ely as the guards struggled to turn the herd, their efforts had
no more effect than if they had been seeking to beat back the waves of
the sea.

Tad was recalled to a realization of his position when, in a dazzling
flash of lightning, he caught a momentary glimpse of Big-foot Sanders
bearing down on him at a tremendous speed. Tad saw something else,
too--a surging mass of panic-stricken cattle, heads hanging low, horns
glistening and eyes protruding, sweeping toward him.

"Ride! Ride!" shouted Big-foot.

"Wh--where?" asked Tad in as strong a voice as he could command.

"Keep out of their way. Work up to the point as soon as you can and try
to point in the leaders. We've got to keep the herd from scattering.
I'll stay in the center and lead them till the others get here. Bob will
send along some of the fellows to help you as soon as possible."

While delivering his orders Big-foot had turned his pony, and, with Tad,
was riding swiftly in advance of the cattle, in the same direction that
they were traveling. To have paused where they were would have meant
being crushed and trampled beneath the hoofs of the now maddened
animals.

"Now, git!"

Tad pulled his pony slightly to the right.

"Use your gun!" shouted Big-foot. "Burn plenty of powder in front of
their noses if they press you too closely!"

He had forgotten that the lad did not carry a gun, nor did he realize
that he was sending the boy into a situation of the direst peril.

Tad, by this time, had a pretty fair idea of the danger of the task that
had been assigned to him. But he was not the boy to flinch in an
emergency.

Pressing the rowels of his spurs against the flanks of the reaching pony
and urging the little animal on with his voice, Tad swept obliquely
along in front of the herd.

Now and then a flash of lightning would show him a solid mass of cattle
hurling themselves upon him. At such times the lad would swerve his
mount to the left a little and shoot ahead for a few moments, in an
attempt to get sufficient lead of them to enable him to reach the right
or upper end of the line.

In this way Tad Butler soon gained the outside of the leaders. By
dropping back and working up the line, he pointed them in to the best of
his ability.

The lightning got into his eyes as he strained them wide open to take
account of his surroundings. He would pass a hand over his face
instinctively, as if to brush the flash away, groping for an instant for
his