To my astonishment, he lifted a fore-leg out of the abyss of mud, put it between the logs, where I expected to hear it snap; clawed in front, and shuffled behind; put the other over the second log, the mud and water splashing into my face, and then brought the first freely out from between the logs, and--horrible to see--put a hind one in.

Thus did he fairly walk through the whole; stopped a moment to get his breath; and then staggered and scrambled upward again, as if he had done nothing remarkable.

Coming back, by the by, those two logs lay heavy on my heart for a mile ere I neared them.

He might get up over them; but how would he get down again?
And I was not surprised to hear more than one behind me say, 'I think I shall lead over.' But being in front, if I fell, I could only fall into the mud, and not on the top of a friend.

So I let the brown cob do what he would, determined to see how far a tropic horse's legs could keep him up; and, to my great amusement, he quietly leapt the whole, descending five or six feet into a pool of mud, which shot out over him and me, half blinding us for the moment; then slid away on his haunches downward; picked himself up; and went on as usual, solemn, patient, and seemingly stupid as any donkey.
We had some difficulty in finding our quest, the Salse, or mud- volcano.