Each knew how to use it, and neither had a peer in the art.
It was an even contest.
How it would terminate only time would tell.
Out upon the plain the two cowboys rode. When well out they began to make a circle about each other.
Then the contest began.
First one would throw his lasso, and then the other.
High up into the air went the whirling cords. They would seem likely at any moment to settle about the cowboy’s head and shoulders.
But the slightest movement, a touch of the knee against the well-trained ponies’ sides, would cause the lariat to fall wide.
Hissing and curling through the air went the lariats again and again.
In vain each tried to outwit the other. It was a duel wholly without precedent, and fascinating to watch.