"Used to be wild."
"He looks it yet. Watch him plunge!" Thorpe cried.
"He's never seen an automobile before," VB explained, as the three moved nearer the corral.
The horse was frightened. He quivered when he stood in one place, and the quivering always grew more violent until it ended in a plunge. He rose to his hind legs, head always toward the car, and pawed the air; then settled back and ran to the far side of the inclosure, with eyes for nothing but that machine.
They halted by the bars, Thorpe and his daughter standing close together, Young VB nearer the gate. The boy said something to the horse and laughed softly.
"Why, look, daddy," the girl cried, "he's beginning to calm down!"
The Captain stopped his antics and, still trembling, moved gingerly to the bars. Twice he threw up his head, looked at the machine, and breathed loudly, and once a quick tremor ran through his fine limbs, but the terror was no longer on him.
Bob Thorpe turned a slow gaze on VB. The girl stood with lips parted. A flush came under her fine skin and she clasped her hands at her breast.
"Oh, daddy, what a horse!" she breathed.
And Bob Thorpe echoed: "Lord, what a horse! Anybody tried to ride him?" he asked a moment later.