hed straight at the bull, but the triangle was a short one, and
there was much to do in that quarter of a minute. Teresita was stubborn
and would not turn and run; but she happened to be riding Tejon, who
knew something about bulls and was capable of acting upon his knowledge.
He whirled with hind feet for a pivot and ducked away from the horns
coming at him, and it was not one second too soon. The bull swept by, so
close that a slaver of foam was flung against Teresita's skirt as he
passed.

He whirled to come back at the girl--and that time he seemed sure to
give that vicious, ripping jab he had so narrowly missed giving before;
even the girl saw that he would, and turned a little pale, and Tejon's
eyes glazed with terror.

But Jack had gained the second he needed--the second that divided
adventure from tragedy. The riata loop shot from his upflung hand and
sped whimperingly on its errand, even as Tejon tried to swing away,
tripped, and tumbled to his knees. The riata caught the lifted forefeet
of the bull just as he stiffened his neck for the lunge. Surry braced
himself automatically when Jack drew tight the loop, and the bull went
down with a thud and lay with his forefeet held high in air, so close to
his quarry that the tip of one horn struck Tejon upon the knee and
flicked a raw, red spot there.

Then Jack, in the revulsion from deadly fear to relief, was possessed by
one of those gusts of nervous rage that seized him sometimes; such a
brief fit of rage as made him kill lustfully three men in the space of
three heart-beats, almost, and feel regret because he could not keep on
killing.

He did not run to Teresita and comfort her for her fright, as a lover
ought to have done. Instead he gave her one look as he went by, and that
a look of indignation for her foolishness. He ran to the bull, drew his
knife from his sash and tried to stab it in the brain; but his hand
shook so that he missed and only gave it a glancing gash that let much
blood flow. He swore and struck again, snapping the dagger blade short
off against the horns. Whereupon he threw the dagger violently from him
and gave an angry kick at the animal, as if he would kill it that way.

"Savage!" cried Teresita, hysterically shrill. "Brute! Leave the poor
thing alone! It has done nothing, that you should beat it while it
cannot fight back."

Jack, lifting his spurred foot for another kick, set it down and turned
to her dazedly.

In her way as shak