The whistle of a rope cut the air, and the noose tightened about the giant's neck with instant grip.

There was a surge back upon the rope, a movement which would have been fatal for any other man, which would have been fatal to him, had the men got the rope to a horse as they wished, so that they might drag the victim by violence through the crowd.
But with Juan this act was not final.

The noose enraged him, but did not frighten or disable him.

As the great bear of the foothills, when roped by the horseman, scorns to attempt escape, but pulls man and horse toward him by main force, so the giant savage who was now thus assailed put forth his strength, and by sheer power of arm drew his would-be captors to him, hand over hand.

The noose about his own neck he loosened with one hand.