CHAPTER IX. 



AN OVERTHROW. 



fOR most of the distance down the slope, the ponies kept well together, but, 

 before reaching the southern outlet, the Texan began to draw away from his 



companions. His mustang was one of the fleetest of his kind, and, when 

 given free rein, as his rider gave him now, he never failed to prove his superiority. 

 He steadily forged ahead of Dick and Bob, who could have remained side by side, 

 had they wished, but they deemed it best to separate. 



The cause for this parting was the action of the ostriches, which showed a differ- 

 ence of speed that was as marked as it was unexpected. 



One of the immense birds took the lead, gaining so fast that by the time he 

 reached the opening he was fully a hundred yards in advance of the others. The 

 latter were also scattered, the flock streaming through the valley in Indian file, with 

 the rear nearly a furlong behind the leader. 



"You're my game," muttered Jack Harvey, fixing his eye on the foremost, a huge 

 male, and, therefore, the most formidable of the group. 



You have all seen an ostrich, and can easily picture the fellow that knew no 

 better than to run into a trap with his eyes open, and to lead the rest of his friends 

 thither. With his comparatively small head thrust far forward, not with his neck 

 curved, but straight and leaning like a post out of plumb, his short, stumpy wings 

 partly outspread and his muscular legs doubling swiftly, he gave a display of fleet- 

 ness that would have made the chase hopeless, had he but possessed enough sense 

 to use the advantage at his command. 



Now, I don't wish you to form a poor estimate of the sense of the Texan cowboy, 

 for he is to-day, as he always was, among the coolest and most level-headed gentle- 

 men I ever knew, but we are all liable to make blunders, and one of the greatest of 

 his life was committed when on his ostrich hunt. 



He was in earnest, at the time he assured his young friends that he meant to 

 lasso one of the birds, and, by way of experiment, seek to reverse his line of flight. 



It cannot be said there was anything specially foolhardy in this, since he pos- 

 sessed admirable means for making the test, but, when he displayed his contempt 

 for the ostrich, by declining to take the precautions he showed in lassoing wild horses 

 and other animals, he was guilty of an indiscretion for which he deserved to suffer 

 discomfiture. 



Instead of securing one end of his lasso to the support on his saddle (as he could 

 have done either before or after flinging it), he wound it around his left arm. Jack 

 was proud of his horsemanship, and spurned the thought that any ostrich was able 

 to unseat him. 



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