“Wheel and fire!” shouted the Dorado, suiting the action to the word when nearly opposite the disk.
“P—sh!” whistled the arrows as they hit the target almost simultaneously.
“Three arrows full tilt!” was the next command, which was no sooner given than obeyed.
“Backward shot—three arrows! Send them into the pole; then circle it and pull them out.”
The horsemen were crisscrossing each other in every direction, flinging sand into one another’s faces. The spirited animals were rearing and careering, standing on their hind-legs or sitting back on their haunches while this maneuver was being executed.
“A souvenir for the women before we go! Let every man of us put a dart into the post on a level with our heads. Then race out of here together.”
The horses bent themselves nearly double. With mouths open and nostrils distended, they responded to the impulse of bit and spur. While the spent arrows were vibrating like whipcords, they plunged forward and raced for the entrance neck and neck, urged to their utmost capacity by the fire-crackers and bombs exploding at their heels.
The people rose en masse, and shouted themselves hoarse, drowning the kettle-drums and gongs in the general uproar. In the midst of it the horsemen whirled and dashed back into the arena, in hot pursuit of Yermah, whose head was almost level with Cibolo’s neck, as this splendid racer stretched himself over the ground.
All the men had on wadded cotton tunics, covered with bull’s-hide armor, put together in strips and riveted with brass bosses. They wore visored helmets, and carried circular shields of burnished bronze. Before they had encircled the ring, it was evident that it was a sham attack on Yermah. They tried to ride him down, but Cibolo foiled them with an instinct almost human. They often fired at the rider, but were never able to hit him.
Yermah returned arrow for arrow, sometimes from behind his shield, sometimes forward, more often backward, single arrows, and three at a time. Throwing up his shield to protect himself, or dropping over on the side of his horse so there was but one leg over the saddle, on and on he went.