ank.

He had not a moment to spare, for Satan, only his eyes and his nose
showing, rushed down the current, making his last fight. Barry thrust
his feet deeper in the sand, leaned, buried both hands in the mane of
the stallion. It was a far fiercer tug-of-war this time, for the ample
body of the horse gave the water a greater surface to grapple on, yet
the strength of the man sufficed. His back bowed; his shoulders ached
with the strain; and then the forefeet of Satan pawed the sand, and
all three staggered up the shelving bank, reeled among the trees, and
collapsed in safety.

So great was the roar of the water that they heard neither shouts nor
the reports of the guns, but for several minutes the bullets of the
posse combed the shrubbery as high as the breast of a man.

Chapter XXXVI. The Empty Cave

Through ten months of the year a child of ten could wade the Asper but
now its deep roaring that set the ground quivering under Barry gave him
perfect assurance of safety. Not one of that posse would attempt the
crossing, he felt, but he slipped back through the shrubbery close
to the bank to make sure. He was in time to see Mark Retherton give a
command with gestures that sent reluctant guns into the holsters. Fists
were brandished toward the green covert on the farther side of the
river, so close, such an unreachable distance. One or two rode their
horses down to the very edge of the water, but they gave up the thought
and the whole troop turned back toward Wilsonville; even the horses were
down-headed.

Back in the covert he found Bart lying with his head on his paws,
his eyes closed, his sides swelling and closing till every rib seemed
broken; yet now and then he opened one red eye to look at Satan. The
stallion lay in almost exactly the same position, and the rush and
rattle of his breathing was audible even in the noise of the Asper;
Barry dropped prone and pressed his ear against the left side of the
horse, just behind the shoulder. The fierce vibration fairly shook
his head; he could hear the rush of the blood except when that deadly
rattling of the breath came. When he rose to his knees the face of the
master was serious, thoughtful.

"Satan!" he called, but the river must have drowned his voice. Only when
he passed his fingers down the wet neck, one of Satan's ears pricked,
and fell instantly back. It would not do to let him lie there in
the cool mold by the water, for he knew that the greatest danger