Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/237

224 TRUE KNIGHTHOOD, and be foirced to the, ground. It has t^ken quite a. time to convey some comprehension ot the affair, but it was over so quickly that it was like witnessing the Derby on the Downs in England. The word is soon passed around "They're off," and the horses are at the finish. But Alonso's brain just now is very active, and instantly he is on the qui vive to see how the oth- ers were progressing, and the first thing that met his eyes was the moment when two men had caused Jaramillo to lose his balance, but whose foot is caught in the stirrup, and the horse is scared, and is speeding away with the captain, dragging him along the grass. Alonso, like lightning, takes in the situa- tion, fully realizing the danger of his companion in arms, and so, like a flash, he is putting his horse to its topmost speed; dropping his tUt and untieing his lasso, he soon is close enough to the runaway horse to throw the noose over its head, and he soon brings it to a stop, but not any too soon, for the excitement of the, contest, the bumping, he has received, and the heat being very, oppressive, and particularly the sun shining upon the iron armor, making it so hot that he can hardly breathe, has caused Jaramillo to become unconscious; Alonso releases his foot and lifts his vis- or. He was not injured, but overcome, by the excessive heat and exertion, and.soon revived upon being loos- ened from his harness, Alonso had lost all thought of the tournament in the solicitude for his comrade, but now his mind re- verts to the field and inquires what the outcome is. He learns that there is only himself on the one aide and, only one on the other, who is' still in the ring.