ed to be scant grass and water. These horses were going or
coming, all on a trot, but when they sighted the hunters they would
halt stock-still. Soon a stallion trotted out a hundred paces or more,
snorted and whistled, then taking to his heels he led his band away in
a cloud of dust. Some of these bands would run a long way; others
would halt soon to look back.

The water which they had come to drink was not very good, according to
Pan's taste. His sorrel did not like it. This was Pan's first
experience with hot alkali water. It came out almost boiling, too hot
to drink, but a few rods from the spring it cooled off.

The spring was surrounded by low trees still green, though many of the
leaves had turned yellow. While the hunters watered there, Pan espied
another herd of wild horses that trooped in below, and drank from the
stream. He counted ten horses, mostly blacks and bays. The leader was
a buckskin, and Pan would not have minded owning him. The others were
not bad looking, of fair size, weighing around a thousand pounds, but
they showed inbreeding. After they had drunk their fill they pawed the
mud and rolled in the water, to come up most unsightly beasts. Pan let
out a loud yell. Swift as antelopes the horses swept away.

"Shore they left there!" drawled Blinky. Then talking to his own
horse, which he slapped with his sombrero, he said: "Now you smelled
them broomies, didn't you? Want to run right off an' turn wild, huh!
Wal, I'll shore keep a durn sharp eye on you, an' hobble you too."

All the saddle horses, and even some of the pack animals, were affected
by the scent of the wild herd. Freedom still lived deep down in their
hearts. That was why a broken horse, no matter how gentle, became the
wildest of the wild when he got free.

Pan had been right in his judgment of the lay of the land on the next
ridge. Climbing it was difficult.

"When we ketch the wild hosses we can drive them down the valley an'
round to the road," said Blinky, evidently by way of excuse. "It'll be
longer, but easy travelin'. Shore we couldn't drive any broomtails
heah."

The summit of this ridge was covered with pinons and cedars, growing in
heavy clumps around outcropping of ledges. Pan espied the blue flash
of deer, through the gray and green. Deer sign was plentiful, a fact
he observed with pleasure, for he liked venison better than beef.

It was rather a wide-topped ridge, and not until Pan had reached