying Dutchman. The line was as taut as a fiddle-string, and his own mount, unused to such diversions, was being drawn along irresistibly. How much farther did the outraged beast intend to drag horse and rider? "Let him run himself out, Señor," bawled one of his troopers, as the stallion fled past the outer line of hunters.