I have seen and admired this horse a countless number of times, as my hunts so frequently passed in his region, and quite as often I have yearned to possess, and revolved the means to get, him into my power. This was one of the reasons why I took Antonio into my service, as through him alone I had a prospect of attaining my wish. I have frequently crawled up to the animal for miles through the tall grass with the utmost exertions, and lain down on a small mound near him, with the resolution of creasing him, as the hunters call it--that is to say, sending a ball through the skin of a horse's neck, upon which it falls as if struck dead, and you have time to hobble it before it recovers. But when I raised the rifle on the noble creature, and had my finger on the trigger, it seemed to me to be murder, and I could never make up my mind to fire. I have often ridden up to him, and, so soon as he noticed me, he came toward me, proudly raising his graceful head in the air, with his white silky tail erect, and with a coat as white and tender as the finest alabaster or the plumage of the silver heron, with whose flight I have often seen him compete. He frequently came within fifty yards of me, looking round pretty often at his flying harem, then stopped and snorted through his dilated purple nostrils; then he trotted round me, and would fly like an arrow over the grass to his friends, at such a pace that no rider in the world would have made the attempt to catch him up. In the past winter I went to his domain with the intention of capturing one of his children, and gave one of my men who accompanied me my rifle and revolver, in order to make myself as light as possible. I had got no great distance from the troop, ere the stallion noticed me, and when the others fled, he as usual trotted toward me. I gave Czar his head, and galloped towards him. The wild stallion reared, then turned, and dashed after his troop and past it, in order to assume the leadership. At the end of five miles I caught up the troop again, which consisted of about fifty head, and selected an iron-grey mare with black mane and tail, which appeared to be between a two and three-year old. Had I possessed any great skill in using the lasso, I was near enough to the mare to noose her; but as it was I could only take advantage of my horse's greater endurance, and remained close behind the troop, up hill and down dale, while the stallion flew from one side to the other, as if encouraging his relatives to persevere, and this race was merely play to him. The animals became covered with foam, their breathing grew gradually shorter, and several left the ranks on either side, in order to seek safety in an altered direction.