The riata caught the lifted forefeet of the bull just as he stiffened his neck for the lunge.

Surry braced himself automatically when Jack drew tight the loop, and the bull went down with a thud and lay with his forefeet held high in air, so close to his quarry that the tip of one horn struck Tejon upon the knee and flicked a raw, red spot there.
Then Jack, in the revulsion from deadly fear to relief, was possessed by one of those gusts of nervous rage that seized him sometimes; such a brief fit of rage as made him kill lustfully three men in the space of three heart-beats, almost, and feel regret because he could not keep on killing.
He did not run to Teresita and comfort her for her fright, as a lover ought to have done.

Instead he gave her one look as he went by, and that a look of indignation for her foolishness.

He ran to the bull, drew his knife from his sash and tried to stab it in the brain; but his hand shook so that he missed and only gave it a glancing gash that let much blood flow.

He swore and struck again, snapping the dagger blade short off against the horns.