with a horse
rolling. If it went clean over, it was worth a hundred dollars, if it
rolled back, another hundred, and so on.

But this animal did not complete the one effort. Howard heard its
sudden terrified snort, saw it scramble wildly to its feet and go
plunging off to the end of its tether, knew that even the strong rope
had broken and the horse was running wild. And as the man jumped to
his feet he knew why. For before the snort of fear he had heard
another sound, one indescribable to him who has not heard it and
unforgettable and on the instant recognizable to him who has; that
quiet noise resembling as much as anything else the harsh rustling of
dead, bone-dry leaves. As he ran forward, Howard prayed in his heart
that the snake's fangs had not met in horseflesh.

Because the light was not all gone and he knew just where to look, he
saw the rattler slipping away across the sand. He thrust his gun down
as close as he dared and with the first shot blew the sinister, flat
head off the ugly thick body. Then he went forward, calling soothingly
to his horse.

Had it been any one of the horses he rode customarily, his voice might
have carried something of quiet to startled nerves. But as it was the
horse was frightened, it was free, it was running and the broken end of
the tie-rope, whipping at its heels, put fresh terror into it. Howard
saw it dimly as it crested a ridge a few hundred yards off; then its
vague shape was gone, swallowed up in the night. He hurried after it
over the ridge. The stars showed him empty spaces of billowy sand;
there were black spots marking hollows and nowhere his horse. But yet
he went forward hopefully or at least striving to retain his hope. He
had little liking for the plight that would be his were he set afoot
here in the heart of the Bad Lands. But at the end of upwards of an
hour of fruitless search he went back to the water-hole and his traps,
seeing the folly of further seeking now. He would have to camp here
until daybreak. Tomorrow he might find his horse and might or might
not recapture it; to-morrow he might see the poor beast lying dead and
horribly swollen; to-morrow he might find in the empty desert nothing
but emptiness. For to-night there was nothing better to do than make
his bed and go to sleep under the stars and thank God for food and
water.

At the first pale glint of the new day he was astir. With sleep still
heavy in his eyes he hurried back to