“No, there are several different throws of the diamond hitch, all of them good. The one I’ll show you was showed me by an old cargador in California. Now watch carefully how it is done, for it is easier to see it than to tell about it.
“Now, here we have the long rope which makes the hitch. Some packers throw the loose end out over the back of the horse. We’ll just let it point the other way—leave it tied to the horse’s neck if you want.
“At the other end of the rope is our cinch-band, and the cinch-hook at the other end of the band or girth. It’s made out of wood or horn sometimes. Now, Rob, I am going to pass the belly-band under the horse. Catch the hook when it comes through. Are you all right now?”
“Yes, I’ve got it,” answered Rob.
“Very well—you’re the off-side packer, for it takes two to pack a horse. Now watch closely, all of you, at what comes next. You see Rob has the hook in his hand and I have the rest of the rope in my hand. Now I double the rope and throw it over the top of the pack to Rob, and he hooks the bight of the doubled rope over the cinch-hook. Got that all right now?”
“Yes, sir,” said Rob, “I’ve got it hooked. That’s easy so far.”
“Well, now it isn’t going to be quite so easy. I’ve known lots of intelligent men who never could get this thing straight in their heads at all. Now watch how I pull this doubled rope toward me across the top of the pack. The long end, on the left, is free, and I tighten the right-hand leg of the rope. Now, you see I pass the left-hand leg under the right-hand in another long loop, or bight—this way, see. Now I can enlarge that loop by pulling some of the free end of the rope through, can’t I? I leave it all loose, because we don’t pull things up until we get the whole hitch thrown and set.
“Now I pull my big loose loop out toward the rear of the pack on my side. And I just twist the loop over, side for side, until you see it bind or twist in the middle on top the pack. That’s the important thing. Now I run the right-hand side of my loop on the right-hand lower corner of my side pack. Then I carry it under the bottom of the side pack and around the lower corner in front. I just tighten it up a little, as I do this.
“Now, Rob, it’s your turn. You take hold of the free end of the rope which I have tossed over to you. It runs from the twist on top of the pack to your left-hand lower corner, and under your side pack and up to me around your right-hand lower corner.
“Now you might say that your diamond is laid, and that you are ready to cinch up. The ropes will bind first where they cross on top, and tighten all the way back to the end of the cinch-hook on the off side. When everything is made fast, the last end of the rope—which, by the way, we will have to untie from our horse’s neck—comes over, finishes the diamond hitch, and is made fast at my cinch-ring on the near side. We begin at the cinch-hook and finish at the cinch-ring, on the other side.