down.

Tad's eyes flashed indignantly, yet still he made no move to pull his
pony out of the street.

"Keep off!" he shouted. "Don't you run me down!"

"W-h-o-o-o-p!" howled the pair, at the same time letting go a volley
right under the hoofs of his pony. It seemed to the lad that the powder
from their weapons had burned his face, so close had the guns been when
they pulled the triggers.

Tad had braced himself for the shock that he knew was coming, gathering
the reins tightly in his right hand and leaning slightly forward in his
saddle.

They were fairly upon him now. Two revolvers exploded into the air,
accompanied by the long shrill yell of the plainsmen. But just when it
seemed that the lad must go down under the rush of beating hoofs, Tad
all but lifted his pony from the ground, turned the little animal and
headed him in the direction in which the wild horsemen were going.

The boy's clever horsemanship had saved him. Yet one of the racing cow
ponies struck the boy and his horse a glancing blow. For the moment, Tad
felt sure his left leg must have been broken. He imagined that he had
heard it snap.

As he swept past the boy the cowboy had uttered a jeering yell.

Tad brought down his quirt with all his force on the rump of the kicking
cow pony, whose hoofs threatened to wound his own animal.

Then a most unexpected thing happened--that is, unexpected to the
cowboy.

Looking back at the boy he had attempted to unhorse, the cowman was
leaning over far to the left in his saddle when Tad struck his horse.
The pony, under the sting of the unexpected blow, leaped into the air
with arching back and a squeal of rage.

The cowboy's weight on the side of the startled animal overbalanced it
and the animal plunged sideways to the street. The cowpuncher managed to
free his left leg from the stirrup; but, quick as he was, he was not
quick enough to save himself wholly from the force of the fall. The
fellow ploughed the dirt of the street on his face, while the pony,
springing to its feet, was off with a bound.

The other cowpunchers set up a great jeering yell as they saw the
unhorsing of their companion by a mere boy, while the villagers and
country folks laughed as loudly as they dared.

Yet there was not one of them but feared that the angry cowpuncher would
visit his wrath upon the lad who had been the cause of his downfall.

With a roar of rage he scrambled to his feet.

In his fall the fellow's gun had