He also threw the lasso with a master hand. I have frequently seen him at full gallop catch a mule by the foot which I indicated. One day he lassoed by the fore leg a wild cow which had joined my milch kine on the prairie, hurled it to the ground, and so bound its four feet together that we dragged it along to the enclosure where my cows passed the night. Then we fastened it up to an old tree, and on the next morning Antonio leaped on its back, cut away the rope round its head, and galloped off into the prairie, where the cow leapt about as if mad. At last, after a lengthened contest, she threw herself on the ground; but Antonio stood by her side, gave her laughingly a cut with his whip, and the awfully terrified creature galloped away to the forest. Between the fort and the mountain spring there were always a great number of wild horses, especially in the vicinity of a considerable elevation on the prairie, whose highest point was covered with a small very thick wood, where a white stallion resided with his harem. Owing to his beauty and noble blood, the Indians revered this animal with superstitious fear. The hunters had tried for years in vain to capture him, and the bards of America had raised him to immortality in their ballads and narrations. Very numerous are the wondrous tales which spread at that day about the noble animal over the continent of America, and even distant Europe. He was described in them as "the star of the prairie," as "the light of the steppe," or "the white spirit of the desert." While his titles varied so, the statements as to the position of his kingdom varied equally. But all these were merely traditions of the hunters of the Far West, the existence of the horse was still half fabulous, and I believe that I am the only man capable of saying anything on the subject from personal observation.