es had
eaten it up, and the natives were simple enough to believe this wonderful
story.

Many of the Spanish soldiers were killed in the wars with the Mexicans,
and their horses broke loose and ran away. Some of them may have been
caught again by the Mexicans, but many others escaped and were never
captured again, and ran wild through the country. The descendants of these
horses grew and multiplied and spread over parts of North and South
America, going south into the great plains or pampas, and north into the
prairie lands of Texas and the valleys of California. These horses still
run wild, and are the only really wild horses in the world. At the same
time, they may not precisely resemble the first real wild horses, for
their fathers were tame, and, perhaps, they still remember something of
this, and have strange legends among themselves of the old days when their
ancestors were good Spanish cavalry horses.

The early settlers that landed in other parts of the country, at New
Amsterdam, at Jamestown and Plymouth Bay, also brought tame horses with
them, and these, in turn, spread over North America, as the settlers moved
out toward the west. These horses are now called "American horses," to
distinguish them from the wild horses of Texas and California. The
American horses, in time, met the wild horses, and then men noticed that
they were very different animals. The wild horse is smaller and more
muscular, he has stronger and stouter limbs, a larger head, and a more
bushy mane and tail. His ears are longer and more inclined to lie back on
his head, his feet are smaller and more pointed in front, and his hair is
rougher and thicker. His color is often curiously mixed in black and white
dots and flecks, like some circus horses that you may have seen; and, if
his color is uniform, it is generally dark red or deep gray or mouse
color. These mustangs are quite wild, and have no fixed feeding-ground.
They scamper in droves over the rolling prairies and pampas, and sleep at
night in such dry places as they can find. They keep in companies for
protection against bears or other wild animals, and if they are attacked,
they put their noses together and form a circle with their heels out, as
if they had been told of the old Spanish fighting days, and of the
soldiers forming with their pikes solid squares to resist attacks of
cavalry.

They can defend themselves against the bears in this way, but against the
lightning and men they