AND OTKER HUNTING ADVENTURES. 321 



left fore foot or hind foot, whichever he may choose 

 and while running at full speed with Almost uner- 

 ring certainty. I have even seen them rope jack 

 rabbits and coyotes after a long run, and there are 

 well authenticated instances on record of even bears 

 being choked to death by the fatal noose - when 

 wielded by a daring " knight of the plains." 



At a "tournament" in a Black Hills town some 

 months ago, a cowboy caught, threw, and securely 

 tied a wild steer in fourteen minutes from the time 

 he was let out of the corral. A similar exhibition 

 of skill, but on a bronco instead of a steer, -which 

 lately took place in a New Mexico town, is thus 

 described by an eye witness. 



"After an hour of discussion and pleasant wran- 

 gling, the judge, himself a line rider, called out the 

 name of an Arizona cowboy, a champion puncher 

 and rustler from Apache County ; at the same 

 moment, a wild-eyed bronco was released from the 

 pen and went bounding and bucking over the min- 

 iature plain. According to the rule, the Apache 

 County man had to saddle his own bronco, rope the 

 fleeing horse, and tie him for branding in a certain 

 time. Being a "rustler," he rustled around so 

 lively that before the bronco was two hundred feet 

 away, he had saddled and bridled his own animal, 

 swung himself onto it, and was off, gathering up his 

 lariat as he went. The other bronco, seeing the 

 coming enemy, doubled his pace, dodging here and 

 there, but at every turn he was met by his pursuer, 

 who was evidently directed by his rider's legs, and 

 in an incredibly short space of time the fugitive 

 was overhauled; the rope whistled through the air, 



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