the movie
actor sat. At the same moment a small creature dropped into my lap from
somewhere above, and ran up my sleeve. I made frantic although
necessarily silent efforts to dislodge it, and it bit me severely.

The necessity for silence taxed all my strength, but managing finally to
secure it by the tail, I forcibly withdrew it and flung it away.
Unluckily it struck Aggie in the left eye and inflicted a painful
bruise.

Tish had risen to her feet and was standing, a silent and menacing
figure, while this event transpired. The movements of the horses as they
grazed, the soft breeze blowing through the pines, were the only sounds.
Now she took a step forward.

"He's asleep!" she whispered. "Aggie, sit still and watch the horses.
Lizzie, come with me."

As I advanced to her she thrust her revolver into my hand.

"When I give the word," she said in a whisper, "hold it against his
neck. But keep your finger off the trigger. It's loaded."

We advanced slowly, halting now and then to listen. Although brush
crackled under our feet, the grazing horses were making a similar
disturbance, and the man slept on. Soon we could see him clearly,
sitting back against a tree, his head dropped forward on his breast.
Tish surveyed the scene with her keen and appraising eye, and raised
the lasso.

The first result was not good. The loaded end struck a branch, and,
being deflected, the thing wrapped itself perhaps a dozen times round my
neck. Tish, being unconscious of what had happened, drew it up with a
jerk, and I stood helpless and slowly strangling. At last, however, she
realized the difficulty and released me. I was unable to breathe
comfortably for some time, and my tongue felt swollen for several hours.

Through all of this the movie actor had slept soundly. At the second
effort Tish succeeded in lassoing him without difficulty. We had feared
a loud outcry before we could get to him, but owing to Tish's swiftness
in tightening the rope he was able to make, at first, only a low,
gurgling sound. I had advanced to him, and was under the impression that
I was holding the revolver to his neck. On discovering, however, that I
was pressing it to the trunk of the tree, to which he was now secured by
the lariat, I corrected the error and held it against his ear.

He was now wide awake and struggling violently. Then, I regret to say,
he broke out into such language as I have never heard before. At Tish's
request I suppress his oat