96 SUMMER 



Suddenly they veered and went high in the air, 

 as a steer plunged headlong into a draw almost be- 

 neath his feet. They cleared the narrow ravine, 

 landed on bare rock, and reeled on. 



They were riding the rim. Close on their left 

 bore down the flank of the herd, and on their right, 

 under their very feet, was the precipice, so close that 

 theyfeltits blackness its three hundred feet of fall. 



A piercing, half-human bawl of terror told where 

 a steer had been crowded over. Would the next leap 

 crowd them over too? Then Wade found himself 

 racing neck and neck with a big white steer, which 

 the horse, with marvelous instinct, seemed to pick 

 from a bunch, and to cling to, forcing him gradually 

 ahead, till, cutting him free from the bunch entirely, 

 he bore him off into the sage. 



The group coming on behind followed the leader, 

 and after them swung others. The tide was turning. 

 Within a short time the whole herd had veered, and, 

 bearing off from the cliffs, was pounding over the 

 open plains. 



Whose race was it? It was Peroxide Jim's, ac- 

 cording to Wade, for not by word or by touch of 

 hand or knee had he been directed in the run. From 

 the flash of the lightning the horse had taken the 

 bit, had covered an indescribably perilous path at 

 top speed, had outrun the herd and turned it from 

 the edge of the rim rock, without a false step or a 

 shaken nerve. 



