The next moment the rope sprang taut and yanked Sir Sagramor out of the saddle! Great Scott, but there was a sensation! Unquestionably, the popular thing in this world is novelty.

These people had never seen anything of that cowboy business before, and it carried them clear off their feet with delight.

From all around and everywhere, the shout went up: "Encore! encore!" I wondered where they got the word, but there was no time to cipher on philological matters, because the whole knight-errantry hive was just humming now, and my prospect for trade couldn't have been better.

The moment my lasso was released and Sir Sagramor had been assisted to his tent, I hauled in the slack, took my station and began to swing my loop around my head again.

I was sure to have use for it as soon as they could elect a successor for Sir Sagramor, and that couldn't take long where there were so many hungry candidates.