ing too many chances?"

The rider considered. "I reckon it could if a fellow's boot was fixed so
he could slip his foot out at the right time. I'll take a whirl at it."

"There's another scene where you save Maisie by jumping from your horse
to a wild steer that's pursuing her. You'll have to twist its head and
throw the brute after you straddle it."

"All right. When you want to pull it off?"

"We can do the stirrup one to-day, before you go--if you still want to
go."

"Got an answer yet from Arixico?"

"Just got it. Mendoza's still alive, but mighty badly hurt. I've sent
the kid out to the animal farm. He'll lie low, and they won't find him
there."

"I'm still curious about that bunch of cattle we lost. If you can spare
me I'll run down and see if old Pasquale hasn't got 'em. It ain't likely
we'll ever get hide or hair of 'em, but there's one thing I'd like to
find out."

"Still got that notion about Harrison?"

"Maybe I have. Maybe I haven't. Anyhow, folks that are blind can't see.
I'll keep my notions in my own fool haid for a while."

"Harrison has some friends across the line. He's going to try and fix it
for the kid if they run him down."

"That's fine," commented Yeager dryly. "He sure must have influential
friends."

"All ready, Mr. Threewit," called out Cummings.

The director lit a cigar and moved forward to the stage. "Lennox, you're
too far up stage. Register fear, Daisy. That's the idea. Now, then, Miss
Winters. Keep your eyes on Daisy as you come into the room. No--no--no!
That won't do at all."

Yeager left them to their rehearsal troubles and strolled back to his
boarding-house. He would not be needed till afternoon.

He spent a half-hour softening the leather of his right boot around the
ankle. A man cannot tumble from a running horse, let himself be dragged
forty yards, and then slip his foot from the stirrup of a cowpony that
has become frightened without taking a big chance. But it was his
business to take chances. He always had taken them. And he knew that
they could be minimized by careful preparation, expertness, and cool
skill of execution.

As it turned out, Yeager had to make his fall twice. The ground selected
for the set was a bit of level space just at the foot of a hillside. The
rider went down hard on his shoulder at exactly the spot selected, but
he had miscalculated slightly and the force of the fall dragged his foot
from the boot at once. His calculations worked be