stricken onlookers it appeared that Ted's end had come. He
lay prone upon the sod with his face turned to the sky, evidently
stunned.

The bull, with all the ferocity of his kind when goaded to anger, was
charging upon him, his needle-like horns a few inches from the ground,
and the foam flecking from his lips.

Stella, her face white and drawn, was galloping toward him as fast as
her pony could go, while Bud was lashing his pony to the height of its
speed as he crossed the face of the herd. Billy Sudden was neck and neck
with Stella, calling to her to hold back.

Suddenly Ted Strong came to life, and looked over his shoulder.

He saw his danger, and quick as thought he rolled over, away from the
bull.

But that was all. Every one could see that it would do no good. He could
not expect to escape from the infuriated beast in that manner, and a
hollow groan escaped the lips of more than one.

Ted surely was doomed.

The bull's horns caught Ted in the side as he continued to roll away
from it, and it stopped for an instant, settling itself to toss him.
Stella turned her head away with a muttered prayer, and even the
cowboys, used to accidents in the round-up, gasped.

But suddenly they saw a cloud of dust fly upward, and thought at first
that Ted had fired his revolver into the face of the infuriated beast,
and it seemed strange that they had not heard the report of the weapon.

Then, miracle of miracles, the bull, with a snort of pain, threw up its
head, and Ted was not impaled upon its horns.

There was another cloud of dust, and the bull began backing away, slowly
but surely, shaking its head, as if in pain.

"Screamin' catamounts, did yer see thet, Stella?" cried Bud Morgan, as
he rode alongside the girl,

"What did he do?" asked Stella.

"He's saved hisself by blindin' ther bull. He throwed dust inter its
eyes. I'm dinged if I see how thet feller kin think o' things like thet
when he's down an' out. Look at him!"

As the bull rubbed its face in the grass Ted rolled over twice, then
leaped to his feet and ran to where Sultan was awaiting him.

A mighty cheer went up from the boys, and the color came back into
Stella's face with a rush, but she could not have uttered a sound to
save her life.

In the meantime, the bull had recovered, having rubbed the dust from its
eyes in the short grass, and looked about for its enemy.

It caught sight of Ted in the act of mounting, and sprang toward him
with the