They were very young, these Coles horses, and hence their curiosity was far stronger than their timidity.

Before long every one of the six necks was stretched across the top-rail and when Alcatraz turned his back on them they whinnied uneasily to call him back.
If that were the case, why did they not jump?
He went back and showed them how simple it was if they really wanted to escape and come out with him into the wind and under the free stars of the mountains.

Such a fence was nothing to that powerful jumper.

He walked calmly to it, reared, and sailed over.

That sent the mares scampering wildly, here and there about the corral, and though they came back again after a time, they seemed to have learned nothing.