ead between his
fore legs, and his hind feet into the air, with such vicious violence,
that I was pitched clean out of the saddle. Before I well knew where I was,
I had the satisfaction of seeing him put his fore feet on the bridle, pull
bit and bridoon out of his mouth, and then, with a neigh of exultation,
spring into the midst of the herd of mustangs.

I got up out of the long grass in a towering passion. One of the negroes
who was nearest to me came galloping to my assistance, and begged me to
let the beast run for a while, and that when Anthony, the huntsman, came,
he would soon catch him. I was too angry to listen to reason, and I
ordered him to get off his horse, and let me mount. The black begged and
prayed of me not to ride after the brute; and Mr Neal, who was some
distance off, shouted to me, as loud as he could, for Heaven's sake, to
stop--that I did not know what it was to chase a wild horse in a Texian
prairie, and that I must not fancy myself in the meadows of Louisiana or
Florida. I paid no attention to all this--I was in too great a rage at the
trick the beast had played me, and, jumping on the negro's horse, I
galloped away like mad.

My rebellious steed was grazing quietly with his companions, and he
allowed me to come within a couple of hundred paces of him; but just as I
had prepared the lasso, which was fastened to the negro's saddle-bow, he
gave a start, and galloped off some distance further, I after him. Again
he made a pause, and munched a mouthful of grass--then off again for
another half mile. This time I had great hopes of catching him, for he let
me come within a hundred yards; but, just as I was creeping up to him,
away he went with one of his shrill neighs. When I galloped fast he went
faster, when I rode slowly he slackened pace. At least ten times did he
let me approach him within a couple of hundred yards, without for that
being a bit nearer getting hold of him. It was certainly high time to
desist from such a mad chase, but I never dreamed of doing so; and indeed
the longer it lasted, the more obstinate I got. I rode on after the beast,
who kept letting me come nearer and nearer, and then darted off again with
his loud-laughing neigh. It was this infernal neigh that made me so
savage--there was something so spiteful and triumphant in it, as though
the animal knew he was making a fool of me, and exulted in so doing. At
last, however, I got so sick of my horse-hunt that I determined to