The Valiant Runaways [10]
at us they'll find one pair of fists that are not soft if they do have
lace ruffles over them. And I'd like to see them live all day on a horse
as we do."
"True, true, you are always right," said Adan, soothingly. "Ay, I think
those horses are coming this way. Better get up."
He moved back onto the anquera and Roldan sprang to his place and
unwound the lariat. Like all of its kind, it was a slender woven cord
about eighteen feet in length and made of tough strips of untanned hide.
It was an admirable weapon in skilled hands, but not to be trifled with
by the amateur. Many a careless Californian had lost a finger or thumb,
and more than one had owed it lockjaw.
The wild horses advanced rapidly for a time, but when they saw that the
brother to which curiosity had attracted them was apparently of an
eccentric build they suddenly paused and scattered. Roldan raised the
bridle and dashed in pursuit; but the others were unincumbered, fleet of
foot and terrified. They fled like the wind.
"Drop off!" commanded Roldan, reining in. "Quick! I WILL have one."
Adan slid to the ground and the mustang sprang lightly forward. Roldan
had singled out a well-built black, a little heavier than his mates and
consequently somewhat in their rear. The mustang, who had slept off his
fatigue, had no need of spur; he seemed to enter into the spirit of the
chase--possibly realised that if the chase failed he might have a double
load to carry. He dashed over the rough adobe plain, Roldan holding the
bridle high in his left hand, the coiled lasso in his right. Adan
waddled after, far in the rear. The other horses had fled to the four
winds, but the pursued, occasionally ducking his head and kicking up his
hind legs as if in contempt of the pretensions of mere man, made
straight for the hills. Being undisciplined, however, he got over the
ground clumsily, stumbled once or twice in the wide cracks of the adobe
soil, and finally stopped short for want of wind. He swung about and
glared defiantly at his pursuers out of injected eyes. He had never seen
a lasso before, possibly not a man; but his instinct told him that the
horse and rider behind him were not roving the plain in his own aimless
fashion. He stood pawing the ground and shaking his great red nostrils.
Suddenly to his surprise the part of the horse new to him lifted itself,
and a black coiling something, graceful and swift as a rattlesnake,
sprang through the air with a sharp audible rush. A quarter of a moment
later he neighed with rage and terror: his neck was in a vice.
He gave a leap that nearly dragged Roldan from his saddle; but that
expert young gentleman had secured the lariat to the high pommel of his
saddle in a trice, and Don Jose Perez's mustang had thereafter to bear
the brunt of the strain.
The wild animal pulled and tugged and tore up the ground; but finding
that he but increased his own discomfort, he gradually subsided, and
when Roldan finally turned about and rode slowly toward Adan he followed
meekly enough.
When Adan saw the procession start in his direction he sat down on a
stone to rest, and when it reached him he obeyed orders and sprang on
the mustang's back as Roldan slipped off.
"That was well done, my friend," he said approvingly. "I could see it
all; but I thought my eyes would fly out of my head."
Roldan walked cautiously up to his prize and attempted to pat it gently
on the head. But it was some moments before he was able to touch the
beast, who was sulky, cross, and frightened. When he did he swiftly
loosened the lariat, and this procured him a meed of favour. The horse
then allowed himself to be patted all down the side and back, nor once
raised his hoof.
Suddenly Roldan sprang to his back, gripping the mane with his hands,
the flanks with his knees. But this was one liberty too much. The horse
stood on his hind legs, made as if to go over backward, then suddenly
stiffened all four legs and sprang up and down as automatically as if
worked by a spring. Roldan was now in his element.