e great race was in motion. There had been a slight
shower the previous evening; every bit of herbage was fresh and
beautiful; the day was perfect and the ride delicious. When part of the
distance had been traveled, Browning, looking back, said: "Grace, I
believe I see your destiny coming."

"In what form?" asked Grace, laughing.

"In a typical cowboy," said her foster brother.

Then all looked, and sure enough there, two hundred yards away, was the
broad hat, the nameless grace, the erect form, the man straight as a line
from his head to his stirrups, the Mexican saddle, the woven-hair bridle
with Spanish bit; all complete except the horse. That was not a steed of
the plains, but a magnificent hunter. The girls clapped their hands in
delight, and Grace wished he would "hurry up," so that they might get a
nearer view.

Just then a cry arose in the rear, and a horse attached to a broken
vehicle was seen coming, running away in the very desperation of fear.

The carriage was driven to the side of the road, and both men sprang out.
A dense crowd of vehicles, many of them containing women and children,
were just in front, and the thought of that mad horse dashing among them
was sickening. But Sedgwick cried out: "Look, ladies, quick!"

What they saw was the hunter under a dead run, his rider urging him on
apparently, and working something in his right hand. The harnessed horse
was a good one, but the hunter was gaining upon him, and just as the mad
runaway was almost opposite the ladies, the right arm of the rider of the
hunter made a quick curve, the looped end of a rope darted out like a
bird of prey from the hand; the loop went over the runaway's head; the
hunter was brought almost to a dead stop; the other animal went up into
the air, then fell to his knees, then over on his side. Sedgwick and
Browning sprang to him, unfastened him from the wreck, got the reins and
secured his head, then took off the lariat, let him up, and tied him to
the hedge by the roadside.

Browning first turned to the stranger who was coiling up his lariat on
the saddle's horn, and said: "That was a good morning's work, my friend;
had that mad horse crashed into the vehicles ahead, he would have killed
some one."

"I wur afeerd of that, stranger, and that's what made me think he orter
be stopped," said the horseman.

Sedgwick wheeled quickly round when he heard the man's voice, and,
looking up, cried: "Hello, Jordan, how did you leave t