e to the conclusion that my state of mind was
influenced largely by my approximate nakedness. If you have never
wandered about in broad daylight garbed in a bit of red-deer skin in
inadequate length, you can have no conception of the sensation of
futility that overwhelms one. Clothes, to a man accustomed to wearing
clothes, impart a certain self-confidence; lack of them induces panic.

But no beast attacked me, though I saw several menacing forms passing
through the dark aisles of the forest. At last I commenced to worry
over Nobs' protracted absence and to fear that something had befallen
him. I was coiling my rope to start out in search of him, when I saw
the stallion leap into view at almost the same spot behind which he had
disappeared, and at his heels ran Nobs. Neither was running so fast or
furiously as when last I had seen them.

The horse, as he approached me, I could see was laboring hard; yet he
kept gamely to his task, and Nobs, too. The splendid fellow was
driving the quarry straight toward me. I crouched behind my bush and
laid my noose in readiness to throw. As the two approached my
hiding-place, Nobs reduced his speed, and the stallion, evidently only
too glad of the respite, dropped into a trot. It was at this gait that
he passed me; my rope-hand flew forward; the honda, well down, held the
noose open, and the beautiful bay fairly ran his head into it.

Instantly he wheeled to dash off at right angles. I braced myself with
the rope around my hip and brought him to a sudden stand. Rearing and
struggling, he fought for his liberty while Nobs, panting and with
lolling tongue, came and threw himself down near me. He seemed to know
that his work was done and that he had earned his rest. The stallion
was pretty well spent, and after a few minutes of struggling he stood
with feet far spread, nostrils dilated and eyes wide, watching me as I
edged toward him, taking in the slack of the rope as I advanced. A
dozen times he reared and tried to break away; but always I spoke
soothingly to him and after an hour of effort I succeeded in reaching
his head and stroking his muzzle. Then I gathered a handful of grass
and offered it to him, and always I talked to him in a quiet and
reassuring voice.

I had expected a battle royal; but on the contrary I found his taming a
matter of comparative ease. Though wild, he was gentle to a degree,
and of such remarkable intelligence that he soon discovered that I