CHAPTER VIII
IN PERIL AND OUT
Pratt Sanderson had begun to realize the situation. As Frances' ponyfell and squealed, he scrambled to his knees.
"Save yourself, Frances!" he cried. "I am all right."
She left him; but not because she believed his statement. The girl sawthe bald-faced steer staggering to its feet, and she knew theirsalvation depended upon the holding of the bad-tempered brute.
The stampeded herd was fast coming down upon them; afoot, she nor Prattcould scarcely escape the hoofs and horns of the cattle.
She saw Ratty M'Gill on the black pony flying ahead of the steers; butwhat could one man do to turn two thousand head of wild cattle? Francesof the ranges had appreciated the peril which threatened to the full andat first glance.
The prostrate carcase of the huge steer would serve to break the wave ofcattle due to pass over this spot within a very few moments. If Baldfacegot up, shook off the entangling rope and ran, Frances and Pratt wouldbe utterly helpless.
Once under the hoofs of the herd, they would be pounded into the prairielike powder, before the tail of the stampede had passed.
Frances, seeing the attempts of the big steer to climb to its feet, ranforward and seized the rope that had slipped through the ring of hersaddle. She drew in the slack at once; but her strength was notsufficient to drag the steer back to earth.
Snorting and bellowing, the huge beast was all but on his feet whenPratt Sanderson reached the girl's side.
Pratt was staggering, for the shock of his fall had been severe. Heunderstood her, however, when she cried:
"Jump on it, Pratt! Jump on it!"
The young man leaped, landing with both feet on the taut rope. Frances,at the same instant, threw herself backward, digging her heels into thesod.
The shock of the tightening of the rope, therefore, fell upon the steer.Down he went bellowing angrily, for he had not cast off the noose thatentangled him.
"Don't let him get loose, Pratt! Stand on the rope!" commanded Frances.
With the slack of the lariat she ran forward, caught a kicking hindfoot, then entangled one of the beast's forefeet, and drew both togetherwith all her strength. The bellowing steer was now doubly entangled; buthe was not secure, and well did Frances know it.
She ran in closer, although Pratt cried out in warning, and looped therope over the brute's other horn. Slipping the end of her rope throughthe loop that held his feet together, Frances got a purchase by whichshe could pull the great head of the beast aside and downward, thusholding him helpless. It was impossible for him to get up after he wasthus secured.
"Got him! Quick, Pratt, this way!" Frances panted.
She beckoned to the Amarillo young man, and the latter instantly joinedher. She had conquered the steer in a few seconds; the herd was nowthundering down upon them. M'Gill, on the black pony, dashed by.
"Bully for you, Miss Frances," he yelled.
"You wait, Ratty!" Frances said; but, of course, only Pratt heard."Father and Sam will jack you up for this, and no mistake!"
Then she whipped out her revolver and fired it into the air--emptyingall the chambers as the herd came on.
The steers broke and passed on either side of their fallen brother. Thetossing horns, fiery eyes and red, expanded nostrils made them look--toPratt's mind--fully as savage as had the mountain lion the eveningbefore.
Then he looked again at his comrade. She was only breathing quickly now;she gave no sign of fear. It was all in the day's work. Such adventuresas this had been occasional occurrences with Frances of the ranges sincechildhood.
Pratt could scarcely connect this alert, vigorous young girl with herwho had sat at the piano in the ranch-house the previous evening!
"You're a wonder!" murmured Pratt Sanderson, to himself. And thensuddenly he broke out laughing.
"What's tickling you, Pratt?" asked Frances, in her most matter-of-facttone.
"I was just wondering," the Amarillo young man replied, "what Sue Latropwill think of you when she comes out here."
"Who's she?" asked Frances, a little puzzled frown marring her smoothforehead. She was trying to remember any girl of that name with whom shehad gone to school at the Amarillo High.
"Sue Latrop's a distant cousin of Mrs. Bill Edwards, and she's fromBoston. She's Eastern to the tips of her fingers--and talk about'culchaw'! She has it to burn," chuckled Pratt. "Bill Edwards says sheis just 'putting on dog' to show us natives how awfully crude we are.But I guess she doesn't know any better."
The steers had swept by, and Pratt was just a little hysterical. Helaughed too easily and his hand shook as he wiped the perspiration anddust from his face.
"I shouldn't think she would be a nice girl at all," Frances said,bluntly.
"Oh, she's not at all bad. Rather pretty and--my word--some dresser! Noend of clothes she's brought with her. She's coming out to the Edwardsranch before long, and you'll probably see her."
Frances bit her lip and said nothing for a moment. The big steerstruggled again and groaned. The girl and Pratt were afoot and thestampede of cattle had swept their mounts away. Even Molly, the pinto,was out of call.
The half dozen punchers who followed the maddened steers had no time forFrances and her companion. A great cloud of dust hung over the departingherd and that was the last the castaways on the prairie would see ofeither cattle or punchers that day.
