e. Making a megaphone of his hands
he yelled.

Canby lifted his wild eyes to the bank.

"Throw me a rope!" he shrieked.

A slow, tantalizing smile came to Wallie's face. Very distinctly he
called back:

"How much damages will you give me for driving your cattle into my
wheat?"

"Not a damn cent!"

The rope Wallie had been swinging about his head to test the loop
promptly dropped.

The horse was swimming lower at every stroke.

"Five hundred!" Fear and rage were in Canby's choking voice.

"Put another cipher on that to cover my mental anguish!" Wallie mocked.

The horse was exhausting itself rapidly with its efforts merely to keep
its nose out, making no further attempt to swim toward the bank. Canby
slapped water in its face in the hope of turning it, but it was too
late. Its breathing could be heard plainly and its distended nostrils
were blood-red.

Many things passed swiftly through Canby's calculating mind in the few
seconds that remained for him to decide.

His boots had filled and he was soaked to the waist; he knew that if he
left the horse and swam for it he had small chance of success. He was
not a strong swimmer at best, and even if he managed to get to the bank
its sides were too high and steep for him to climb out without
assistance. He looked at Wallie's implacable face, but he saw no
weakening there, it was a matter of a moment more when the horse would
go under and come up feet first.

"Throw me the rope!" His voice vibrating with chagrin and rage admitted
his defeat.

Wallie measured the distance with his eye, adjusted the loop, and as it
cut the air above his head Canby held up his hands to catch it when it
dropped.

"Good work!" Pinkey cried as it shot out and hit its mark. "You never
made a better throw than that, old kid!"

Canby slipped the loop under his arm and, as he took his feet from the
stirrups, shouted for them to tighten up.

The horse, relieved of his weight, took heart and struck out for the
opposite bank, where a little dirt slide enabled it to scramble out.
Shaking and dripping, at last it stood still at the top, while Canby, a
dead weight, was dragged over the edge to dry land.

There was as much fury as relief in his face when he stood up and
started to loosen the rope around his chest.

Wallie stopped him with a gesture.

"No, you don't! I take no chances when I play with crooks. You make out
that check."

"Isn't my word good?" Canby demanded.

"Not so