aking his head and kicking up his
heels as though he had just bearded the lion and was delighted at the
success of his impertinence. The mother had come anxiously close during
this adventure but now she regarded Alcatraz with a friendly glance and
went about her serious business of eating for two.

The grey mare was drifting near, likewise, as though by inadvertence,
nibbling the headed grasstops as she came; but Alcatraz shrewdly
guessed that her approach was not altogether unplanned. He was not
displeased. His quiet happiness grew as the cloud--shadows rushed across
him and the sun warmed him. It was a pleasant world--a pleasant,
pleasant world! His people wandered in the hollow. They looked to him
for warning of danger. They looked at him for guidance in a crisis and
he accepted the burden cheerfully.

Fear, it seemed, had made him one with them. All his life he had dreaded
only one thing--man; but these creatures of the wild had many a fear of
the lobo, the mountain-lion, the drought, the high flying buzzard who
would claim them, dying, and added above all this, man. Not that
Alcatraz knew these things definitely. He could only feel that these,
his people, were strong only in their speed and in their timidity, and
he felt power to rule and protect them. For he who had fought man, and
won, had surely nothing to dread from beasts. The great moment of his
life had come to him not in the crushing of the Mexican or the baffling
of the mountain lion or the defeat of the black leader but in the first
gentle kindness that had ever softened his stern spirit. He was used to
battle; but these, his people, accepted him. He was used to suspicion
and trickery but these trusted him blindly. He was used to hate, but
because they had put themselves into his power he began to love them. He
felt a blood-tie between him and the weakest colt within the range of
his eye.

The herd drifted slowly down--wind until late afternoon, eating their
way rather than travelling, but when the heat began to wane and the
slant sunlight took on a yellow tone they began to show signs of
unrest, milling in a compact group with the foals frolicking on the
outskirts of the circle. The mares were particularly disturbed, it
seemed to Alcatraz, especially the mothers; and since all heads were
turned repeatedly towards him he became anxious. Something was expected
of him. What was it?

In case they had scented a danger unknown to him, he cast a wide circle