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Rutherford glowered at him menacingly. "I'd advise you to straddle that horse and git." Roy controlled his agitation except for a slight trembling of the fingers that grasped the mane of his cowpony. "You've used a word that isn't fair. I didn't come here to harm any of your people. If I could explain to Miss Rutherford " She stood in the doorway, darkly contemptuous.
Far away the grey mare was neighing plaintively and the scared cowpony trailed in the distance wondering why these free creatures should come so close to man, the enslaver; but to Alcatraz the herd was no more than a growth of trees; nothing existed under the sky saving that hand ceaselessly outstretched towards him, and the steady murmur of the voice.
But this quickly passed as the girls laughed heartily and gathered about him, treating him as if he were their own age. "Oh, what do you think, Dad! Kit has come all the way from Arizona. And she has a cowpony." "And oh, Colonel Baxter, just think," exclaimed Joy. "She knows a lot of cowboys and she can rope a wild steer just like they do in the movies! Don't you think she's wonderful!"
Evidently the drover did not know this, since he was moving his cattle directly toward the Indian camp. The young fellow let his cowpony pick its way down the steep shale hill to the draw. He saddled without a waste motion, packed his supplies deftly, mounted, and was off. In the way he cut across the desert toward the moving herd was the certainty of the frontiersman.
Had Perris been a calm man he would have discarded the thousandth chance which remained after all of these possibilities. He would have looked, instead, to his cowpony which was now cantering away towards liberty in the rear of the flying squadron of mares. But Perris saw and lived for only one thing.
A saddled horse blinked in the sun beside the depot, the bridle rein trailing on the ground. Its owner sat on a dry-goods box and whittled. Jim glanced at the bronco casually. Jack Goodheart also observed the cowpony. He whispered to the sheriff. Prince turned to his prisoner. "Jim, you can take that horse an' hit the dust, if you like." "Meanin' that you can't protect me?"
With the unreasoning impulse of the half-broken cowpony the cinnamon subsided to gentle obedience. The two riders cantered across the prairie in the direction of the Indian camp. That the Apaches were still there Thursday thought altogether likely, for he knew that it takes a week to make mescal. No doubt the raiders had stopped to hold a jamboree over the success of their outbreak.
Why not hang on and let the horse drag him out, too? He had as much right to live as Charlton. Was there any law of justice that forced him to throw away the rope that was his only hope? But he knew the tough little cowpony could not drag two heavy men from the quicksands at the same time. If he held tight, Charlton, too, would be sacrificed. His fingers opened.
Fox dismounted and stood over his captive while the latter transferred the gunnysack and its contents to the other saddle. Never for an instant did the little spy let the other man close enough to pounce upon him. Even though Dingwell was cowed, Chet proposed to play it safe. Not till he was in the saddle himself did he let his prisoner mount. Instantly Dave's cowpony went into the air.
"Can you go out with it whenever you want to?" "Yes, any time." "I've never been in a boat in my life!" Kit's breath came in excited little gasps. "Could we go out in it today?" "Never had a boat ride!" exclaimed Joy. "How funny! What did you do with yourself?" "Well, mostly I rode Powder, my cowpony. That was fun. Horseback riding is great sport!" "You're the lucky one!
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