ope! Whoa

g cry echoed fro

flash as the guards shot in front of the stampeding herd, hoping thereby to turn the rush and set the a

lad who sat in his saddle hesitatingly, not knowing ex

old the cowpunchers on guard that their companions were raci

g, and, as other flashes followed, the excitement of the animals increased until

rd, their efforts had no more effect than if they

ry glimpse of Big-foot Sanders bearing down on him at a tremendous speed. Tad saw something else, too-a surgi

e!" shoute

in as strong a voice

ers. We've got to keep the herd from scattering. I'll stay in the center and lead them till

advance of the cattle, in the same direction that they were traveling. To have paused where the

w,

pony slightly

rn plenty of powder in front of their

gun, nor did he realize that he was sending

danger of the task that had been assigned to him.

he reaching pony and urging the little animal on with hi

At such times the lad would swerve his mount to the left a little and shoot ahead for a few moments,

the leaders. By dropping back and working up the l

his surroundings. He would pass a hand over his face instinctively, as if to br

Stallings had said in

gether. That's all you can do. You c

could, yet he wondered that none of

easoning wave on the right of the line, and again and again was he

lightning flash had shown him this at the right time. Had it been a f

much as did its rider, bent every muscle in its

able to get back to the right point

in almost a crescent formation, Tad's

, taking up the cry that he had heard t

roar of the storm and the

at was to keep straight ahead and ride. He would have to ride fas

ad, sandy arroyo where still stood the rotting stumps of oak

y two miles, the cattle having separated into se

rider and pony crashed in

le tore in after Tad with a crashing of brush and a rattle of horns-sounds tha

he boy no alternative but to go through t

have its own way. Yet the boy never expected to come through the mesquite thicket

for the shock that he was sure would come. The cow pony tore through the growth at a fearful

He realized that he was falling. The pony had stumbled and with its rider wa