sudden hope arose within
me--a plan of escape presented itself, so feasible and possible, that I
leaped in my perch as the thought struck me.

The first step was to get possession of the rope. This was not such an
easy matter. The rope was fastened around the tree, but the knot had
slipped down the trunk and lay upon the ground. I dared not descend for
it.

Necessity soon suggested a plan.

My "picker"--a piece of straight wire with a ring-end--hung from one of
my breast buttons. This I took hold of, and bent into the shape of a
grappling-hook. I had no cord, but my knife was still sate in its
sheath; and, drawing this, I cut several thongs from the skirt or my
buckskin shirt, and knotted them together until they formed a string
long enough to reach the ground. To one end I attached the picker; and
then letting it down, I commenced angling for the rope.

After a few transverse drags, the hook caught the latter, and I pulled
it up into the tree, taking the whole of it in until I held the loose
end in my hands. The other end I permitted to remain as it was; I saw
it was securely knotted around the trunk, and that was just what I
wanted.

It was my intention to lasso the bull; and for this purpose I proceeded
to make a running-noose on the end of the trail-rope.

This I executed with great care, and with all my skill. I could depend
upon the rope; it was raw hide, and a hotter was never twisted; but I
knew that if anything should chance to slip at a critical moment, it
might cost me my life. With this knowledge, therefore, I spliced the
eye, and made the knot as firm as possible, and then the loop was reeved
through, and the thing was ready.

I could throw a lasso tolerably well, but the branches prevented me from
winding it around my head. It was necessary, therefore, to get the
animal in a certain position under the tree, which, by shouts and other
demonstrations, I at length succeeded in effecting.

The moment of success had arrived. He stood almost directly below me.
The noose was shot down--I had the gratification to see it settle around
his neck; and with a quick jerk I tightened it. The rope ran
beautifully through the eye, until both eye and loop were buried beneath
the shaggy hair of the animal's neck. It embraced his throat in the
right place, and I felt confident it would hold.

The moment the bull felt the jerk upon his throat, he dashed madly out
from the tree, and then commenced runni