"We've got to walk, I reckon," Frances said, slowly.
"How about this steer?" asked the young man, curiously.
"I think he's tamed enough for the time," said the girl, with a smile."Anyway I want my rope. It's a good one."
She began to untangle the bald-faced steer. He struggled and grunted andtossed his wide, wicked horns free. To tell the truth Pratt was morethan a little afraid of him. But he saw that Frances had reloaded therevolver she carried, and he merely stepped aside and waited. The girlknew so much better what to do that he could be of no assistance.
"Now, Pratt," she said, at last, "stand from under! Hoop-la!"
She swung the looped lariat and brought it down smartly upon the beast'sback as it struggled to its shaking legs. The steer bellowed, shookhimself like a dog coming out of the water, or a mule out of theharness, and trotted away briskly.
"He'll follow the herd, I reckon," Frances said, smiling again. "If hedoesn't they'll pick him out at the next round-up. His brand is tooplain to miss."
"And now we're afoot," said Pratt. "It's a long walk for you back to thehouse, Frances."
"And longer for you to the Edwards ranch," she laughed. "But perhaps youwill fall in with some of Mr. Bill's herders. They'll have an extramount or two. I'll maybe catch Molly. She's a good pinto."
"But oughtn't I to go back with you?" questioned Pratt, doubtfully. "Yousee--you're alone--and afoot----"
"Why! it isn't the first time, Pratt," laughed the girl. "Don't fretabout me. This range to me is just like your backyard to you."
"I suppose it sounds silly," admitted Pratt. "But I haven't been used toseeing girls quite as independent as you are, Frances Rugley."
"No? The girls you know don't live the sort of life I do," said therange girl, rather wistfully.
"I don't know that they have anything on you," put in Pratt, stoutly. "Ithink you're just wonderful!"
"Because I am doing something different from what you are used to seeinggirls do," she said, with gravity. "That is no compliment, Pratt."
"Well! I meant it as such," he said, earnestly. He offered his hand,knowing better than to urge his company upon her. "And I hope you knowhow much obliged to you I am. I feel as though you had saved my lifetwice. I would not have known what to do in the face of that stampede."
"Every man to his trade," quoted Frances, carelessly. "Good-bye, Pratt.Come over again to see us," and she gave his hand a quick clasp andturned away briskly.
He stood and watched her for some moments; then, fearing she might lookback and see him, he faced around himself and set forth on his lo
ngtramp to the Edwards ranch.
It was true Frances did not turn around; but she knew well enough Prattgazed after her. He would have been amazed had he known her reason forshowing no further interest in him--for not even turning to wave herhand at him in good-bye. There were tears on her cheeks, and she wasafraid he would see them.
"I am foolish--wicked!" she told herself. "Of course he knows other--andnicer--girls than _me_. And it isn't just that, either," she added,rather enigmatically. "But to remember all those girls I knew inAmarillo! How different their lives are from mine!
"How different they must look and behave. Why, I'm a perfect_tomboy_. Pratt said I was wonderful--just as though I were a trickpony, or an educated goose!
"I do things he never saw a girl do before, and he thinks it strange andodd. But if that Sue Latrop should see me and say that I was not nice,he'd begin to see, too, that it is a fact.
"Riding with the boys here on the ranch, and officiating at thebranding-pen, riding herd, cutting out beeves and playing the cowboygenerally, has not added to my 'culchaw,' that is sure. I don't knowthat I'd be able to 'act up' in decent society again.
"Pratt looked at me big-eyed last evening when I dressed for dinner. Buthe was only astonished and amused, I suppose. He didn't expect me tolook like that after seeing me in this old riding dress.
"Oh, dear!" sighed Frances of the ranges. "I wouldn't leave daddy, or doanything to displease him, poor dear! But I wish he could be content tolive nearer to civilization.
"We've got enough money. _I_ don't want any more, I'm sure. Wecould sell the cattle and turn our ranges into wheat and milo fields.Then we could live in town part of the year--in Amarillo, perhaps!"
The thought was a daring one. Indeed, she was not wholly confident thatit was not a wicked thought.
Just then she reached the summit of a slight ridge from which she couldbehold the home corrals of the _hacienda_ itself, still a longdistance ahead, and glowing like jewels in the morning sunshine.
Such a beautiful place! After all, Frances Rugley loved it. It was home,and every tender tie of her life bound her to it and to the old man whoshe knew was sitting somewhere on the veranda, with his pipe and hismemories.
There never was such another beautiful place as the old Bar-T! Franceswas sure of that. She longed for Amarillo and what the old Captaincalled "the frills of society"; but could she give up the ranch forthem?
"I reckon I want to keep my cake and eat it, too," she sighed. "Andthat, daddy would say, 'is plumb impossible!'"