d
the horn, taking care that the second turn comes lower and overlaps the
other. No pull in the world could make that rope slip, while I can,
simply by throwing off one turn, let it all slide off. This other
fashion, which is really taking a 'half-inch' around the horn, holds
just as fast, but you have to push the rope through to loosen it. You
see, in making this sudden twist, a finger is very likely to get
caught, and I have known many fingers being taken off before such a
hitch could be unfastened.

"It is often advisable to take an extra twist around anything you have
lassoed, and this is done by simply throwing a coil. Practice again is
the only thing that can teach this.

"Now you have the whole theory of throwing a rope.

"There are four sorts of throws, but they are all made alike, only the
position of the arm being different. They are the overthrow, the
underthrow, the sidethrow, and the backthrow."

"Backthrow?"

"Yes, backthrow--catching an object behind you--something that you need
not even see. That sounds difficult, does it? Well, you stand behind
me and you can see it done."

The reporter took his station twenty feet behind Mr. Ohnimus, quite out
of sight, of course. He swung the loop around his head, and, without
turning, let it fly backward. It circled the newspaper man exactly,
and by pulling it quickly Ohnimus had his arms pinioned to his side.

"Are there any more trick throws?" asked the reporter.

"Lots of them. I never put myself up as a crack riata man, and I am
out of practice now, but I can lay the noose on the ground at my feet
and kick it around your neck, or pick it off the ground from my horse
and land it around you while the horse is going at full speed, and do
lots of things like that, but none of them is any good. That backthrow
has been used by the Mexican highwaymen to considerable advantage. You
see, in that country the traveler always looks out for danger from the
rear and is prepared for it, but when a pleasant horseman rides past
him, playing with his riata, and wishing him 'Good-day' as he passes,
he is likely to consider the danger as gone by, as well as the man.
That has caused the death of a good many. The bandit gets the right
distance ahead and then lassoes him as I did you. A touch of his spur
jerks his victim from the saddle and that ends it."

"How is the lasso as a weapon of defence?"

"Good. A quick riata man can beat a fellow with a pistol at