"Look, you! The gringo is telling his friends adios while he may!" some
one shouted loudly from across the arena; and a great laugh roared from
the throats that were dark, and handclapping at the witticism made the
speaker a self-conscious caballero indeed.
At the corral, which was his starting-point, Jack took up the dragging
riata, and with his handkerchief wiped off the dust while he coiled it
again; hung it over the saddle horn and waited for the signal.
He was scowling now at certain remarks that came to his ears from the
seats, with titters and chuckles to point their wit. But he sent a
cheering eye-signal to Dade, whose face was strained and noticeably
white under the tan.
Half-way down the line, among the Americans, there was a little stir,
and then a pistol barked with that loud crash which black powder makes.
Jack, on the instant when the smoke curled up in a little, balloon-like
puff, turned and leaped into the saddle. The duel of riatas was begun.
CHAPTER XXIV
FOR LOVE AND A MEDAL
Down the roped lane thundered Jose, whirling his riata over his head
till the loop had taken full twenty of the sixty feet of rawhide.
Galloping to meet him, Jack gave his rope a forward, downward fling and
formed a little loop--a loop not one-third the size of Jose's--and held
it dangling beside Surry's shoulder. So, at the very start, they showed
themselves different in method, even though they might be the same in
skill.
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