RIDING THE RIM ROCK 93 



it near. The height of his horse brought 

 near beseemed to look down from his saddle over N^- 

 it, into its dark depths. The herd in its milling? * 

 was surely warping slowly in the direction of the 



recipice. But this was all fancy the trick of the 

 dark and of nerves, if a plainsman has nerves. 



At twelve o'clock the first guard came in and 

 woke the second watch. Wade had been in his sad- 

 dle since dawn, but this was his regular watch. 

 More than that, his trained ear had timed the mill- 

 ing hoofs. The movement of the herd had quick- 

 iened. 



If now he could keep them going and could pre- 



ent their taking any sudden fright! They must 



ot stop until they stopped from utter weariness. 



afety lay in their continued motion. So Wade, with 

 the fresh riders, flanked them closely, paced them, 



nd urged them quietly on. They must be kept mill- 

 ing, and they must be kept from fright. 



In the taut silence of the starless desert night, 

 with the tension of the cattle at the snapping-point, 



ny quick, unwonted sight or sound would stam- 

 pede the herd the sneezing of a horse, the flare 



f a match, enough to send the whole four thousand * 

 headlong blind, frenzied, tramping till spent' 

 and scattered over the plain. 



And so, as he rode, Wade began to sing. The 

 Tider ahead of him took up the air and passed it on, 

 until, above the stepping stir of the hoofs, rose the 



