he fell heavily into the saddle his hand struck
against a coiled blanket strap behind the cantle, and he instinctively
grabbed hold of it and clung to it for dear life.

Up she shot again, and deliberately swung round in the air and came
down with her head where her tail had been. It was a marvelous,
cat-like spring, calculated to unseat the best of horsemen. Tresler
was half out of the saddle again, but the blanket strap saved him, and
the next buck threw him back into his seat. Now her jumps came like
the shots from a gatling gun, and the man on her back was dazed, and
his head swam, and he felt the blood rushing to his ear-drums. But
with desperate resolve he clung to his strap, and so retained his
seat. But it couldn't last, and he knew it, although those looking on
began to have hopes that he would tire the vixen out. But they didn't
know the demon that possessed her.

Suddenly it seemed as though an accident had happened to her. Her legs
absolutely shot from under her as she landed from one terrific buck,
and she plunged to the ground. Then her intention became apparent. But
luckily the antic had defeated its own end, for Tresler was flung
wide, and, as she rolled on the ground, he scrambled clear of her
body.

He struggled to his feet, but not before she had realized his escape,
and, with the savage instinct of a man-eater, had sprung to her feet
and was making for him open-mouthed. It was Jacob's readiness and
wonderful skill that saved him. The rope whistled through the air and
caught her, the noose falling over her head with scarcely room between
her nose and her victim's back for the rawhide to pass. In a flash the
strands strung tight, and her head swung round with such a jolt that
she was almost thrown from her feet.

Again she was choked down, and Tresler, breathing desperately, but
with his blood fairly up, was on top of her almost before the man
holding her realized his intention. The mare was foaming at the mouth,
and a lather of sweat dripped from her tuckered flanks. The whites of
her eyes were flaming scarlet now, and when she was let loose again
she tried to savage her rider's legs. Failing this, she threw her head
up violently, and, all unprepared for it, Tresler received the blow
square in the mouth. Then she was up on her hind legs, fighting the
air with her front feet, and a moment later crashed over backward. And
again it seemed like a miracle that he escaped; he slid out of the
saddle, no