The latter, thus directly appealed to, turned toward the speaker.
"What is the matter, caballeros?" he asked.
"Oh, a very simple matter," the adventurer made answer; "your horse, a noble and handsome animal, I must allow, señor, will not associate with others; it stamps its feet and bites at the companions we have given it."
"Oh, that is, indeed, simple enough," a second adventurer remarked, with a grin; "that horse is a costeño, and too proud to associate with poor tierras interiores like our horses."
At this singular reason, all burst into an Homeric laugh. The stranger smiled cunningly.
"It may be the reason you state, or perhaps some other," he said gently; "at any rate, there is a very simple way of settling the dispute, which I will employ."
"Ah!" the second speaker said, "what is it?"
"This," the stranger replied, with the same air of placidity.
Then, walking up to the horse, which two men had a difficulty in holding, he said,—"Let go!"
"But if we let go, nobody knows what will happen."