"Let some Californian fight you for it, if he likes.

That is not for a gringo." Perhaps there was a shade of the theatrical element in his speech and his manner, but he was perfectly innocent of any such intention; and the people before him were nothing if not dramatic.

He got his response in the bravos and the applause that followed the silence of sheer amazement.

"Gracias!" they cried, in their impulsive appreciation of his generosity.
"The horse which you offered for a prize, Don Andres, I will claim," Jack went on, when he could be heard--and he did not wait long, for short-lived indeed is the applause given to an alien.

"And I will ride him as soon as you desire." "Yes! Let us see him ride that caballo!" cried the fickle mass of humanity.