bornly, yet surely, and gradually assumed a long, beautiful curve of
moving white. To Jane's amaze she saw the leaders swinging, turning till
they headed back toward her and up the valley. Out to the right of
these wild plunging steers ran Lassiter's black, and Jane's keen eye
appreciated the fleet stride and sure-footedness of the blind horse.
Then it seemed that the herd moved in a great curve, a huge half-moon
with the points of head and tail almost opposite, and a mile apart But
Lassiter relentlessly crowded the leaders, sheering them to the left,
turning them little by little. And the dust-blinded wild followers
plunged on madly in the tracks of their leaders. This ever-moving,
ever-changing curve of steers rolled toward Jane and when below her,
scarce half a mile, it began to narrow and close into a circle. Lassiter
had ridden parallel with her position, turned toward her, then aside,
and now he was riding directly away from her, all the time pushing the
head of that bobbing line inward.

It was then that Jane, suddenly understanding Lassiter's feat stared
and gasped at the riding of this intrepid man. His horse was fleet and
tireless, but blind. He had pushed the leaders around and around till
they were about to turn in on the inner side of the end of that line
of steers. The leaders were already running in a circle; the end of the
herd was still running almost straight. But soon they would be wheeling.
Then, when Lassiter had the circle formed, how would he escape? With
Jane Withersteen prayer was as ready as praise; and she prayed for this
man's safety. A circle of dust began to collect. Dimly, as through a
yellow veil, Jane saw Lassiter press the leaders inward to close the gap
in the sage. She lost sight of him in the dust, again she thought she
saw the black, riderless now, rear and drag himself and fall. Lassiter
had been thrown--lost! Then he reappeared running out of the dust into
the sage. He had escaped, and she breathed again.

Spellbound, Jane Withersteen watched this stupendous millwheel of
steers. Here was the milling of the herd. The white running circle
closed in upon the open space of sage. And the dust circles closed above
into a pall. The ground quaked and the incessant thunder of pounding
hoofs rolled on. Jane felt deafened, yet she thrilled to a new sound. As
the circle of sage lessened the steers began to bawl, and when it closed
entirely there came a great upheaval in the center, and a terr