THE ROUND-UP 



of today. But half through the ride Lee's tactics 

 change. The grandstand doesn't notice it much, the 

 old buckaroos do. Only Lee knows why he changed 

 his tactics. "I realized," he tells Drumheller after dis- 

 mounting, "that having to ride another horse with the 

 hurt in my arm getting me so loco mad I was likely 

 to be uncautious — so I clamped down a bit." But he 

 rides into as pretty a finish as has ever been made. 



The deafening uproar is only exceeded by a greater 

 one. Wave after wave undulates around the great 

 oval as though to shake the very structure from its 

 foundations. The whole colossal saucer goes wild and 

 even the grandstand jumps up on the seats and throws 

 things at one another. 



Caldwell has won the rough-riding championship 

 of the world hands down, as the committee has re- 

 quired. He has ridden everything in sight, including 

 four of the worst outlaws that could be gathered to- 

 gether — one immediately after another — within the 

 space of forty-five minutes — and has scratched them 

 all. But more inconceivable yet, he has done what no 

 man has ever done before — he has scratched that 

 king of buckaroos, Long Tom, from start to finish, 

 from wither to rump and — "ridden him" — with broken 

 bones in arm and chest thrown in. 



"How do you feel, Lee?" 



But Lee was looking toward the outlaw corral : 



"Gad!' he ejaculates, "how he did come to pieces!" 



THE CRASHING CLIMAX 



The end of those wonderful three days of thrills 

 and spills comes with the great finale — the wild-horse 

 race. 



221 



