He looked again. Diablo, saddled and blindfolded was being driven out
of the corral; a man held him on either side, and his mouth, dragged
out, was already bleeding from the cruel Spanish bit. At that Bull
Hunter saw red.
When his senses returned to him, he went hurriedly to Dunbar.
"Friend," he said, earnestly pleading, "will you let me make a
suggestion?"
The insolent dark eyes ran over him mockingly.
"Oh, you're the fellow who tried to make a pet out of Diablo? Well,
what's the suggestion?"
"If you wear those spurs you'll drive him mad! Take 'em off, Mr.
Dunbar!"
Dunbar stared at him in amazement, and then looked to the others. "Did
you hear that? This wise one wants me to try to ride without spurs.
Who taught you to ride, eh?"
"I don't know much about it," confessed Bull humbly, "but I know
you're apt to cut him up badly with those big spurs."
"And what the devil difference does that make to you?" cried Dunbar
with heat. "And what do you mean by all these fool suggestions? I'm
riding the horse!"
Bull drew back, downheaded. Hal Dunbar cast one contemptuous glance
toward him and then stepped to the side of Diablo. The stallion was
quivering and crouching with fear and anger, and shaking his head from
time to time to get clear of the bandage which blinded him and made
him helpless. Now and then he reared a little and came down on
prancing forefeet, and Bull noted the spring and play of the fetlock
joints. The whole running mechanism of the horse, indeed, seemed
composed of coiled springs. Once released, what would the result be?
And the first hope entered his mind, the first hope since he had seen
the proud form of Hal Dunbar.
Now the big man set his hand on the pommel and vaulted into the saddle
with a lightness that Bull admired hugely. Under the impact of that
descending bulk the stallion crouched almost to the earth, but he came
up again with a snort and a strangled neigh of rage.
"Are you ready?" called Dunbar, gathering the reins, and giving the
string of his quirt another twist around his right hand.
One of his men had mounted his horse with a rope, the noose end of
which was around Diablo's neck. This would serve as a pivot block to
keep Diablo running in a circle. If he tried to run in a straight line
the running noose would stop him and choke him down. He would have to
gallop in a circle for his bucking, and to help keep him in that
circle, the spectators now grouped themselves loosely in a wide rim.
But Bull Hunter did not move. From where he stood he could see all
that he wished.
"All ready!" called the man with the rope.
"Let her go, then!"
The bandage was torn from the eyes of the stallion by Dunbar's second
assistant, and the fellow leaped aside as he did so. Even then he
barely escaped. Diablo had launched himself in pursuit, and his teeth
snapped a fraction of an inch from the shoulder of the fugitive as the
rope came taut and jerked him aside, and the full weight of Dunbar was
thrown back on the reins.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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