they suddenly paused and scattered. Roldan raised the
bridle and dashed in pursuit; but the others were unincumbered, fleet
of foot and terrified. They fled like the wind.

"Drop off!" commanded Roldan, reining in. "Quick! I WILL have one."

Adan slid to the ground and the mustang sprang lightly forward. Roldan
had singled out a well-built black, a little heavier than his mates and
consequently somewhat in their rear. The mustang, who had slept off his
fatigue, had no need of spur; he seemed to enter into the spirit of the
chase--possibly realised that if the chase failed he might have a
double load to carry. He dashed over the rough adobe plain, Roldan
holding the bridle high in his left hand, the coiled lasso in his
right. Adan waddled after, far in the rear. The other horses had fled
to the four winds, but the pursued, occasionally ducking his head and
kicking up his hind legs as if in contempt of the pretensions of mere
man, made straight for the hills. Being undisciplined, however, he got
over the ground clumsily, stumbled once or twice in the wide cracks of
the adobe soil, and finally stopped short for want of wind. He swung
about and glared defiantly at his pursuers out of injected eyes. He had
never seen a lasso before, possibly not a man; but his instinct told
him that the horse and rider behind him were not roving the plain in
his own aimless fashion. He stood pawing the ground and shaking his
great red nostrils. Suddenly to his surprise the part of the horse new
to him lifted itself, and a black coiling something, graceful and swift
as a rattlesnake, sprang through the air with a sharp audible rush. A
quarter of a moment later he neighed with rage and terror: his neck was
in a vice.

He gave a leap that nearly dragged Roldan from his saddle; but that
expert young gentleman had secured the lariat to the high pommel of his
saddle in a trice, and Don Jose Perez's mustang had thereafter to bear
the brunt of the strain.

The wild animal pulled and tugged and tore up the ground; but finding
that he but increased his own discomfort, he gradually subsided, and
when Roldan finally turned about and rode slowly toward Adan he
followed meekly enough.

When Adan saw the procession start in his direction he sat down on a
stone to rest, and when it reached him he obeyed orders and sprang on
the mustang's back as Roldan slipped off.

"That was well done, my friend," he said approvingly. "I could see it
all; but I tho