So he gave up that business and retired to his end of the lists.

His temper was clear gone now, and he forgot himself and flung an insult at me which disposed of mine.

I slipped my lasso from the horn of my saddle, and grasped the coil in my right hand.

This time you should have seen him come!--it was a business trip, sure; by his gait there was blood in his eye.

I was sitting my horse at ease, and swinging the great loop of my lasso in wide circles about my head; the moment he was under way, I started for him; when the space between us had narrowed to forty feet, I sent the snaky spirals of the rope a-cleaving through the air, then darted aside and faced about and brought my trained animal to a halt with all his feet braced under him for a surge.