air.

Chunky did cinch it gleefully about his saddle pommel. At the same time
he cinched something else.

The cowpuncher's mount went down, its nose burrowing into the turf.
Lumpy was so taken by surprise that he had no time to save himself. He
shot over the pony's neck, landing flat on his back several feet in
advance of the pony's nose.

The watching cowboys set up a jeering yell.

Lumpy scrambled to his feet, his face purple with rage.

"You tenderfoot!" shrieked Curley Adams. "To let the gopher rope you
like a yearling steer!"

Chunky sat on his mount with blanched face, now realizing the enormity
of his act.

"I--I didn't mean to do it," he stammered.

At first Lumpy did not know what had caused his pony to fall. But no
sooner had he gotten to his feet than he comprehended. With a savage
roar he sprang for the fat boy with quirt raised above his head,
prepared to bring it down on Stacy Brown the instant he reached him.

The blow would have been bad enough had it been delivered in the
ordinary way. The cowboy, however, had gasped the quirt by the small end
and was preparing to use the loaded butt on the head of the boy who had
been the cause of his fall.

Tad had halted upon observing the accident, laughing uproariously at the
spectacle of Lumpy Bates being roped by Stacy Brown.

When he saw the quirt in the hands of the cowpuncher, however, and
realized what his purpose was, the laughter died on the lips of Tad
Butler.

"Drop that quirt, Lumpy!" he commanded sternly.

Lumpy gave no heed to the command, but broke into a run for Stacy.

Tad, who was a few rods away, put spurs to his pony, at the same time
slipping off the lariat from the other side of his saddle.

"The Pinto's going to rope him," gasped the cowboys. All were too far
away to be of any assistance. Stallings was with another part of the
herd, else he would have jumped in and interfered before Tad's action
had become necessary.

Tad's pony leaped forward under the pressure of the spurs. The boy began
spinning the noose of the lariat above his head.

The cowboys were watching in breathless suspense.

Tad sent the loop squirming through the air, turning his pony so as to
run parallel with the one on which Stacy was sitting, half paralyzed
with fear, as he gazed into the rage-contorted face of Lumpy Bates.

As the quirt was descending, Tad's rope slipped over the cowboy's head
and under one arm. This time, however, the lad did not c