Read Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch; Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys Page 6
CHAPTER VI--THE ROPING CONTEST
With a chorus of "co-ees" and wild yells the cowboys of Silver Ranchdashed away on the race after the huge black and white steer. And JaneAnn, on her bay mustang, was right up with the leaders in the wild rush.It was indeed an inspiring sight, and the boys and girls from the Easturged their own mounts on after the crowd with eagerness.
"See Nita ride! isn't she just wonderful?" cried Helen.
"I don't think there's anything wonderful about it," sneered The Fox, inher biting way. "She was almost _born_ on horseback, you know. It's asnatural to her as breathing."
"Bu--bu--but it shakes--you up--a good--bit more--than breath--breathing!"gasped Heavy, as her pony jounced her over the ground.
Tom and Bob had raced ahead after the cowboys, and Ruth was right behindthem. She had learned to sit the saddle with ease now, and she wasbeginning to learn to swing a rope; Ike was teaching her. Tom couldreally fling the lasso with some success; but of course he could notenter into this mad rush for a single steer.
A twenty dollar gold piece was not to be scorned; and the cowboys wereearnest in their attempt to make that extra twenty over and above theirmonthly stipend. But Jane Ann Hicks worked for the fun of it, andbecause she desired to show her Eastern friends how she excelled inhorsemanship. There were so many other things which her friends knew, inwhich she was deficient!
She was up with the leaders when they came within casting distance ofthe big steer. But the steer was wily; he dodged this way and that asthey surrounded him, and finally one of the punchers got in an awkwardposition and Old Trouble-Maker made for him. The man couldn't pull hispony out of the way as the steer made a short turn, and the old fellowcame head on against the pony's ribs. It was a terrific shock. Itsounded like a man beating an empty rainwater barrel with a club!
The poor pony was fairly lifted off his feet and rolled over and over onthe ground. Luckily his rider kicked himself free of the stirrups andescaped the terrible horns of Old Trouble-Maker. The steer thundered on,paying no further attention to overturned pony or rider, and it was JibPottoway who first dropped a rope over the creature's horn.
But it was only over one horn and when the galloping steer was suddenly"snubbed" at the end of Jib's rope, what happened? Ordinarily OldTrouble-Maker should have gone down to his knees with the shock; but theIndian's pony stumbled just at that anxious moment, and instead of thesteer being brought to his knees, the pony was jerked forward by OldTrouble-Maker's weight.
The cowboys uttered a chorus of dismal yells as Jib rose into theair--like a diver making a spring into the sea--and when he landed--well!it was fortunate that the noose slipped off the steer's horn and thepony did not roll over the Indian.
Two men bowled over and the odds all in favor of the black and whitesteer! The other cowboys set up a fearful chorus as Jib scrambled up,and Old Trouble-Maker thundered on across the plain, having beenscarcely retarded by the Indian's attempt. Bellowing and blowing, thesteer kept on, and for a minute nobody else got near enough to the beastto fling a rope.
Then one of the other boys who bestrode a remarkably fast little pony,got near enough (as he said afterward) to grab the steer by the tail andthrow him! And it was too bad that he hadn't tried that feat; for whathe _did_ do was to excitedly swing his lariat around his head and catchhis nearest neighbor across the shoulders with the slack! This neighboruttered a howl of rage and at once "ran amuck"--to the great hilarity ofthe onlookers. It was no fun for the fellow who had so awkwardly swungthe rope, however; for his angry mate chased him half a mile straightacross the plain before he bethought him, in his rage, that it was thesteer, not his friend, that was to be flung and tied for the prize.
The others laughed so over this incident that the steer was like to getaway. But one of the fellows, known to them all as "Jimsey" had beenworking cautiously on the outside of the bunch of excited horsemen allthe time. It was evident to Ruth, who was watching the game veryearnestly from the rear, that this Jimsey had determined to capture theprize and was showing more strategy than the others. He was determinedto be the one to down Old Trouble-Maker, and as he saw one after theother of his mates fail, his own grin broadened.
Now, Ruth saw, he suddenly urged his pony in nearer the galloping steer.Standing suddenly in his stirrups, and swinging his lariat with a widenoose at the end, he dropped it at the moment when Old Trouble-Maker hadjust dodged another rope. The steer fairly ran into Jimsey's noose. Thepuncher snubbed down on the rope instantly, and the steer, caught overthe horns and with one foreleg in the noose, came to the hard plain likea ton of bricks falling.
"Oh, the poor thing!" his sister observed. "That must have hurt him."
"Well, after the way that brute tried to crawl into the automobile, Iwouldn't cry any if his neck was broken!" exclaimed Mary Cox, in sharptones.
Jimsey's horse was well broken and he swung his weight at the end of therope in such a way that the huge steer could not get on his feet again.Jimsey vaulted out of the saddle and ran to the floundering steer withan agility that delighted the spectators from the East. How they cheeredhim! And his mates, too, urged him on with delight. It looked as thoughJimsey had "called the trick" and would tie the struggling beast and sofulfill the requirements of the contest.
As the agile puncher sought to lay hold of the steer's forefeet,however, Old Trouble-Maker flung his huge body around. The "yank" wastoo much for the pony and it was drawn forward perhaps a foot by thesheer weight of the big steer.
"Stand still, thar!" yelled Jimsey to the pony. "Wait till I get thisyere critter tied up in a true lover's knot! Whoa, Emma!"
Again the big steer had jerked; but the pony braced his feet and swungbackward. It was then the unexpected happened! The girth of Jimsey'ssaddle gave way, the taut rope pulling the saddle sideways. The ponynaturally was startled and he jumped to one side. In an instant the bigsteer was nimbly on his feet, and flung Jimsey ten feet away! Bellowingwith fear the brute tore off across the plain again, now with the wreckof Jimsey's saddle bounding over the ground behind him and whacking himacross the rump at every other jump.
If anything was needed to make Old Trouble-Maker mad he had it now. Thesteer sped across the plain faster than he had ever run before, and in atemper to attack anything or anybody who chanced to cross his trail.