de it--barely. The gap was so big that it seemed as if it were not
humanly possible more than to touch the short mane on the animal's neck
with his finger-tips. But he clung somehow, his feet and body dragging,
while the steer's speed increased rather than slackened. First with one
hand and then the other he worked his way to a grip on the horns, which
was what he wanted.

The steer stopped to fight him. Its feet ploughed up the dirt as it
braced them to resist him. Then they struggled. The steer was a big one,
raw-boned, leggy, a typical old-time long-horn of the Texas ranges, and
now in fear and rage it put forth all the strength of which it was
capable.

With his teeth grinding, Wallie fought it in desperation, trying to give
the twist that drops the animal. Its breath in his face, the froth from
its mouth blinded him, but still he clung while it threw him this and
that way. He himself never knew where his strength came from. Suddenly
the steer fell heavily and the two lay panting together.

Helene drew the back of her hand across her eyes and brushed away the
tears that blurred her vision, while a lump rose in her throat too big
to swallow. "Gentle Annie" of The Colonial veranda, erstwhile authority
on Battenburg and sweaters, had accomplished the most reckless of the
dare-devil feats of the cow-country--he had "bull-dogged" a steer from
horseback!

CHAPTER XXI

"WORMAN! WORMAN!"

Business which had to do with the cache they had lifted from Tucker
detained Pinkey in town longer than expected. He returned in the night
and did not get up when the triangle jangled for breakfast. In fact, it
was well into the forenoon when he appeared, only to learn that Miss
Eyester had gone off with old Mr. Penrose to look at an eagle's nest.

"What did he do that for?" Pinkey demanded of Wallie.

"I presume he wanted her company," Wallie replied, composedly,
entertained by the ferocity of Pinkey's expression.

"Is he a dude or is he a duder that he has to go guidin' people to see
sights they prob'ly don't want to look at?"

"She seemed willing enough to go," Wallie answered.

Pinkey sneered:

"Mebbe I'd better git me a blue suit with brass buttons and stand around
and open gates and unsaddle fer 'em."

Wallie regarded his partner calmly.

"Pinkey, you're _jealous_."

"Jealous! Me jealous of an old Methuselah that don't know enough to make
a mark in the road?" Unconsciously Pinkey's hand sought his eyebrows,