Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/240

Although Alonso dislikes to conlinue the bout, yet he feels in duty bound to see it out; so observing the solitary opponent sitting upon his horse, he call Babieca by his most endearing name to encourage him; and being handed his lance, which he had discarded, now rides at top speed toward the solitary and only surviving pedestrian of the other troop. But the poor fellow has stood in the melting sun with his visor up, trying to get a little fresh breeze, and owing to his blood being awful hot, and yet not the fighting kind of blood requisite to face danger, he loses his nerve and stands stock still when he observes a horseman approaching him at a furious gallop; in fact, his horse's sides are so heaving with the heat that it will not respond to the cluck or spur, and Alonso, seeing that the man was standing stock still, could not bring himself to do such an unmanly act as to attack him, so he reined in his horse and demanded of the man what he meant by such action. The poor fellow then told of his predicament, which caused Alonso to laugh; and then he thought how magnanimous it would be to dismount, thus technically make Hie other side the victors, and no sooner did the noble precept come to him than he responded to the brave and manly promptings of his heart. So he sprang to the ground and approached the last of the opposition, and, taking him by the hand, asked him to dismount as the victorious party. This, episode was a beautiful tribute to the nobility and Odyssea-like character of the young man, and endeared him to all, both his friends and the natives, for Ysopete had conveyed to the chief and others the significance of Alonso's chivalrous conduct.