onger, I was sure,
yet prayed that she might have strength.

Then, ahead of us, in the distant moonlight, I discerned other galloping
figures. A horseman was pursuing at full speed along the bank a huge
steer that bellowed as it endeavoured to secure a free run up into the
hills, there to be safe from its mortal enemy. I yelled at the top of my
voice, with all the breath I had left.

Immediately the horseman pulled his horse back on its haunches and from
the bank stared down at pursued and pursuer. In a twinkling he seemed to
realise the situation, wheeled, and galloped down the bank at an angle
calculated to make it easier for him to get within reach of Edna's
horse. Then I saw it was Tom, and he must have guessed that it was Edna
ahead of him, in a position of direst peril. How we had all become
separated I could not guess, and there was no time to wonder now.

I saw Tom gather his loop in his right hand, holding the coil in his
left, and begin to swing the loop round his head. What! was he going to
take such a risk? To lasso the horse and check it suddenly when at a mad
gallop like that? Surely the animal would come to earth with a fearful
crash, most probably on the side on which it was weighed down with its
burden.

Then I saw the rope whirl through the air, and though it could have been
but a moment, it seemed to hang there for minutes without falling. This
was the time for skill. If ever Tom should throw his lariat well, it
must be now. With unerring aim the rope was cast, and the loop settled
over the head of the runaway, though the maddened animal was galloping
with neck stretched full length and head low down.

Gradually the rope tightened round its shoulders, Tom galloping his own
horse hard behind. By the most skilful manipulation of the lariat,
Edna's horse was compelled to slacken its pace, Tom getting nearer and
nearer by degrees and taking in the slack until he was right alongside.
He soon brought the runaway to a stand-still, and directed me to release
Edna's foot from the stirrup, which I did. She sank to the ground,
completely exhausted. And little wonder. Her hands were cut and bleeding
with the tenacious grip she had kept on the horse's mane, and it was
some time before she recovered sufficient strength to move.

As soon as she was able, she told us that she had become separated from
the other riders when galloping through the cornbrake, and a wild steer
had gored her horse in the side. This h