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.
They met, with fifteen feet between them as they flashed past.

Jose flung out his lifted hand.

The loop hissed and shot straight for Jack's head.
Jack flung out his little loop, struck the big one fairly, and threw it aside.

Even so, the end might have caught him, but for the lengthening lunge which Surry made in mid-air.