The lithe, dark vaqueros fascinated her.  They were here, there, everywhere, with lariats flying, horses plunging back, jerking calves and yearlings to the grass.  They were cruel to their mounts, cruel to their cattle.  Madeline winced as the great silver rowels of the spurs went plowing into the flanks of their horses.  She saw these spurs stained with blood, choked with hair.  She saw the vaqueros break the legs of calves and let them lie till a white cowboy came along and shot them.  Calves were jerked down and dragged many yards; steers were pulled by one leg.  These vaqueros were the most superb horsemen Madeline had ever seen, and she had seen the Cossacks and Tatars of the Russian steppes.  They were swift, graceful, daring; they never failed to catch a running steer, and the lassoes always went true.  What sharp dashes the horses made, and wheelings here and there, and sudden stops, and how they braced themselves to withstand the shock!

The cowboys, likewise, showed wonderful horsemanship, and, reckless as they were, Madeline imagined she saw consideration for steed and cattle that was wanting in the vaqueros.  They changed mounts oftener than the Mexican riders, and the horses they unsaddled for fresh ones were not so spent, so wet, so covered with lather.  It was only after an hour or more of observation that Madeline began to realize the exceedingly toilsome and dangerous work cowboys had to perform.  There was little or no rest for them.  They were continually among wild and vicious and wide-horned steers.  In many instances they owed their lives to their horses.  The danger came mostly when the cowboy leaped off to tie and brand a calf he had thrown.  Some of the cows charged with lowered, twisting horns.  Time and again Madeline’s heart leaped to her throat for fear a man would be gored.  One cowboy roped a calf that bawled loudly.  Its mother dashed in and just missed the kneeling cowboy as he rolled over.  Then he had to run, and he could not run very fast.  He was bow-legged and appeared awkward.  Madeline saw another cowboy thrown and nearly run over by a plunging steer.  His horse bolted as if it intended to leave the range.  Then close by Madeline a big steer went down at the end of a lasso.  The cowboy who had thrown it nimbly jumped down, and at that moment his horse began to rear and prance and suddenly to lower his head close to the ground and kick high.  He ran round in a circle, the fallen steer on the taut lasso acting as a pivot.  The cowboy loosed the rope from the steer, and then was dragged about on the grass.  It was almost frightful for Madeline to see that cowboy go at his horse.  But she recognized the mastery and skill.  Then two horses came into collision on the run.  One horse went down; the rider of the other was unseated and was kicked before he could get up.  This fellow limped to his mount and struck at him, while the horse showed his teeth in a vicious attempt to bite.