Before the blast of lights and the murmurs of the throng the big stallion reared and flung himself back, and the two who lead him bore down with all their weight on the halter ropes.

He literally walked down the planks into the arena, a strange, half-comical, half-terrible spectacle.

New York burst into applause.

It was a trained horse, of course, but a horse capable of such training was worth applause.
At that roar of sound, vague as the beat of waves along the shore, the stallion lurched down on all fours and leaped ahead, but the two on the halter ropes drove all their weight backward and checked the first plunge.

A bright-coloured scarf waved from a nearby box, and the monster swerved away.