rcle until it sucked down suddenly into a spiral vortex that spewed
up all it caught in the boiling channel below. There in years past the
lambs and weaklings from the herds above had drifted to their death,
but never before had the maelstrom claimed a man.

Swimming weakly with the current Hardy made a last ineffectual effort
to gain the bank; then fixing his eyes upon his partner he resigned
himself to the drag of the whirlpool, staking his life on a single
throw of the rope. Once the plaited rawhide was wetted it would twist
and bind in the _honda_ and before Creede could beat it straight and
coil it his partner would be far out in the centre of the vortex.
Planting his feet firmly on the rock the big cowboy lashed the kinks
out of his _reata_ and coiled it carefully; then as the first broad
swirl seized its plaything and swung him slowly around Creede let out
a big loop and began to swing it about his head, his teeth showing in
a tense grin as he fixed his eyes upon the mark. At each turn his
wrist flexed and his back swayed with a willowy suppleness but except
for that he was like a herculean statue planted upon the point.

The maelstrom heaved and rocked as it swung its victim nearer and like
a thing with life seemed suddenly to hurry him past; then as Hardy
cried out and held up a hand for help the rope cut through the air
like a knife and the loop shot far out across the boiling water. It
was a long throw, fifty feet from the rock, and the last coil had left
his tense fingers before the noose fell, but it splashed a circle
clean and true about the uplifted hand. For a moment the cowboy
waited, watching; then as the heavy rope sank behind his partner's
shoulders he took in his slack with a jerk. The noose tightened
beneath Hardy's arms and held him against the insistent tug of the
river; and while the whirlpool roared and foamed against his body
Creede hauled him forth roughly, until, stooping down, he gathered him
into his arms like a child.

"My God, boy," he said, "you're takin' big chances, for a family
man--but say, what did I tell you about sheepmen?"

* * * * *

The Mexicans were still firing random shots along the river when
Creede lifted his partner up on Bat Wings and carried him back to
Hidden Water. Long before they reached the house they could see Lucy
standing in the doorway, and Hardy held himself painfully erect in the
saddle, with Creede steadying hi