These seem to be better matched, or rather the bull has not run off so well, as all overtake him at once, riding past him in their headlong speed. Most unexpectedly the animal turns in his tracks, and runs back, heading directly for the stand! Loud screams are heard from the poblanas in the carretas--from the senoras and senoritas. No wonder. In ten seconds the enraged brute will be in their midst! The pursuing horsemen are still far behind him. The sudden turning in their headlong race threw them out of distance. Even the foremost of them cannot come up in time. The other horsemen are all dismounted. No man on foot will dare to check the onward rush of a goaded bull! Confusion and loud shouting among the men, terror and screaming among the women, are the characteristics of the scene. Lives will be lost-- perhaps many. None know but that they themselves may be the victims! The strings of carretas filled with their terrified occupants flank the stand on each side; but, running farther out into the plain, form with it a sort of semicircle. The bull enters this semicircle, and guided by the carretas rushes down, heading directly for the benches, as though determined to break through in that direction. The ladies have risen to their feet, and, half-frantic, seem as though they would leap down upon the very horns of the monster they dread! It is a fearful crisis for them. Just at this moment a man is seen advancing, lazo in hand, in front of the carretas. He is afoot. As soon as he has detached himself from the crowd, he spins the lazo round his head, and the noose shooting out is seen to settle over the horns of the bull. Without losing a moment the man runs to a small tree that stands near the centre of the semicircle, and hastily coils the other end of the lazo around its trunk. Another moment, and he would have been too late. The knot is scarcely tied, when a heavy pluck announces that the bull has reached the end of his rope, and the foiled brute is now seen thrown back upon his hips, with the _lazo_ tightly noosed over his horns. He has fallen at the very feet of the spectators! "_Bravo! viva_!" cried a hundred voices, as soon as their owners had sufficiently recovered from their terror to call out. "_Viva. Viva_! Carlos the cibolero!" It was he who had performed this second feat of skill and daring. The bull was not yet conquered, however. He was only confined within a certain range--the circle of the lazo--and, rising to his feet, with a furious roar he rushed forward at the crowd. Fortunately the lazo was not long enough to enable him to reach the spectators on either side; and again he tumbled back upon his haunches. There was a scattering on all sides, as it was feared he might still slip the noose; but the horsemen had now come up. Fresh lazoes were wound about his neck, others tripped up his legs, and he was at length flung violently upon the ground and his quarters well stretched.