Shortly after this talk, Buffalo Bill rode away with his two pards, disappearing from sight of the cabin, and journeying in the direction of the camp of the mustangers. When they reached the valley where the mustangers were, they found that a mustang drive was in progress. “This looks honest,” said Buffalo Bill. “Men who make a business of robbery and road-agent work aren’t going to fool with catching wild horses; they can make more money in the other line.” He and his friends looked about for the man who had been seen by him at the cabin, but failed to find him. The “boss” of the mustangers was a dark-skinned fellow known as Black John; a man of herculean build, whose great size did not hamper his movements, for he was light on his feet and as quick of motion as any man that followed him. An extended semicircle of mustangers was closing in on a band of wild horses. Few words were spoken. Each man understood his duty, and was doing it. The three pards rode close up to the line of mustangers and looked on with interest. In the old days, the plains and foothills held many bands of mustangs, or wild horses, small, hardy animals, of great speed and endurance, and their capture in large numbers was a paying occupation. In some sections of the great West there are still considerable bodies of mustangs, but no such bands as once existed. The method of catching these wild horses required great patience and persistence. They were not lassoed, after being run down in a hot race, as many people suppose; they were too fleet for that. The common method adopted was to walk them down. For days, and even weeks, the mustangers would follow slowly a band of wild horses. Always the mustangs held pretty close to a certain grazing ground to which they were accustomed, and if driven away from it, they invariably came back to it. Usually once a day they sought some river or water hole to drink. Knowing their habits, the mustangers would drive toward a band and start the animals to moving. At first the wild horses would dash away, running in fright. The mustangers did not pursue rapidly, but kept their horses at a slow pace. The object was to keep the animals continually moving. The first day or so the mustangs would run a great deal and tire themselves. The mustangers prevented them from stopping long enough to feed, and herded them away from the customary watering place. At the end of a week the mustangs began to show signs of exhaustion. Eventually, thirst, starvation, and fatigue would do their work, when the horses could be driven in any direction. When this much had been accomplished, nooses were concealed in the grass, with men hidden by them. The mustangs were driven over these nooses, which were jerked, securing the mustangs by the legs. One by one they were thus trapped, being driven time after time over the hidden nooses, until all fell victims to the cunning of the mustangers.